Mick Jagger Warned John Lennon Against Making the ‘Biggest Mistake of [His] Life,’ but Lennon Didn’t Listen

Following the death of their manager, The Beatles hired Allen Klein, a move that Mick Jagger warned John Lennon against. Klein had worked with The Rolling Stones as well, and Jagger felt that it would be a terrible idea for The Beatles to hire him. He called Lennon to try to warn him, but Lennon wouldn’t listen. Several years later, though, he realized Jagger had been right.

Mick Jagger told John Lennon not to work with Allen Klein

The Rolling Stones worked with Klein before The Beatles hired him, and their working relationship did not end well. The band alleged that Klein had pocketed their royalty payments, failed to pay their taxes, and stolen their publishing rights. Jagger was especially suspicious of Klein, and the band ultimately hired a law firm to look into the way he’d handled their affairs.

As this was happening, Lennon campaigned for Klein to become The Beatles’ next manager. Klein had taken a secret meeting with him and detailed all the ways he could make Lennon rich. Soon, Lennon had persuaded George Harrison and Ringo Starr to hire Klein. 

When Jagger heard about this from director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, he immediately set off for Apple Corps. Here, he found Klein in a meeting with The Beatles and, wanting to avoid confrontation, left without doing much to warn them.

“We, the Beatles, were all gathered in the big boardroom there, and we asked Mick how Klein was, and he said, ‘Well, he’s all right if you like that kind of thing,’” Paul McCartney recalled in the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. “He didn’t say, ‘He’s a robber,’ even though Klein had already taken all the Hot Rocks copyrights off them by that time.”

Per the book Mick Jagger by Philip Norman, Jagger later called Lennon and warned him that he was about to make “the biggest mistake of your life.” Lennon didn’t listen, though, and The Beatles hired Klein.

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The Rolling Stones singer also wrote a note to Paul McCartney about Allen Klein

The only Beatle who had never liked Klein was McCartney. He wanted Lee Eastman, the father of his soon-to-be wife Linda Eastman, to take over the band’s affairs. His bandmates felt this would put McCartney at an unfair advantage, though and argued against hiring Eastman. 

Even if McCartney hadn’t wanted to hire Eastman, he would’ve had his doubts about Klein. On top of calling Lennon, Jagger wrote a note to McCartney.

“Jagger gave me a note in an envelope to take over to Apple addressed to Paul,” Jagger’s assistant Peter Swales said. “It was a warning, maybe in solidarity with him. It was to the effect of ‘Don’t go near him, he’s a dog. He’s a crook.’”

John Lennon eventually realized Mick Jagger was right

Klein managed The Beatles until they broke up and then continued to work on the solo careers of Lennon, Harrison, and Starr. Soon, they began to have the same problems with Klein that Jagger had warned them about. By 1973, all three of them had cut ties with him.

“There are many reasons why we finally gave him the push, although I don’t want to go into the details of it,” Lennon said in 1973, per the book The Beatles Diaries Volume 2: After the Breakup. “Let’s say possibly Paul’s suspicions were right … and the time was right.”

While Lennon didn’t mention Jagger’s suspicions, the chaos that Klein brought to The Beatles proved him right.