Tony Barrow
| Tony Barrow | |
|---|---|
| Born |
11 May 1936 Crosby, Merseyside, England |
| Died | 14 May 2016 (aged 80) Morecambe, Lancashire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Durham University |
| Occupation | Press officer |
| Known for | Work with the Beatles Coining the phrase "the Fab Four" |
Anthony F. J. "Tony" Barrow (11 May 1936 – 14 May 2016) was an English press officer who worked with the Beatles between 1962 and 1968. He coined the phrase "the Fab Four", first using it in an early press release.
In the late 1950s, when teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney were putting together their earliest group in one part of Liverpool, Tony Barrow was presenting jazz bands and skiffle-folk groups at local dance halls and clubs across town in the south Lancashire suburb of Crosby. Educated locally at Merchant Taylors School he later studied languages at Durham University. In 1954, when he was still a 17-year-old sixth-form schoolboy, he landed his first regular freelance writing job as pop-rock record reviewer for the Liverpool Echo, the largest-selling provincial evening newspaper in the UK.
At the beginning of the 1960s, while the Beatles worked in the Hamburg clubs, Barrow moved from Crosby to London to work for the Decca Record Company where he wrote the liner notes that appeared on the back of LP album covers. From his new London base he continued to contribute his weekly record column to the Liverpool Echo and when Liverpool record retailer Brian Epstein signed the Beatles to a management deal at the end of 1961 he contacted Barrow for professional advice. In a 1968 interview, Barrow recounted that Epstein asked him to write a column about the band. Barrow then arranged to get the Beatles an audition with Decca, who rejected them. This led to an informal arrangement whereby Barrow became the Beatles' part-time press-publicity consultant, which involved promoting the launch of the new EMI band from behind a desk at rival London record company Decca. His earliest task for Epstein was to co-ordinate a media publicity campaign to surround the release of the group's first UK single, "Love Me Do", on EMI's Parlophone label in October 1962. He was paid a one-off freelance fee of £20 to compile the Beatles' initial press kit.
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