Neil Aspinall, a longtime friend to all of the Beatles and the man who managed the super-group, turning the foursome from Liverpool into a great financial success decades after their split, has died. He was 66.
Aspinall’s death was announced Monday by surviving Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon and the band’s Apple Corps Ltd company.
Aspinall died Sunday night at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he had been battling lung cancer, according to Aspinall’s former representative.
At the time of his death, Aspinall’s wife and five children were by his side. McCartney had also visited his longtime friend before his death.
“I’ve known Neil many years and he was a good friend. We were blessed to have him in our lives and he will be missed,” Starr said in a statement Monday.
Aspinall was childhood friends with McCartney and Harrison in Liverpool, England, and while he didn’t contribute musically, he was key in supporting roles behind the scenes. Aspinall was the Beatles’ first road manager, which entailed, among other things, driving the band to performances in his van. He later became their personal assistant, and, in 1968, became manager of their Apple Corps and continued to oversee the group until their breakup in 1970.
