As personal assistant to Beatles manager Brian Epstein, Joanne Petersen was living her dream. But one moment, 55 years ago, when she found her boss dead in his bed, would haunt her until today.
Then only 32, Epstein – now honoured with a statue and biopic – was known around the world and also managed other British acts like Cilla Black, Gerry & The Pacemakers, and Billy J Kramer.
But one Sunday morning in August 1967, 22-year-old Joanne discovered him lying motionless in his pyjamas at his townhouse in Belgravia, Central London.
“That image I have never got out of my head,” she reveals. “He looked very peaceful, with a book called The Rabbi open beside him, and correspondence spread over the other side of the bed. It just looked like he was asleep.
“That whole day is still so vivid... looking out from the living room as people started to gather, the police arriving and taking Brian away, knowing all hell was going to break loose. I was very young and this was such a big thing and I was shocked, upset and confused.
“The Beatles came to the house with their wives and girlfriends the next day. They were ashen, totally devastated. Everybody was shocked. I was sitting weeping on the sofa and George Harrison came over and consoled me.
“They’d come back from meditating so he was in a spiritual state of mind. He said ‘Brian’s alright, nothing can hurt him now, he’s at peace.’ He was sweet and comforting. But it was terrible.”
Harrison had played a part in getting Joanne the job with Epstein in 1964.
The daughter of two garment wholesalers from north London, Joanne says: “I was a middle class girl from the suburbs who got lucky. I think my parents thought I’d leave school, have a job, get married and have babies.
“I was a Beatles fan from when they first appeared on the scene [in 1963]. My mother couldn’t understand what I saw in them. She’d stand shaking her head as I watched them on TV.’”
Joanne met George and Ringo in a London nightclub in 1965 when she was 20.
“They asked me what I did for a living. I explained I worked for a property developer but it was really boring. They suggested I phone their manager ‘Eppy’ as he might be looking for someone. I did, thinking I wouldn’t get past reception. I was asked in for typing tests, and a week later I was offered work in his new offices in Albermarle Street, Central London.
“I met Brian and was terrified. I didn’t even know what to call him. But his then PA, Wendy Hanson, taught me how to be around Brian and The Beatles.
“I had to be cool and not gape when they walked in the door. But one minute I was a fan and the next John, Paul, George and Ringo were walking past my desk. It was quite something.
“I worked for Brian for three years, from Rubber Soul to Sergeant Pepper’,” says Joanne, referring to the classic albums of 1965 and 1967. “I worked at his offices, then when Wendy left and I became Brian’s PA, I worked at his home in Chapel Street.
“Sharing that life was such a privilege. Cilla, Gerry [Marsden], Billy J, The Moody Blues – all the artists would come for meetings with Brian.
“The Beatles came in a lot. They were friendly and good with the one-liners. John and Paul came and wrote a song in my office once while I was sitting in the corner typing, and quietly telling a friend on the phone ‘You’ll never guess who’s here!’
“I remember being in the Hampstead cottage that artist Klaus Voormann shared with my friend, when Klaus was drawing the cover of Revolver. Leaning over his shoulder, I watched that come to life and it was extraordinary.
“At supper parties at Chapel Street after shows at The Saville Theatre, I met Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, The Four Tops,” adds Joanne, who dated stars of the time, but would not reveal who.
Of the Beatles, she says: “George and John were my favourites. I liked George’s sensitivity and John’s unpredictability but they were all extremely charismatic. My private life was quite difficult because I often worked unusual hours. If Brian needed me I’d cancel everything else. He came first.
“Ours was a fairly intimate relationship. I was working in his house and it was often just me and him.
“We’d sit and chat in his study after work. We both came from middle-class Jewish families and we definitely had an understanding.
“In my own way, I really loved him. He was elegant, debonair, fascinating, infuriating, private, lonely..but creative, charismatic, and an amazing person. He suffered from depression. I saw all the ups and downs of his life.
“I don’t know if Brian was happy. He was conflicted but England in the 60s was a difficult place to be for gay people – it was a crime. It was especially difficult for Brian as a well-known person. That was a secret side of his life and isolated him.
“I talked to George [Harrison] and Pattie [Boyd, his then wife] about Brian’s lifestyle and insomnia. I worried about him.”
