by Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian

Photo courtesy of Ken Mansfield.

June 2011 — Ken Mansfield is the former U.S. manager of Apple Records and the author of The Beatles, The Bible, and Bodega Bay; The White Book; and Between Wyomings. On April 30, 2011, Ken spoke at Mariners Church in Half Moon Bay at an event entitled “The Beatles, The Bible, and Beyond.” Before speaking to his Coastside audience, Ken sat down with CoastViews Magazine and spoke about his experiences as a Grammy award-winning record producer, the ways modern technology has changed the music industry, and the path that led him to Christianity.

CoastViews: You’ve been friends with and worked with many famous musicians, including the Beatles. Do you have a favorite music business memory?

KM: In terms of people or in terms of events?

CV: How about an event?

KM: It’d have to be the Apple roof. … Being on the roof with the Beatles the last time they played, which I think is one of the most historic moments in rock and roll, is so far above everything else. It was just a magic day, there were only a dozen or so of us that were up there. I don’t think any of us quite realized what was happening. It was almost like being stunned as it unfolded. Afterwards, we all left and we didn’t really talk about it. This is 40 years later, and those of us that were there that are still alive are bonded together forever.

CV: Today’s generations have access to endless amounts of music and don’t connect to albums or bands the way people used to. Is it possible for music legends like the Beatles to exist today?

KM: No. … When you look at the top-grossing touring bands, it’s the old bands. It’s the Stones, McCartney, the Eagles. There’s an identity there. You go to an Eagles concert and you hear your favorite songs. Today you can’t quite get that band identity.

CV: You were living what many people consider to be the American dream. How did you go from a manager and president of major record labels to speaking to the Coastside about the Beatles and the Bible?

KM: … When you get to that level in the industry, it gets pretty crazy. It gets pretty decadent. … There’s just so much available to you, you know, the old “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” thing. … So many people in the business die early or become totally wiped out, with a tragic life or ending. For me, I was caught up in the whole thing and eventually I lost everything. I lost all the physical things, I lost my focus, I lost the ability to maintain. I crashed and burned and had a bottom. Out of that bottom, my life became restored and I ended up becoming a Christian.

CV: How did you become an author?

KM: One day I thought, here I am, I feel like I’m washed up on the shores here, not knowing what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. … Maybe if I write about my heyday with the Beatles, that era, and then I write about this era, maybe I can put these two things together. … A friend of mine, an author, heard that I was writing this stuff and wanted to see it. … And next thing I knew, someone was calling me up saying, “We’ve got your book here, we’d like to represent you.”

CV: In an interview you said that you’d always been a writer.

KM: Part of my time in the business was writing press releases, album notes, and writing about artists. I was a songwriter for many years. I was a writer, and then when it came time to be an author, which is a different thing than being a writer, I had the tools to do it and then it was just a matter of assembling a focus point to write from. Without realizing it, I’d been training all those years.

CV: What do you hope readers and audiences will learn from your experiences?

KM: … It doesn’t matter what your background is, or where you’re from, or what you’ve been through. … There’s a lot to each of us. You’ve got a lot going on inside you. You’ve picked up all this stuff over the years. If you’ve got a dream, it can happen.