Jack Oliver (born London, England), was a entertainment executive and entrepreneur, is best known as the president of the Beatles'

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...

label from 1969 to 1971. Oliver got his start in the music industry at Chappell Music Publishing on Bond Street, London. After two years at Chappell, he formed a band with UK songwriter,

Gary Osborne Gary Osborne (born 1949 in London) is an English singer and songwriter. He chaired The Songwriters Executive of the British Academy Of Songwriters Composers and Authors for 12 years during which time he was also chairman of The Ivor Novello Awar ...

called The Chocolate Watch Band.http://www.jackoliver.com/cw1.html Not to be confused with the American band with the same name. The UK band signed with Decca Records and released two singles in the late 60s - "The Sound Of Summer" and "Requiem". Both were well received and became minor hits in the UK.

The Beatles

In 1967, Oliver joined the Beatles Company in the music publishing division at 94 Baker Street, London. Once Apple Corp. was officially formed in 1968, they moved offices to Savile Row in London, where Oliver worked with famed Apple publicist

Derek Taylor Derek Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was an English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was one ...

. Oliver also managed recording artist and Paul McCartney's protégé, Mary Hopkin when she was first signed to the newly created Apple Records. Oliver then transferred from music publishing and management to Apple Records where he oversaw the foreign and production departments. Oliver became the president of Apple Records from 1969 – 1971 where he worked closely with the Beatles on their various solo projects, albums and with the artists signed to the record label. This was one of the most active periods in Apple Records.

1970s

When the Beatles split in 1971, Oliver moved to Los Angeles, California where he partnered with Peter Asher in a music entertainment management company specializing in, production, and tours for acclaimed recording artists such as Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, who achieved great success with Grammy award-winning, multi-gold and platinum albums and sold out tours in support of -

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

Sweet Baby James ''Sweet Baby James'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on February 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records. The album includes two of Taylor's earliest successful singles: " Fire and Rain", and " Country ...

, JT, Flag,

Heart Like a Wheel ''Heart Like a Wheel'' is the fifth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in November 1974. It was Ronstadt's last album to be released by Capitol Records. At the time of its recording, Ronstadt had already moved to Asylum Records and r ...

, Simple Dreams,

Don't Cry Now ''Don't Cry Now'' is the fourth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt and the first of her studio releases for Asylum Records, following six albums recorded for and released on Capitol Records including three she recorded as a member of The Stone Po ...

Prisoner In Disguise ''Prisoner In Disguise'' (1975) is Linda Ronstadt's sixth solo LP release and her second for the label Asylum Records. It followed Ronstadt's multi-platinum breakthrough album, ''Heart Like a Wheel'', which became her first number album on the US ...

Living In The USA ''Living in the USA'' is the ninth studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1978. The album was Ronstadt's third and final No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Release The album was originally released by Asylum in the L ...

1980s

Oliver went on to produce concerts and tours in the United States and abroad for Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Barbra Streisand, Carole King, America, The Motels and The Eagles. In addition, he produced videos and handled product management for Disney Pictures, Jordache Jeans, Virgin Video, Datsun Motors, Dave Mason, Madonna, and Elton John - plus concept development and production of the long-running Las Vegas show, 'SPLASH.'

1994 –2001

Oliver was a personal advisor and chief of staff for Academy-Award-winning actor,

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

. Oliver was also involved in the management of Cage’s production companies—Saturn Productions and

Saturn Films Nicolas Cage is an American actor and producer who began his acting career in 1981 with a role in the television pilot '' The Best of Times''. The following year, Cage made his feature film acting debut in ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', the ...

working on such film productions as

Shadow of the Vampire ''Shadow of the Vampire'' is a 2000 independent meta period horror comedy film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classi ...

(2000) and

The Life of David Gale ''The Life of David Gale'' is a 2003 dramatic crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph. The film is an international co-production, between the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. It was Parker's final ...

(2003).

Current

Oliver is currently writing and producing. He has several projects in active development, including: a documentary celebrating the Beatles company - Apple; a Sixties era romantic comedy script and his first autobiographical novel. Japanese manga artist

Naoki Urasawa is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with his ...

met with Oliver and went on to draw two short instalments in his "

Musica Nostra is a Japanese anthology of manga written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It collects eight varied short stories that are loosely thematically linked, and which were originally published in various magazines and publications between 1995 and ...

" series that depict the meeting and how Oliver started working at Apple Records.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Jack Living people Apple Corps Apple Records Year of birth missing (living people) Businesspeople from London