It is May 1960 in England. Twenty-six-year-old Mal Evans follows the sounds of rock 'n' roll into the basement of a dank club called the Cavern, unaware that the Liverpool lads performing onstage would forever alter his life. Kenneth Womack (John Lennon 1980) pieces together Mal's fantastic and shockingly true 16-year journey with the band in Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans.
After Mal was introduced to the band, Paul McCartney took an instant liking to him, saying, "he was a lovely, big, huggable bear of a man." George Harrison told Mal: "Look, you're big and ugly enough, why don't you be a bouncer on the door?" When the group's flu-ridden road manager asked Mal if he would step in and drive the Beatles to London, Mal said yes. The windshield of their van was splintered during a winter storm on a country road, but Mal "punched the windscreen out completely, and drove on."
His quick thinking in unexpected situations made Mal an important multihyphenate to the group for the rest of his life, arguably a gatekeeper to the Beatles. His duties included driving and setting up equipment, but also making tea and providing occasional (uncompensated and uncredited) lyrics. Mal chronicled his adventures via journals and photos, which his son, Gary, and Womack have painstakingly reconstructed. The result is equal parts love letter to the famous group and a story of the tragic demise of a man who devoted his life to them. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer