Brian Epstein’s death in August 1967 changed everything. When The Beatles’ manager died, he had plans in place to set up a small group of companies to keep his clients busy and to create a tax-effective business structure for their earnings. The top rate of income tax was 95%, or 19 shillings in the pound:
Let me tell you how it will be, there’s one for you, nineteen for me,
Cause I’m the Taxman, yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small be thankful I don’t take it all,
Cause I’m the Taxman, yeah, I’m the Taxman.
The Beatles, ‘Taxman’ (1966)
Beatles& Co. had been established in April 1967. This was an ‘umbrella’ company set up to channel all of the band’s income, with the exception of songwriting royalties. Each of the four Beatles took 5% of Beatles& Co. A new corporation, collectively owned and called Apple, would control the remainder. The name was suggested by Paul McCartney, who was inspired byLe Jeu De Mourre, a painting by René Magritte that shows a green apple with the words ‘au revoir’.
In parallel, Epstein encouraged diversification of The Beatles’ business activities. The first of these, Apple Publishing, was headed by Terry Doran, a Liverpool friend and business associate of Epstein, ‘the man from the motor trade’. Apple Publishing, with offices in Curzon Street, London, wanted to find and contract songwriters who would not only have their own successes as recording artists but also be able to place songs with others. The first of these, songwriters Paul Tennant and Dave Rhodes, met Paul McCartney by chance in May 1967. They had been given Terry Doran’s number, and Apple funded a number of demos. Brian Epstein was keen for them to form a band as a vehicle for their material and told them he wanted them to be called Focal Point. Their sole single, ‘Love You Forever’, was released on Deram in May.
Initially, Apple business was conducted from Nems Enterprises’ office or at Apple Publishing’s office on Curzon Street. Towards the end of June 1967, they paid £76,500 (£1.5m today) for a four-storey building at 94 Baker Street, London. Apple Publishing took up residence.
Re-grouping after Brian Epstein’s death, the original plan was for Apple and Nems Enterprises to work closely together, but Clive Epstein was not as close to The Beatles as his late brother. As Ringo Starr explained in a 1970 interview withMelody Maker, ‘We tried to form Apple with Clive Epstein, but he wouldn’t have it ... he didn’t believe in us, I suppose ... he didn’t think we could do it. He thought we were four wild men and we were going to spend all his money and make him broke. But that was the original idea of Apple – to form it with Nems ... we thought, now Brian’s gone, let’s really amalgamate and get this thing going; let’s make records and get people on our label and things like that.’
The matter was clouded by the involvement of Robert Stigwood, who had merged his management agency with Nems Enterprises earlier in 1967. The plan was for Epstein to continue to manage The Beatles and Cilla Black, and Stigwood would look after the rest of the Nems Enterprises roster, as well as bringing in his own clients, including Cream and The Bee Gees. As part of the deal, Brian Epstein had made a provisional agreement to sell a controlling interest in Nems Enterprises to Stigwood. This was valid until September 1967. The Beatles had no interest in working with Stigwood, and Stigwoo
