All You Need Is Love: An Oral History of the Beatles

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.

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 Brown Lloyd James LTD.

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 Insiders 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. He has lived in Wainscott, a small hamlet on the East End of Long Island, for 40 years.