The late Mal Evans who passed away in January of 1976 when he was shot by the LA police department while brandishing what the cops viewed as a rifle being aimed at them. Mal was suffering from severe depression at the time. He had led both a fascinating yet complicated life. He had the undying trust of the Beatles and he was with them for virtually their entire career joining them in 1963 and becoming their Road Manager joining forces with another trusted Beatle associate named Neil Aspinall. Mal was with the band as they rose to the pinnacle of fame and fortune. He loved the band so much that his devout loyalty has been later diagnosed as one of his biggest flaws. The reason for this analysis is based on the observation that he was often taken for granted by the band especially in regards to his financial compensation. He was grossly underpaid especially when compared with what the Beatles earned during those 7 years he was with them. He was promised royalties and a songwriting credit for several lyrical contributions he made to some Beatles songs. Speculation also exists that he may have been given compensation but his diaries certainly do not verify any specific amounts if that is indeed the case. It is a sad irony that the Beatles loved and trusted Mal but perhaps one could judiciously argue that on the other side of the coin, much of Mal’s loyalty may have been misplaced or misdirected. Reading the superb book by Kenneth Womack called Living the Beatles Legend, he lays out much of the evidence which allows the viewer to assess the information and come to their own conclusion about this matter. Mal was very happy and eager to dedicate a large portion of his life to the Beatles, yet the end result of that was that his wife and children suffered from not having their husband and dad around as often as they would have wanted or have liked. I get the distinct impression that the family often came out as the 2nd banana in the importance hierarchy of Mal. That assessment is not so simple though as Ken Womack describes Mal’s intense love for his wife and children. You get the impression that Mal felt guilty about how his family was feeling about his extreme sense of devotion but his actions and behavior seemed to belie that feeling of guilt. This may explain Mal’s intense sense of depression towards the end of his life. He was now facing a life without the Beatles and he lacked the sense of confidence to seemingly forge a new path. Mal admired the Beatles musical talents very much but he seemed to feel that his own attempts and musical production skills and attemots at songwriting were not be taken as seriously as he would have liked. It must have been a difficult scenario where his primary accomplishment was being assessed by the public from his association with the world’s most successful entertainers of the time. That had to be a tough row to hoe and we could certainly understand the mental conflicts this must have caused with Mal. To learn more about this fascinating story I suggest you read volume 1 of Kenneth Womack’s Mal Evans biography. You will smile at times and you will shed a few tears as well. Volume 2 of the Evans biography will follow, according to Ken Womack sometime in late 2026. The 2nd book will feature the actual Evans diaries as well as many other long hidden treasures!
For signed copies of the Ken Womack book: THE FEST FOR BEATLES FANS LINK
The US cover of the book and the US AMAZON link:
The UK cover of the book and the UK AMAZON link:-My personal preference is the UK cover with the touch of color!
Some people scoff at the contributions that Mal Evans made to Beatles songs like contributing some lyrics to Paul’s Fixing a Hole Sgt. Pepper track, yet just like many other Mal Evans occasions where the Beatles took Mal for granted, he went publicly uncredited for many of those contributions. It is a Shakespearean tragedy in my opinion that this man’s undying loyalty and love for the Beatles allowed him to be often used by the band. This even extended to what the band paid him during the Beatles years. The full story is brilliantly portrayed in the Kenneth Womack book that you see on this page (both the US edition and UK edition are pictured above)
A Personal Collecting higlight for me:
This unreleased song entitled Tears, was written in Mal Evans handwriting which I obtained for my personal collection from the UK organization named TRACKS! The song was co-written with Norman Kurban, a songwriter, musician, and arranger. Kurban has worked with Carole King and Buddy Miles among many other prominent names over the years!
Mal must have written multiple drafts of the song as recently I saw another handwritten copy of the song on eBay!
That copy however does not give the songwriting credits shown here on the upper right hand corner of the document!
Some Songwriting and Production Credits:
You and Me (Babe) is the song that ends the Ringo LP. It was co-written by none other than George Harrison and Mal Evans. Little is known that there was an additional song written by Mal that Ringo decided not to use on the Ringo LP. (See the Womack book for more details)
Mal Evans was also a great talent scout for the Beatles finding and promoting the Iveys who were later to become Badfinger. Mal Evans produced the hit single No Matter What for Badfinger.
No Matter What (Remastered 2010)
Mal also discovered and found the wonderful duo who become Splinter once Bill Elliot had recorded the vocal for the John Lennon song God Save Us God Save Us (2010 Remaster) which was issued to benefit OZ magazine in the UK. The song had a production credit for Mal Evans on the record.
Later, Elliot joined Bob Purvis to form Splinter a wonderful harmonizing duo that recorded some Apple demos but after the Apple label had deteriorated, due to business problems, George Harrison signed them to Dark Horse Records.
A lovely and beautiful Bob Purvis song that Mal Evans wrote some of the lyrics to was entitled Lonely Man. A rare unreleased version of this song exists with Pete Ham of Badfinger on acoustic guitar. Hopefully we will one day hear that gem. In the meantime, here is the excellent released version:
Here is the very rare version sung in both English and Japanese by Splinter:
‘Lonely Man’ by Splinter’, Japanese and part English version. Live in Tokyo!
The Beatles song that Mal acquired the anvil for:
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Remastered 2009)
A song that Mal wrote a line for but was not officially credited for. Mal also claims credit for a line in Here There and Everywhere, also uncredited.
