Derek Taylor

Derek Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was an English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, and was one of several associates to earn the moniker "the Fifth Beatle". Taylor was known for his forward-thinking and extravagant promotional campaigns, exemplified in taglines such as "The Beatles Are Coming" and "Brian Wilson Is a Genius". Before returning to London in 1968 to head the publicity for the Beatles' Apple Corps organisation, he worked as the publicist for California-based bands such as the Byrds, the Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas. He was equally dedicated to the 1967 Summer of Love ethos and helped stage that year's Monterey Pop Festival. 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. He then became a North England-based writer for national British newspapers that included the News Chronicle, the Sunday Dispatch and the Sunday Express. He also served as a regular columnist and theatre critic for the Daily Express from 1952. During the 1970s, Taylor worked for Warner Bros. Records and then HandMade Films. The term "pocket symphony" is generally attributed to Taylor for his description of the Beach Boys' 1966 single "Good Vibrations". A trusted confidant of the Beatles, Taylor remained particularly close to George Harrison long after the band's break-up and maintained a friendship with John Lennon until the latter's death in 1980. In addition to working as editor on Harrison's 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Taylor authored books such as As Time Goes By, The Making of Raiders of The Lost Ark, Fifty Years Adrift (In An Open Necked Shirt) and It Was Twenty Years Ago Today. Having returned to Apple in the early 1990s, Taylor died of cancer in September 1997 while working on the Beatles Anthology book.