Longtime friend and former road manager of the Beatles, Neil Aspinall, has resigned as CEO of Apple Corp. Taking his place is former Legacy Recordings/SonyBMG executive Jeff Jones.
Aspinall was a childhood friend of George Harrison and Pete Best, and had first attempted to quit the Beatles when they sacked the drummer, but Best talked him out of it.
His explanation for leaving now: "He has decided to move on."
Back in 1967, after Brian Epstein died, Aspinall was briefly considered to take over NEMS. But according to Bob Spitz, at the time "even George Martin thought Neil lacked 'sufficient clout' and, applying typical British prejudice, 'was out of his class' in dealing with the genteel executives who ran major record labels." He has since, of course, proved otherwise.
I wonder if his ouster had anything to do with EMI's dealings with iTunes, or perhaps the long overdue remastering of he Beatles catalog...
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Wow!
After being with the BEATLES since the early days, I wonder why this has happened? You'd think someone like Aspinall would be counted on as an ally of Ringo, Paul and Yoko and Olivia Harrison.....I wonder what the facts will turn out to be?
More info: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070412/media_nm/emi_beatles_dc
Looks like they're another step closer to digital distro of Beatles catalog.