Fixing A Hole (Remastered 2009)
THE MAL EVANS BOBBLEHEAD
This is an item which I acquired from Kenneth Womack, the prominent Beatles scholar and author.
The bobblehead features a representation of Mal holding a hammer that he used on the anvil he secured for the song he played on during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions entitled Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. The song was officially released on the Abbey Road LP. I apologize for not knowing for sure whether it was Mal or Ringo playing the anvil on the final studio version of the song. I am only making an assumption saying that it was Mal. I usually only collect Beatles-related print material but I was overjoyed to obtain this wonderful memento from the Mal Evans book author. I love it and it is displayed prominently on one of my many bookshelves. One of my biggest regrets was not attending the Beatlefest (now known as The Fest For Beatles Fans) in the 70s where Mal made a guest appearance.
I have been told that a picture of the unique Apple Christmas card that Mal Evans sent to the former manager of Apple Records, the late Ken Mansfield, which I now own, will be included in the highly anticipated 2nd volume about Mal written by Kenneth Womack, due sometime in 2026! Here is a photo of the letter that accompanied my purchase of the Mal Evans Christmas card. Mr. Mansfield was a classy guy!
The 1964 UK Tour program in my collection which features a Mal Evans signature:
Mal Evans signature from my copy of a 1964 UK Tour program-unusual because he usually signed Mal rather than his full first name of Malcolm! Also proud to have his job description included with his signature as Beatle Road Manager.
MAL WAS LOVED BY VIRTUALLY EVERYONE:
Mal was also loved and respected by many of the Beatles close friends and associates. For example, people like musician Harry Nilsson who wrote this wonderful inscription about Mal on a test reference disk of his Sandman LP :
It reads: “TO MAL THE PAL-I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART-YOU BET HARRY NILSSON” Mal took the photo of the the cover of the Nilsson Sandman LP.
The Harry Nilsson Sandman LP cover with the photo that was taken by Mal Evans:
Mal receives the cover photo credit on the back of the album cover in the last column:
SANDMAN ALBUM CREDITS:
A&R – Marge Meoli
Arranged By – Perry Botkin Jr. (tracks: A2, A4, B4)
Backing Vocals – The Perry Botkin Jr. Singers*
Banjo – Doug Dillard
Bass, Artwork [Inside] – Klaus Voormann
Design, Graphics – Gribbitt*
Drums – Jim Keltner
Engineer [Recording], Producer [Associate] – Richie Schmitt*
Engineer [Second] – Artie Torgersen, Mike Moran (7), Pete Abbott
Guitar – Danny Kootch*, Fred Tackett, Jesse Ed Davis
Keyboards – Jane Getz, Leon Russell, Van Dyke Parks
Percussion – Emil Richards, Emmett Kennedy, Gary Coleman, Joe DeAguero, Pat Murphy, Robert Greenidge
Photography By [Cover] – Mal “The Pal” Evans*
Producer – Harry Nilsson
Reeds – Bobby Keys, Gene Cipriano, Jay Migliori, Jim Horn, Johnny Rotella*, Trevor Lawrence
Strings [Solos] – Bobby Bruce, Ilene Novog, The Perry Botkin Jr. Orchestra*
HOPE YOU LOOK FORWARD TO LATE 2026 WHEN WE LEARN A LOT MORE ABOUT THE INTRIGUING SHAKESPEAREAN TALE OF MALCOLM EVANS WITH VOLUME 2 OF KENNETH WOMACK’S EXCELLENT EXPLORATION OF THE LIFE OF THE GENTLE GIANT. HOPE THE MONTHS FLY BY!
Be healthy and be happy!
Buzz
Norman Kurban, Mal’s one-off co-writer featured above, was an ‘interesting’ guy. Ended up in late 1970s London after marrying a beautiful Californian actress but then it all went wrong. Divorce, a huge fraud scandal, prison, deportation…
Check out the newspaper reports from 1994 at the BNA:
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers/results?names=norman%20kurban&o=date&d=asc&page=2&sid=909
Love the Mal Evans memorabilia Buzz!!
Mal sure could find and produce talent! The wonderful Mal Evans book is also where I learned he was heavily involved with the 1970s album by superb musicians Joey Molland, Mark Clarke, Jerry Shirley and Peter Wood who called their band and album Natural Gas. It is a great rocking album to listen to if you haven’t. There is a dedication to Mal in the linear notes of the album that just got a special re-release treatment with bonus tracks as listed online (they even do The Beatles’
Birthday live):
1. Little Darlin’
2. Once Again, A Love Song
3. You Can Do It
4. I’ve Been Waitin’
5. I Believe It’s Love
6. The Right Time
7. Christmas Song
8. Miracle Mile
9. Dark Cloud
10. St. Louis Blues
BONUS TRACKS
11. Little Darlin’ (Demo)
12. Christmas Song (Demo)
LIVE AT THE DOME, GRAND RAPIDS, MI, 8/14/1976
13. Little Darlin’
14. Dark Cloud
15. You Can Do It
16. Christmas Song
17. Miracle Mile
18. St. Louis Blues
19. The Right Time
20. Birthday
I have so many Beatles-related books that I haven’t read yet, but when Ken’s book about Mal Evans arrived, I read it right away! It was a riveting book and crazily I kept hoping it would end differently than I knew it would! Next to John Lennon, Mal’s death was so senseless!
Awesome Spellbinding book!