All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words - by Peter Brown & Steven Gaines

Book Synopsis

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An oral history of The Beatles from never-before-seen interviews.

All You Need Is Love is a groundbreaking oral history of the one of the most enduring musical acts of all time. The material is comprised of intimate interviews with Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, their families, friends and business associates that were conducted by Beatles intimate Peter Brown and author Steven Gaines in 1980-1981 during the preparation of their international bestseller, The Love You Make, which spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list in 1983 and remains the biggest selling biography worldwide about the Beatles

Only a small portion of the contents of these transcribed interviews have ever been revealed. The interviews are unique and candid. The information, stories, and experiences, and the authority of the people who relate to them, have historic value. No collection like this can ever be assembled again.

In addition to interviews with Paul, Yoko, Ringo and George, Brown and Gaines also include interviews from ex-wives Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison Clapton, and Maureen Starkey, as well as the major social and business figures of the Beatles' inner circle. Among other sought-after information the interviews contribute definitively as to why the Beatles broke up.

Review Quotes

Praise for All You Need Is Love:

"I can think of no one better placed to tell the story behind the Beatles than Peter Brown" --Pattie Boyd

"Brown and Gaines's new book... goes even deeper into Beatle lore than their first." --The New York Times

"All You Need Is Love affords readers with a feast of new information... presents the band members and their circle in rare instances of unmediated frankness....All You Need Is Love proves itself to be an invaluable historical resource, presenting the Beatles entirely in their own words in a series of moments in which an unknown future was still splayed out before them, those precious last instances in which all four Fabs still safely walked the earth." --Salon

"An illuminating page turner" --New York Post

"Insider oral history... Recalled with the split still reverberating, unresolved grievances are aired and scores settled, but recrimination is tempered with perspective." --Mojo

"a valuable, historical, and utterly enlightening collection of chats about the chaps from Liverpool. The book could be twice as long and still enthrall and enlighten." --Houston Press

"For those interested in the interplay of personalities and the ambience of the Beatles era, this is a treasure trove. A rich collection of Beatles material, reported by those closest to the band during its heyday." --Kirkus Reviews

"[A] revealing oral history of the forces that spurred the band's breakup...drawing from a trove of never before published conversations with each band member, except for John Lennon, and their intimates...Taken together, the interview transcripts reveal that "the time had come" for the band's split...Beatles fans will be impatient to get their hands on this." --Publishers Weekly

"Want to know why the Beatles broke up? Reveal[s] previously unknown details about the band's story, including that devastating breakup. Brown is himself a long-time Beatles insider, having known the Fab Four since their early days as a band; he was best man when Lennon and Oko married in 1969. Steven Gaines is a journalist and author. For the new book, the pair have mined archival interviews with members of The Beatles, as well as with the women who were among their inner circle, including Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, Pattie Harrison Clapton and Maureen Starkey." --From the People Magazine Announcement

Praise and reviews for The Love You Make:

"Finally the real story." --Rolling Stone

"Literate, complex...more than sensationalism...a hard-hitting yet sympathetic book that unflinchingly captures the highs and lows." --The Boston Globe

"The best backstage memoir yet of the most amazing musical phenomenon of our times." --The Washington Post Book World

"The definitive book on the Beatles." --New York Post
"A gothic tale of drugs, sex, music, greed, booze, and genius...an entire generation's loss of innocence." --People

"Fascinating." --The Indianapolis Star

"The most sensational Beatles biography...emotionally involving." --Esquire

"The definitive book on the world's greatest rock group...tells the truth with surprisingly little varnish." --Chicago Tribune

"A dramatically good story....Peter Brown catches us with the headiness of it all." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

PETER BROWN is the former COO of Apple Corp, the Beatles' financial empire. He's been a Beatles intimate since their earliest days in Liverpool. Their passports were locked in his desk drawer. He was best man at John and Yoko's wedding, he introduced Paul to Linda Eastman, and perhaps the most charming of his credentials is that he's the only real person ever mentioned in a Beatles song, "Peter Brown called to say, you can make it okay, you can marry in Gibraltar near Spain," from the "Ballad of John and Yoko." Mr. Brown is now chairman of the international public relations firm of BLJ Worldwide.

STEVEN GAINES is the New York Times bestselling author of Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons and The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles (with Peter Brown). His journalism has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, and New York magazine, where he was a contributing editor for 12 years. Mr. Gaines is the co-founder and a past vice-chairman of the Hamptons International Film Festival.