A Brazilian amongst the Beatles

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Special Interview

A Brazilian amongst the Beatles

The creator of the biggest Beatles fan club in Brazil reveals what the meetings with Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were like

In 1963 Marco Antonio Mallagoli was just nine years old when he first heard a Beatles song. From that moment on his life began to change. Mallagoli started buying almost everything that had the Beatles on it. His passion for the band from Liverpool led him to being a professional musician and learning English. In 1979 he founded Revolution, the biggest Beatles fan club in Brazil (Revolution currently has over  25,000 members).  Mallagoli’s work was recognized by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Mallagoli had several meetings with each one of them at different times and in different places. On the right he reveals the most memorable moments from those meetings to Maganews.

“McCartney sang for my son”

“I’ve met him five times. The most memorable time was in Rio de Janeiro, in 1990.  I arrived at the dressing room with my two little kids and Paul picked them up and started to play with them. And when I said my youngest son liked the song Yesterday, but sang it wrongly, Paul got his guitar and sang Yesterday to my son. Three years later Paul was in São Paulo for a show. Again I took my two kids and Paul soon recognized them and said: “Wow, they’ve grown.”

                An afternoon with George Harrison

“The first time I was face-to-face with an ex-Beatle was in ’79, when George Harrison came to watch a Formula One race in São Paulo (Harrison was a friend of Emerson Fittipaldi’s). After that, I met him again 8 more times. In 1988, I spent a whole afternoon with him in Los Angeles. Harrison (who died in 2001) was a very simple person and treated me like a friend. We talked about music, but he also told me stories about the Beatles and a lot of jokes.”

  

Lennon: Carnival and charity

“I was with Lennon in October ’80, two months before he died. He asked me what my favorite Beatles song was. I said it was She Loves You and later he sent me, through the mail, that song’s Gold Disk. Lennon wanted to go to Carnival in Rio and even had plans to do benefit shows in Brazil.”

The biggest musical phenomenon ever

The Beatles revolutionized music, the habits and fashions of a generation. They began to play professionally in 1960, in Liverpool.  In 1962 they recorded their first single. In 1963 they were already known in England and in 1964 they began to conquer the USA and the rest of the world. During the sixties they wrote more than 400 songs – many of them becoming worldwide hits. The group split up in 1970, but even today the Beatles records are among the biggest selling in the world. It is estimated that so far over a billion records and tapes by the biggest ever band in the world have been sold.

The Lennon & McCartney partnership

Lennon and McCartney met each other in 1956 and soon began playing and composing together. This partnership lasted almost 15 years. In 1970, after various disputes between the four Beatles, the group split up. But Mallagoli remembers that, despite the split and the arguments, Paul and John got together some times during the  1970s. In 1980, the two ex-Beatles and their families spent Easter together.  Mallagoli believes they got back to being friends and that the Beatles could have played again together, if Lennon had not been killed in 1980.

Vocabulary

1 amongst – no meio de / dentre

2 from that moment on – a partir daquele momento

3 passion – paixão

4 currently - atualmente

5 dressing room - camarim
6 to pick up – pegar / levantar

7 charity – caridade
8 song’s Gold Disk - o disco de ouro (do compacto She Loves You)

9 sixties – anos 60
10 to split up – separar
11 records and tapes – discos e fitas

12 partnership – parceria

13 argument – discussão

14 Easter - Páscoa

Fotos – Arquivo pessoal de Marco Antonio Mallagoli e capa de disco.

Matéria publicada na edição de número 20 da Revista Maganews.

Para conhecer mais sobre o fã clube Revolution e sobre os  Beatles, visite o sitehttp://www.revolution9.com.br/