39 Facts About Derek Taylor

Derek Taylor was an English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer.

Derek Taylor is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was one of several associates to earn the moniker "the Fifth Beatle".

Derek Taylor was equally dedicated to the 1967 Summer of Love ethos and helped stage that year's Monterey Pop Festival.

Derek Taylor started his career as a local journalist on the Wirral, now part of Merseyside, aged 17 working for the Hoylake and West Kirby Advertiser followed by the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

Derek Taylor then became a North England-based writer for national British newspapers that included the News Chronicle, the Sunday Dispatch and the Sunday Express.

Derek Taylor served as a regular columnist and theatre critic for the Daily Express from 1952.

Derek Taylor was a national journalist working for the Daily Express when he was assigned to write a review of a Beatles concert on 30 May 1963.

Derek Taylor had been expected by his editors to write a piece critical of what at that time was considered by the national press as an inconsequential teen fad.

Derek Taylor subsequently became Epstein's personal assistant for a short period.

Derek Taylor assisted Epstein in the writing of his autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise.

Derek Taylor conducted interviews with Epstein for the book and then shaped the transcriptions of the audio recordings into a narrative, retaining most of Epstein's basic words.

Derek Taylor served as press officer for the Beatles' first concert tour of the US in the summer of 1964.

Brian Epstein demanded that Derek Taylor continue working for a three-month notice period, however.

In 1965, Derek Taylor left the UK and moved with his growing family to California.

Derek Taylor encouraged nascent rock journalists to perceive Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson as a musical genius.

In June 1967, Derek Taylor helped organise the Monterey Pop Festival, serving as the event's publicist and spokesman.

Derek Taylor was a catalyst in Harry Nilsson's musical career; hearing Nilsson's song "1941" on a car radio, he bought a case of his album Pandemonium Shadow Show, sending copies to various members of the music-industry.

In 1973, Derek Taylor produced Nilsson's album A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night.

Derek Taylor oversaw the public launch of the company's record label, Apple Records, in August 1968, marked by the release of the Beatles' single "Hey Jude".

Between 1968 and 1970, Derek Taylor had a major role in the company's activities, leading the publicity campaigns for the band's projects and for those of the other artists signed to Apple Records.

Derek Taylor is named in the lyrics of Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance", along with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary and Norman Mailer, who like Taylor were all present at the recording of the song.

In March 1970, Derek Taylor commissioned the young photographer Les Smithers to photograph Badfinger, a rock band signed to Apple Records.

Derek Taylor left the company in late 1970, having outlasted most of the other senior employees there, thanks to the affection and high regard in which he was held by Lennon, Harrison and Starr.

Derek Taylor went to work for the newly launched UK record company WEA, the British umbrella company that distributed and marketed several labels owned in the US by Kinney National Company.

Derek Taylor served as Director of Special Projects, working with artists such as the Rolling Stones, Yes, America, Neil Young, Vivian Stanshall, Carly Simon and Alice Cooper.

Derek Taylor presided over a revival of British jazz singer George Melly, producing two albums for him.

Derek Taylor was instrumental in signing seminal Liverpool Art School rock band Deaf School, featuring future record producer Clive Langer.

Derek Taylor was instrumental in the Rhead Brothers signing to WEA and received a dedication on both their 1977 album Dedicate and the re-issued Black Shaheen.

Independently of his work for WEA, Derek Taylor co-produced Nilsson's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night in 1973.

Derek Taylor had previously provided liner notes for Nilsson's Aerial Ballet album.

Derek Taylor did not enjoy his second period in California and returned to England after a couple of years.

Derek Taylor worked with George Harrison's film company, Handmade Films.

Derek Taylor subsequently wrote his own autobiography, Fifty Years Adrift, published in December 1983 by Genesis, for which Harrison provided a glowing introduction to the signed, limited-edition volume.

Only 2000 copies were printed, and the book quickly became a collectors' item after Harrison joined Derek Taylor in promoting the publication.

In 1987, Derek Taylor's It Was Twenty Years Ago Today celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the release of the Beatles' Sgt.

The book includes archive interviews and photographs as well as extensive transcripts from a Granada TV documentary, which was titled It Was Twenty Years Ago Today and for which Derek Taylor served as consultant.

Derek Taylor died of throat cancer at his home in Sudbury, Suffolk, on 8 September 1997.

Derek Taylor was married to Joan Derek Taylor from 1958 until his death.

Joan Derek Taylor appeared in his stead in the 2011 documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World.