Signed copies by Ken Womack, Gary Evans, and Julie Evans: Coles Books
The first full-length biography of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ beloved friend, confidant, and roadie.
Malcolm Evans, the Beatles’ long-time roadie, personal assistant, and devoted friend, was an invaluable member of the band’s inner circle. A towering figure in horn-rimmed glasses, Evans loomed large in the Beatles’ story, contributing at times as a performer and sometime lyricist, while struggling mightily to protect his beloved “boys.” He was there for the whole of the group’s remarkable, unparalleled story: from the Shea Stadium triumph through the creation of the timeless cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the famous Let It Be rooftop concert.
Leaving a stable job as telecommunications engineer to serve as road manager for this fledgling band, Mal was the odd man out from the start—older, married with children, and without any music business experience. And yet he threw himself headlong into their world, traveling across the globe and making himself indispensable.
In the years after the Beatles’ disbandment, Big Mal continued in their employ as each embarked upon solo careers. By 1974, he was determined to make his name as a songwriter and record producer, setting off for a new life in Los Angeles, where he penned his memoirs. But in January 1976, on the verge of sharing his book with the world, Evans’s story came to a tragic end during a domestic standoff with the LAPD.
For Beatles devotees, Mal’s life and untimely death have always been shrouded in mystery. For decades, his diaries, manuscripts, and vast collection of memorabilia was missing, seemingly lost forever—until now.
Working with full access to Mal’s unpublished archives and having conducted hundreds of new interviews, Beatles scholar and author Kenneth Womack affords readers with a full telling of Mal’s unknown story at the heart of the Beatles’ legend. Lavishly illustrated with unseen photos and ephemera from Mal’s archives, Living the Beatles’ Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans is the missing puzzle piece in the Fab Four’s incredible story.
You can learn more about Ken’s two-volume Mal Evans project at Rolling Stone.
“A fascinating and essential look at the Fab Four saga, starring the loyal Liverpool mate who went through the highest highs and lowest lows with them, always by their side, until his shocking death.”—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone
“A Holy Grail for fans, offering an extended look into the band.”—Jordan Runtagh, People
“Womack’s account is full of thrilling moments. Devoted fans of the band will find much to cheer about.”—Publishers Weekly
“American Fabologist Kenneth Womack throws valuable new light onto the act we’ve known for all these years.”—Mat Snow, Mojo
“Almost 50 years later, after the manuscript and other materials were discovered languishing in a storage basement by a publishing temp and returned to Evans’s family with Yoko Ono’s help, Kenneth Womack has finished the job with rigor and care.”—Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times
“Womack has done a meticulously researched job in not only piecing together the roadie’s viewpoint of the Beatles’ story, but also in depicting the tragedy of a man who was so in love with the group he destroyed his own life.”—Ray Connolly, The Daily Mail
“Through Evans’s mind’s eye and recollections, and a wealth of fresh interviews, Womack pieces together the days in the life of one of the music business’ most colorful and previously unheralded characters.”—A.D. Amorosi, Variety
“A terrifying, essential and tragic read, even if you’re not a Beatles fan. One day it’s going to make an astonishing movie.”—David Quantick, author of Revolution: The Making of the Beatles’ White Album
“Womack has woven a portrait full of complex threads that lead everywhere and, near the end of Evans’ life, nowhere. The devout dedication to ‘his boys,’ his obsession with Westerns and guns, abandoning his wife Lily and children Gary and Julie for weeks and months on end as he ate, drank, slept, and drugged around the world . . . to finally the gut-wrenching, horrific conclusion to his life that, until now, has become the stuff of legend. This book is just amazing.”—Amy Hughes, Q
“Womack’s book is a celebration—not just of Evans, but of all the unsung supporting characters who make creative life possible. . . . It removes the cloud of mythology that often shrouds the Beatles’ story and reminds us that their superstardom was by no means predestined.”—Christian Kriticos, The Guardian
“Like discovering the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Womack’s exclusive access to Evans’ unpublished archives, diaries, self-recorded notes, unfinished autobiographical manuscripts, and previously unseen pictures (along with numerous new interviews) conveys another view of the Beatles’ stunning history.”—Steve Valvano, Culture Sonar
“With Living the Beatles Legend, Womack has shined an enormous light on a Beatles adjunct whose enormous contribution and heart-rending personal story has not been told until now.”—Gary Graff, Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Womack’s Living the Beatles Legend is packed with behind-the-scenes stories spanning the band’s career and beyond [and] illustrated with rarely seen photographs and pages from the diaries of Malcolm Evans, their road manager and right-hand man, whose tragic story is itself fascinating.”—Randy Cepuch, Washington Independent Review of Books
“Hot on the heels of the ‘last’ Beatles song ‘Now and Then’ plus the expanded reissues of their ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ collections, Womack has uncovered some rare Beatles lore six decades after they made their debut.”—Chuck Arnold, The New York Post
“A brilliant biography of the Beatles’ faithful roadie, Mal Evans. Hilarious, fascinating, and heartbreaking—every part of Mal’s story is told here for the first time.”—Joe Wisbey, Beatles Books Podcast
“Just when you think you know everything about the Beatles, along comes Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans, a meticulous accounting of the life of the Fab Four’s friend, roadie, and personal assistant.”—Annie Zaleski, Salon
“He saved them from a car crash, snuck them drugs, and inspired ‘Let It Be.’ The detailed story of the Fab Four’s driver, bodyguard, and confidant Mal Evans captures Beatlemania up close.”—Tim Adams, The Observer
“In this finely-tuned ode to the past, Womack reminds us that even amidst legends, there are unsung heroes whose stories deserve to be heard.”—Ruby Smith, Mersey News Live
“A treasure trove of information, easily making Living the Beatles Legend one of the most important and best Beatles books in years.”—Paul LaRosa, New York Journal of Books
“Full of insight and eyewitness detail, Living the Beatles Legend tells the Beatles story inside-out. Womack does a fine job of communicating the novel and dangerous unrealities of a new kind of stardom.”—Dominic Green, The Wall Street Journal
