49 Facts About Mal Evans

1.

Malcolm Frederick Evans was an English road manager and personal assistant employed by the Beatles from 1963 until their break-up in 1970.

2.

Over time, Mal Evans became a constant companion to the group, being present on all of their tours, and after the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, at nearly all of their recording sessions.

3.

In 1976, at age 40, Mal Evans was shot and killed by police at his home in Los Angeles, when he threatened officers with what turned out to be an air rifle.

4.

Malcolm Frederick Evans was born in Liverpool to Frederick and Joan Evans and grew up in Waldgrave Road, Wavertree, Liverpool, and had a sister Pam.

5.

The Beatles were the resident group at Liverpool's Cavern Club when Mal Evans first heard them perform during his lunch break.

6.

Mal Evans was then living in Hillside Road, Allerton and working as a telephone engineer for the Post Office.

7.

Mal Evans became a committed fan, even though his musical hero at the time was Elvis Presley.

8.

Mal Evans first befriended George Harrison, who put forward Evans' name to the Cavern Club's manager, Ray McFall, when he needed a doorman.

9.

Mal Evans was later nicknamed the "Gentle Giant" and "Big Mal".

10.

In 1962, Mal Evans wrote that it was "a wonderful year", as he had Lily, his son Gary, a house, a car, and he was working at the Cavern Club, which he wrote into a 1963 Post Office Engineering Union diary, which had information concerning Ohm's law and Post Office pay rates.

11.

Mal Evans had many other duties as well as acting as a bodyguard; he was sent to buy anything they needed, such as suits, boots, meals, or drinks.

12.

In 1967, Mal Evans wrote in his diaries that he "bought Ringo [Starr] some undies for his visit to the doctor".

13.

The Beatles started their first European tour in January 1964, and Mal Evans was allowed to take his wife and son with him, but was involved in a "big punch-up" with photographers in Paris while protecting them.

14.

Mal Evans explained that the Beatles were forced to choose an Austin, because they had tested every car to see how wide the doors would open as they had to "dive into the car" to escape their fans.

15.

The Beatles, and Mal Evans, were introduced to cannabis by Bob Dylan in New York City in 1964.

16.

The Beatles attended "The Night of 100 Stars" at the London Palladium on 23 July 1964, and during the show Mal Evans constantly supplied them with whisky and Coca-Cola, which he delivered to them balanced on a wooden oar he had found backstage.

17.

At the airport, road manager Mal Evans was beaten and kicked, and the group members were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd.

18.

Once the group boarded the plane, Tony Barrow and Mal Evans were ordered off, and Mal Evans said, "Tell Lil I love her," thinking he was about to be jailed or killed.

19.

The Beatles' last concert was at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on 29 August 1966, but Mal Evans continued to work for them in the studio, and to run errands.

20.

At exactly the pre-arranged time of one o'clock, Mal Evans was standing under the church clock when McCartney arrived.

21.

Mal Evans innocently asked McCartney what the letters "S" and "P" stood for on the pots on their meal trays, and McCartney explained that it was for salt and pepper, which led to the Sgt.

22.

The Beatles and Mal Evans flew to Greece in late 1967, with encouragement from Greek-born "Magic Alex", the director of Apple Electronics, to buy an island or a group of islands.

23.

Mal Evans later bought a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, which was situated between McCartney's, Lennon's, Harrison's and Starr's houses.

24.

McCartney got past customs by saying "You know who I am", but he and Mal Evans were not allowed into a hotel restaurant in Nice because they "didn't look the part", and had to eat dinner in Mal Evans' room.

25.

Mal Evans arrived in India a few days earlier to inspect the ashram, but as soon as Starr got off the plane, he demanded that Mal Evans find a doctor, as his inoculation shots were causing him pain.

26.

Mal Evans was the only member of the Apple entourage to be invited to attend when McCartney and Linda Eastman were married at Marylebone Registry Office on 12 March 1969.

27.

Mal Evans enjoyed an executive position at Apple until 1969, when Allen Klein was hired as a manager to reorganise the whole company.

28.

Mal Evans was later reinstated after McCartney, Harrison and Starr complained.

29.

On 13 September 1969, Mal Evans accompanied Lennon, Yoko Ono, Klaus Voormann, Alan White and Eric Clapton to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert.

30.

Mal Evans contributed to many recordings, including singing in the chorus of "Yellow Submarine".

31.

On "A Day in the Life", Mal Evans controlled an alarm clock; counting the measures in the original 24-bar pause, and was one of the five piano players simultaneously hitting the last chord of the song.

32.

Mal Evans played tambourine on "Dear Prudence", and trumpet on "Helter Skelter", where he played a double solo with Lennon, even though neither was proficient on the instrument.

33.

Mal Evans contributed background vocals, and stirred a bucket of gravel, on "You Know My Name ".

34.

Mal Evans contributed to the White Album out-take "What's the New Mary Jane", and hit an anvil on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", because Starr could not lift the hammer high enough to get the right sound and keep in time with the song.

35.

Mal Evans later appeared in the film as one of the magicians, who cast mysterious spells on the passengers of the bus.

36.

In 1968, Mal Evans had seen the group Badfinger play live, and suggested that they be signed to Apple.

37.

Mal Evans then produced several of their songs in 1969 and 1970, the most notable of which was "No Matter What", which charted on Billboard's Top 10 in December 1970.

38.

Mal Evans discovered the group Splinter and brought them to the Apple label, although they would subsequently move to George Harrison's Dark Horse Records.

39.

Mal Evans separated from his wife in 1973 and moved to Los Angeles where Lennon had moved to live with May Pang after his own separation from Yoko Ono.

40.

Mal Evans cowrote the Splinter song "Lonely Man", the musical centrepiece of Little Malcolm, an Apple feature film produced by Harrison.

41.

Mal Evans was depressed about the separation from his wife even though he was then living with his new girlfriend, Fran Hughes, in a rented motel apartment at 8122 West 4th Street in Los Angeles.

42.

On 5 January 1976, Mal Evans was so despondent that Hughes phoned John Hoernie, Mal Evans' co-writer for his biography, and asked him to visit them.

43.

Hughes then phoned the police and told them that Mal Evans was confused, had a rifle, and was on Valium.

44.

The officers repeatedly told Mal Evans to put down the weapon but Mal Evans refused.

45.

The police fired six shots, four hitting Mal Evans and killing him.

46.

Mal Evans previously had been awarded the badge of "Honorary Sheriff of Los Angeles County", but in the Los Angeles Times he was referred to as a "jobless former road manager for the Beatles".

47.

Mal Evans was cremated on 7 January 1976, in Los Angeles.

48.

When Mal Evans' ashes were sent by post back to England, they were misplaced and lost in the postal system but were eventually returned to his family.

49.

In December 2021 it was reported that a biography of Mal Evans, written by Beatles scholar Kenneth Womack, was to be published by Harper Collins's Dey Street Books in 2023, followed the next year by material from Mal Evans' diary and archives.