Epstein suffered stress and depression, prompting his doctor to recommend he spend time in the country, so he bought a house called Kingsley Hill in an East Sussex village, Warbleton.
Joanne attended the launch party of the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album there in the 1967 Summer of Love, 1967, with her singer pal Lulu.
“I must have been one of the few people who didn’t do drugs in the 60s, but I remember opening a door of John Lennon’s psychedelic Rolls Royce and seeing him inside tripping.
“It was a wild party. Lulu never did drugs either – she walked around all night emptying ashtrays and making people cups of tea.”
Epstein was due to spend the August Bank Holiday weekend of 1967 at Kingsley Hill with close colleagues Peter Brown and Geoffrey Ellis.
Joanne and Lulu were invited but chose instead to spend time with relatives. “On the Friday, I waved as Brian drove off in his Bentley. It was a beautiful sunny day and he seemed in a really good frame of mind. But that was to be the last time I saw him alive.”
Epstein returned unexpectedly that night, and two days later could not be roused from the locked bedroom of his Belgravia townhouse.
“Maria and Antonio, a Spanish couple who were Brian’s housekeeper and butler, called me on the Sunday. They explained Brian had come back late Friday and was still in his room.
“I told them not to worry as Brian was an insomniac so it wasn’t unusual for him to take sleeping pills and sleep erratic hours.
“But I decided to drive to the house. Maria and Antonio were anxious. I tried the intercom and I knocked on Brian’s dressing room door. I couldn’t get any response, so I called Kingsley Hill but Peter and Geoffrey didn’t really give a reason why Brian had returned home.
“I’ve always found that curious and have question marks about why Brian came back and why he died. Peter’s doctor, John Galway, came to Chapel Street and, with Antonio, broke the doors down. We went in and found Brian dead.”
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At the inquest, the coroner ruled Epstein’s death an accident caused by a gradual build-up of Carbitral (a form of sleeping pill) in his system, combined with alcohol.
“Who knows why he died, whether it was accident or intentional,” says Joanne. “I don’t think it was foul play. I tend to think it was accidental because his father had only died (from a heart attack) six weeks earlier and he was very close to his mother, so I can’t imagine he’d have intentionally done it.”
For the funeral in Epstein’s native Liverpool, Joanne travelled with Epstein’s mother Queenie and aunt Freda, and Cilla Black.
“Everyone was in complete shock,” Joanne recalls. “I stayed with the family for a week, holding hands with Queenie who just wanted to talk about Brian.”
Further tragedy struck in 1988 when Queenie Epstein’s only other child, Brian’s brother Clive, was killed in a skiing accident at 51.
Of Brian’s death, Joanne says: “I kind of knew that was the beginning of the end for The Beatles. He was the glue that kept them together. Things unravelled pretty quickly after he died.
“When Brian died, I was devastated. I felt like my life had ended. I couldn’t imagine where I’d go from there.”
She went on to work for impresario Robert Stigwood who managed The Bee Gees.
Lulu married Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees, and Joanne wed their drummer Colin Petersen and they moved to Australia in 1974 where they both remained in “the business” – he as a producer and she playing a big role in the early careers of Aussie music stars INXS and Keith Urban.
Joanne and Colin divorced after 27 years and have children, but remain good friends.
Joanne is sad that The Epstein Theatre in Liverpool, named after Brian in 1997, was recently forced to close but is delighted with a statue of him in that city, depicting him walking to The Cavern Club to watch The Beatles for the first time.
“The artist has captured Brian so well,” she said. “The Beatles wouldn’t have happened in the same way without him. He really was The Fifth Beatle.”
At her home in Byron Bay, Australia, Joanne treasures notes Epstein gave her in his final two weeks, his 1966 Christmas card list including names such as Princess Margaret and The Rolling Stones, and a photocopy of The Beatles’ contract for Yesterday signed by John, Paul, Brian and Joanne.
Even five decades on, Joanne admits: “I think of Brian a lot and would give anything to be able to sit and talk with him now. Same sex relationships and marriages are totally legal in the UK now – how different Brian’s life would have been. I felt a deep connection then and a loyalty, but I really had no idea how to express it or how deep it ran and still does. It was a very special time and left an indelible mark on my life.”
