Beatles 'shark' Klein dies at 77

Beatles 'shark' Klein dies at 77

Music entrepreneur Allen Klein, blamed by many for contributing to the demise¹ of The Beatles, has died in New York at 77 after suffering from Alzheimer's.

In a career spanning five decades, Klein earned a reputation as a ruthless operator, extracting lucrative² （有利益的）deals from labels for his clients.

In the mid-1960s, he managed The Rolling Stones for five years.

Later managing The Beatles, he tried and failed to secure control of copyrights on their behalf.

Though reviled³ （辱骂，斥责）by many, others admired his ability to negotiate with record labels.

"Don't talk to me about ethics," he once told Playboy magazine. "Every man makes his own. It's like a war."

He said John Lennon had hired him to protect his interest in The Beatles, because he wanted what he called "a real shark - someone to keep the other sharks away".

Charity gig

Klein helped the Stones negotiate a new contract with their label but the relationship soured after he bought the rights to the band's 1960s songs and recordings⁴ - classics like (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction and Jumpin' Jack⁶ Flash - from a former manager.

Keith Richards later described Klein's time with the group as "the price of an education".

The Beatles hired Klein in 1969 over the objections of Paul McCartney, who preferred his father-in-law, Lee Eastman.

At the time, a New York Times profile referred to him as "the toughest （最难的）wheeler-dealer in the pop jungle".

Klein himself once sent out a holiday card parodying（模仿以取笑） the 23rd Psalm⁷:

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I'm the biggest bastard⁸ in the valley."

His copyright (版权)battle for the Beatles came as tensions among the four reached breaking-point.

Eventually he did score a rich recording⁵ deal for The Beatles but by then John, Paul, George and Ringo were not even on speaking terms, and the band dissolved in 1970.

One year later, however, George Harrison hired Klein to put on the all-star Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York - the forerunner⁹ of the mammoth¹⁰ charity gigs of the 1980s and 1990s.

Accountant at heart

"I never wanted to be a manager," Klein told The Star-Ledger of Newark in 2002. "It was going over the books that I loved. And I was good at it."

Allen Klein was born in Newark, New Jersey¹¹, on 18 December 1931 and spent several years in an orphanage（孤儿院） after his mother's death during his infancy¹².

Later raised by a grandmother and an aunt, he served in the US Army before joining a Manhattan accounting¹³ firm, according to his company.

He started his own firm, which later became ABKCO, in the late 1950s.

His other clients in the music business including Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin and Herman's Hermits¹⁴.

According to the Associated Press, he was reputed to be the basis for the slick manager Ron Decline played by Jon Belushi in the 1978 film The Rutles, as well as the inspiration for John Lennon's 1974 song Steel and Glass.

His funeral will take place in New York on Tuesday. (本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

 

1 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

2 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

3 reviled   

v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The tramp reviled the man who drove him off. 流浪汉辱骂那位赶他走开的人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The old man reviled against corruption. 那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 psalm   

n.赞美诗，圣诗

参考例句：

• The clergyman began droning the psalm.牧师开始以单调而低沈的语调吟诵赞美诗。
• The minister droned out the psalm.牧师喃喃地念赞美诗。

8 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

9 forerunner   

n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先

参考例句：

• She is a forerunner of the modern women's movement.她是现代妇女运动的先驱。
• Penicillin was the forerunner of modern antibiotics.青霉素是现代抗生素的先导。

10 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

11 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

12 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

13 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

14 hermits   

（尤指早期基督教的）隐居修道士，隐士，遁世者( hermit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In the ancient China,hermits usually lived in hamlets. 在古代中国，隐士们通常都住在小村子里。
• Some Buddhist monks live in solitude as hermits. 有些和尚在僻静处隐居。