The Untold Story Of Mal Evans

The Beatles Roadie, Personal Assistant and Devoted Friend

By Kenneth Womack with use of the Mal Evans journal and archives courtesy of the Evans children. Published by Harper Collins, 195 Broadway, New York, 2023, First Edition. Hardcover with dust jacket which features a photograph of Paul McCartney and Mal Evans which was taken in front of his Hillside Road home, Allerton, Liverpool. 580 pages, index, profusely illustrated. Light wear. Very fine. Very desirable. A must have for any serious Beatles library. Beatles fans all over the world have been waiting a very long time for the memoirs and first hand accounts of Mal Evans to be published.

This is 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 close personal 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 tele-communications 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 devotes, 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Working with full access to Mal’s unpublished archives and having conducted hundreds of new interviews, Beatles’ scholar and author Kenneth Womack affords readers with a full telling of Mal’s unknown story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.

MAL EVANS: Born on May 27, 1935, in Liverpool, England. He was shot to death by the Los Angeles Police Department, on January 4, 1976, at 40 years old, the same age John Lennon was when he was murdered in New York City, on December 8, 1980.

Mal Evans was involved in what was termed a domestic dispute with his new girlfriend Fran Hughes, and he was tragically shot to death by the LAPD. Evans was very depressed and despondent and confused from being separated from his wife and two children in England, which came to a head when she asked him for a divorce just before Christmas.

Evans was confused and incoherent from taking a heavy dose of Valium when 4 L.A. police officers arrived at his rented apartment. Mal had gone upstairs and grabbed a Winchester rifle, and when the police ordered him to drop it he pointed it at them. The officers repeatedly told Evans to put down the weapon but Evans refused, and 3 of the officers fired on him killing him instantly. Ironically he previously had been awarded the badge of "Honorary Sheriff of Los Angeles County" and met with a horrible ending for a man who was beloved by the four Beatles and their fans, and generally had a mild mannered disposition. It has been argued by historians that his death was a suicide by cop, as Evans had written a will the night before.

Mal first met The Beatles when he worked part-time as a bouncer at the Cavern Club. The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, later hired Evans as the group's assistant roadie, and over time, he became a constant companion to the group, being present on all of their tours, and after the Beatles stopped touring in 1966, at nearly all of their recording sessions. A constant presence in their inner circle, the Beatles occasionally used Evans as an extra musician; and he made many often uncredited contributions on most Beatles albums from Rubber Soul (1965) onwards.

During the final years of the group, and continuing after their break-up in 1970, Evans worked as a record producer and continued to work with the individual Beatles on their solo projects. As a producer, his biggest hit was with the Badfinger top 10 hit "No Matter What."