"He's terrified, terrified, he can't sleep": The tragic and lonely death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein

Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet paid £10,000 at auction for Epstein's address book. He then used it to write an electrifying account of the 1960s, and an intimate portrait of a troubled man whose life was unraveling. Despite his deep appreciation for the music heroes who came before him, Gary Kemp is not a rock memorabilia collector. But there, among the auction lots, was something that caught his attention:

Sotheby's emails may not be read easily. Despite his deep appreciation for the musical heroes who came before him, Gary Kemp is not a collector of rock memorabilia. But there, among the auction lots, was something that caught his eye: a 160x100mm black Twinlock binder once owned by Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

The 57-page catalog contains 404 entries, many handwritten by Epstein himself, and lists the Liverpudlian impresario's social and business network in 1967, the year of his death. Kemp immediately realized that this was more than just an address book: from David Bailey and David Frost to most of the Rolling Stones, who was from London in the 60s at the height of his swing. "I just thought, 'I have to have this,'" she says. Gotta keep it.” “It's got DNA on it.”

His contract with the Beatles was up - and they stopped playing live, giving him less of a target.

On the day of the auction, Spandau Ballet songwriter and guitarist Kemp was in a recording studio on the phone bidding. As the price rose rapidly, so did his determination. "I'm still pushing the yes button, and I'm thinking, 'My wife is going to kill me for this,'" he recalls.

After a bid of £10,710, Kemp became the fifth owner on the book. After Epstein's death, he gave it to his brother, then his nephew, and then another sale before ending up at Sotheby's. For Kemp, having it seems like the culmination of a lifelong fascination with the Beatles and a long-standing admiration for Epstein, the man who discovered the band in the cave in late 1961.

Kemp talks about his study in a beautiful five-story townhouse in Georgia, which he attributes in part to the inspiration and opportunities the Beatles gave him. "If Paul hadn't met John, I wouldn't be living in this house," she says. "But really, I wouldn't be in this house if Brian hadn't walked down those stairs that November lunchtime."

One visitor to Camp's house shortly after he obtained Epstein's address book was Simon Halfon, an art filmmaker he had been friends with since the '90s. He was leaving when Kemp thought to show him his latest purchase. "Obviously I was excited to look at it," says Halfon. "An address book is a very personal thing in many ways. It's not a diary, but it tells you who your friends are, your family, your business acquaintances, the places you hang out. It's quite a reflection of a person's character."

Halfon was the lucky person to show it. He had spent years fascinated by Epstein and was making a biopic of the director with Jude Law attached to star, but it never came to fruition. Now, faced with Epstein's address book, and the revealing list of contacts within, he saw a different story waiting to be told. "I called him on the way home," says Halfon. I said, "Christ, Gary, it's a book." And he was immediately ready for it.

"I realized the only way to tell Brian's story is through his audience," Kemp says. It was Brian 360."

What followed was a comprehensive detective work. Kemp combed through books, newspapers, magazines and online archives, trying to determine not only who each person was, but why they had crossed paths with Epstein. Meanwhile, Halfon was tasked with finding the sources of the relevant images. Some of the names were simple, while others were nothing but shadows that they followed in vain.

The result is 1967: The World of Brian Epstein and the Beatles—not a biography in the traditional sense, but an alphabetical list of pieces read in order, offering an unexpectedly intimate portrait of a complex man unraveling in the final months of his life. Through the people he knew, it depicts Epstein juggling the Beatles' increasingly complex business affairs with an international cast of artists, managers and lawyers, while grappling with the more torturous aspects of his life. And since these are the people who surrounded him in 1967, the book also depicts the circumstances close to him.

“This was a really pivotal year for Brian,” Kemp explains. His contract with the Beatles has expired. And the Beatles have stopped playing live, which gives him less of a target.

This sense of discomfort permeates the book. In an effort to keep up with his expanding empire, January Epstein merged his NEMS Enterprises with the Robert Stigwood agency to lighten his workload, creating friction. He finds these boys who turn them into the biggest phenomenon the world has ever seen, but then they start running away from him. And we're at this point now where he's panicked. He can't sleep. He takes up and down.

Drug use worsened Epstein's mental state. The book traces his encounters with drug addict doctors, gambling dens and rehab sessions at The Priory in London. His Jewishness often made him feel like an outsider, and he was gay at a time when it was still a criminal offense - part of the complex landscape he navigated privately.

"There's a strong sense of the gay community in the book, whether it's Brian's lawyer, David Jacobs, the people he brought over from Liverpool ... or the people in the book, like Robin Maugham, Somerset Maugham's nephew, who all had same-sex relationships that lived perfectly together," Kemp says.

What is remarkable about this book is that despite reconstructing the considerable extent of Brian's orbit, he appears as a lonely and isolated figure. "He couldn't find a relationship," says Kemp, who discovers a handful of potential liaisons in these pages—men who briefly passed through Brian's life.

So it's surprising to find Deese's name here at all, whether Brian brought it up out of guilt, despair, or lingering hope. Gillespie left almost no trace. "There's not even one bullet that you'd think there would be, because he was a bit of a villain in his own way," says Halfon. Eventually, Halfon unearthed a signed copy of John Lennon's A Working Spaniard, written on the frets in a characteristically sharp note. "It was at least something to prove her existence and blend it into Brian's world," he continues.

Epstein was the only one who died on August 27th of an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 32. He had spent the weekend at his country house in Sussex, but the party he had hoped to see failed to show, and a drunken and frustrated Epstein went home to London that night, locking himself in his bedroom on Chapel Street.

Kemp imagines Epstein there, withdrawn and despondent, reaching for his address book and needing friendly reassurance. "It was almost certainly in her bed when they found her dead because she was calling people and using that book to contact people," Kemp said.

The reward for months of scrutinizing Epstein's short life was, for Kemp, a closeness to the man himself. I got to know him more. I felt like I walked with him in different streets." "Because the book has addresses in it, you also see it geographically," he says.

These locations are critical to bringing to life the physical world Epstein inhabits. London glows with its clubs, offices, restaurants and homes, while further afield, the nightclub culture of New York and Hollywood is glamorous. The scene (via Dean Martin, Colonel Tom Parker, Orson Welles) crackles with the same sparkle. Epstein makes his presence felt all over the world, circling the worlds of music, theater, business and bohemia, constantly making new connections along the way.

Together, these details create a three-dimensional, three-dimensional portrait of a man often overshadowed by the tall tales of his most famous charges. "It's just nice to push Brian into the foreground a little bit," says Halfon. It's hard to stand up to The Beatles as a character because they're so much larger than life. But people can say, "Well, this was the guy who made their dream come true."

But what about the Fab Four themselves? Anyone turning the pages expecting to see the names John, Paul, George or Ringo will be sorely disappointed. Kemp states in the introduction that their removal may be for security reasons - especially in light of the Dez Gillespie robbery. But appearances, as readers will discover, can be deceiving.

It's been a tumultuous journey that Kemp seems reluctant to end. "I might have started something now," he laughs. Frank Sinatra has an address book somewhere.

1967: The World of Brian Epstein and the Beatles by Gary Kemp and Simon Halfon (HarperCollins, £25) is published on 13 October.

In the UK and Ireland, the Samaritans can be contacted on the freephone number 116 123. In the United States, you can call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. In Australia, the Lifeline crisis support service is 13 11 14. You can find other international helplines.