Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman, music publisher, writers' representative, filmmaker and record label executive, most noted for his tough persona and aggressive, innovative negotiation tactics, many of which established higher industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein revolutionized the income potentials of recording artists, who previously had been routinely victimized by onerous record company contracts. He first scored massive monetary and contractual windfalls for Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, one-hit rockabillies of the late 1950s, then parlayed his early successes into a position managing Sam Cooke, and eventually managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along with many other artists, becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era.
Rather than offering financial advice and maximizing his clients' income, as a business manager normally would, Klein set up what he called "buy/sell agreements" where a company owned by Klein became an intermediary between his client and the record label, owning the rights to the music, manufacturing the records, selling them to the record label, and paying royalties and cash advances to the client. Although Klein greatly increased his clients' incomes he also enriched himself, sometimes without his clients' knowledge (the Rolling Stones $1.25M advance from Decca in 1965 was deposited into a company that Klein set up and fine print of the contract didn't require Klein to release it for 20 years). Klein's involvement with both the Beatles and Rolling Stones would lead to years of litigation and, specifically for the Rolling Stones, accusations from the group that Klein had withheld royalty payments, stole the publishing rights to their songs, and neglected to pay their taxes for five years (necessitating their French "exile" in 1971).
Allen Klein (born April 26, 1938) is a pioneer in gelotology and the therapeutic humor movement. In 1974, Klein's wife was only 34 years old when she died of liver disease, and the aspect where she had kept her sense of humor all the way to the end inspired Klein to give up his previous career as a theater and television scene designer and to study human development. Klein is an American author and lecturer on the stress relieving benefits of humor and on gallows humor. Among other positions, Klein was the 2005-2006 president of The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor.
Klein has written 5 books on the therapeutic benefits of humor and happiness