Neil Aspinall, a longtime friend of the Beatles who managed their business enterprises and helped make the group a moneymaking phenomenon decades after they split up, has died. He was 66.
Aspinall's death was announced Monday in a statement from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, and the band's Apple Corps Ltd. company. Aspinall died Sunday night at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer.
Aspinall's wife and five children were by his side; McCartney visited him before his death.
He was a childhood friend of McCartney and Harrison in Liverpool, England. While he didn't contribute musically, he played several key roles in support of the Beatles, most notably as the head of their Apple Corps business.
Aspinall and the late Mal Evans were the Beatles' roadies. Aspinall would drive them to gigs in his van before they became famous and never left the band's tight-knit circle. He took over the management of Apple Corps in 1968.
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