Allan Williams
| Allan Williams | |
|---|---|
(Taylor)With_Allan_Williams_(cropped).jpg) |
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
21 February 1930 Bootle, Lancashire, UK |
| Died | 30 December 2016 (aged 86) Liverpool, UK |
| Occupation(s) | Talent manager, Businessman |
| Years active | 1959–2016 |
| Associated acts | The Beatles |
Allan Richard Williams (21 February 1930 – 30 December 2016) was a British businessman and promoter who was the original booking agent and first manager of The Beatles. He personally drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, Germany in 1960, where they gained the vital show business experience that led to their emergence on the world stage.
Williams was born in Knowsley Road, Bootle, the son of Richard Edward Williams, a local council building inspector and Annie Cheetham, tracing part of his ancestry back to Owen Williams (Owain Gwyrfai), a Caernarfonshire millwright, poet and pioneer lexicographer in the Welsh language. His mother died when he was very young and his father remarried to Millie Twigg, the family living in Litherland and being completed by Williams' half-sister Olwyn b. 1937 and half-brother Graham b. 1938. In his mid teens he left home to sing with Joe Loss in the Isle of Man. Later he sang with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and even tried to sell Blackpool rock in Spain.
In 1958 Williams leased a former watch-repair shop at 21 Slater Street, Liverpool, which he converted into a coffee bar. He named the venue the Jacaranda, after an exotic species of ornamental flowering tree, jacaranda mimosifolia. The Jac (as it became known) opened in September 1958. The Beatles were frequent customers, with John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe attending Liverpool Art College nearby and Paul McCartney being at Liverpool Institute adjacent to the college. Asking for the chance to play the club, Williams instead put them to work redecorating, with Lennon and Sutcliffe painting a mural for the Ladies room. Finally, the Beatles began playing at the Jac on occasions. Between May and August 1960, Williams secured a number of bookings for the group at other places. One was backing a local stripper, named Janice; when she discovered the Beatles were not familiar with the "Gypsy Fire Dance", they instead backed her with a rendition of the Harry Lime theme tune.
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