1. Allan Richard Williams was a British businessman and promoter who was the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles.
19 Facts About Allan Williams
1. 2.
Allan Williams drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, West Germany, in 1960, where they gained the vital show business experience that led to their emergence on the world stage.
3.
Allan Williams's father was Richard Edward Williams, a local council building inspector and dance promoter, and his mother was Annie Cheetham; Williams traced part of his ancestry back to Owen Williams, a Caernarfonshire millwright, poet and pioneer lexicographer in the Welsh language.
4.
In 1955, Allan Williams married Beryl Chang, a school teacher born in Liverpool to Chinese immigrants.
5.
Allan Williams asked students Stuart Sutcliffe and Rod Murray to paint murals in the club's basement, and their classmate, John Lennon, began attending regularly.
6.
Allan Williams offered musical entertainment at the club, such as Lord Woodbine's Royal Caribbean Steel Band and, later, local rock and roll bands like Cass and the Cassanovas.
7.
In 1960, Allan Williams took on a number of additional projects, such as backing Lord Woodbine's strip club in Liverpool, the Cabaret Artists Social Club.
8.
On 1 December 1960, Allan Williams opened the Top Ten Club on Liverpool's Soho Street, with Bob Wooler as its DJ.
9.
In spring 1960, Allan Williams bought the lease for a social club with plans to convert it into a nightclub called the Blue Angel.
10.
In March 1960, Allan Williams attended a Liverpool Empire concert starring Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, which prompted Allan Williams to host his own show with the two stars.
11.
In May 1962, Allan Williams booked Jerry Lee Lewis to perform on a bill with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes at New Brighton Tower Ballroom.
12.
An irate Allan Williams threatened to have the Beatles' residency terminated and their behavior reported to the Agency Members Association, which could have jeopardized the group's ability to seek management in the UK.
13.
Allan Williams did neither of these things, but in July 1961 he threatened to sue the band for 104 pounds.
14.
Allan Williams carried on speaking at Beatles conventions from Liverpool to Singapore and South America.
15.
Allan Williams gave an extended interview in the 1982 documentary, The Compleat Beatles.
16.
On 9 May 2016, at a ceremony in Liverpool Town Hall, Allan Williams was made a Citizen of Honour of the City of Liverpool, awarded by Liverpool City Council for his services to the local music scene.
17.
Allan Williams is briefly seen in Peter Jackson's 2021 The Beatles: Get Back documentary constructed from unused footage originally shot by Michael Lindsay-Hogg while making the Let It Be film in 1969.
18.
Allan Williams died in Liverpool on 30 December 2016, at the age of 86.
19.
In 2024 Allan Williams was portrayed by Eddie Suzy Izzard in the British biographical film Midas Man, about the life of music entrepreneur Brian Epstein.