The Replacement of Paul McCartney: The Mal Evans archive

On January 5th, 1976, former Beatles roadie, road manager, personal assistant, sometimes bodyguard and friend of the band, was shot several times and killed at his duplex in a suburb of Los Angeles by members of the L.A.P.D.

The story of Mal Evans and his involvement with the fab four started when the band was just beginning its meteoric rise to fame.

He was introduced to the band via George Harrison when he was working door security at the Caven Club in Liverpool. From there he first became the bands' roadie who sometimes also doubled as a bodyguard. Over the next several years his job description would change many times.

Just prior to his death, Evans had completed writing a book of memoirs called “Living the Beatles’ Legend”, which he had been due to deliver to the publishers, Grosset and Dunlap within the same week of his death. This naturally fueled speculation among the “Paul is dead” conspiracy theorists that his memoirs may have contained revelations regarding Paul McCartney’s death and subsequent substitution, especially in light of the fact that Evans was known to have been close to McCartney, particularly during *the closing months of 1966 when he accompanied the person acknowledged as McCartney to Kenya. A suitcase that Evans had with him at the time of his death, which was said to contain unreleased recordings, photos and other memorabilia, was supposedly lost by the police during the subsequent investigation and has become known as “the lost Mal Evans archive". The manuscript for "Living the Beatles' Legend" hasn't surfaced in the 4 decades since his death. None of the former Beatles attended Evans' funeral held in Los Angeles on the 7th of January. He was 40 years old.

*the time frame that the “McCartney switch” is purported to have happened