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Klein was born into a New Jersey Jewish family in 1931. His mother died before he was a year old, and his father placed young Allen and his two sisters in Newark's Hebrew Shelter Orphanage. Later he lived with an aunt. In his teens, Klein worked several jobs while attending night school; in class, he sometimes appeared asleep, but when given a math or accounting question, he could work out the answer in seconds, without even opening his eyes.
Klein went on from accounting classes (marrying wife Betty after college) to working in the field, eventually for a company who handled the bookkeeping for several show-business personalities, learning the ins and outs of the business as he went along. When Klein met singer Bobby Darin at a wedding in the late 1950s, he candidly asked him "How would you like to make $100,000?" When the surprised Darin asked what he would have to do for it, Klein's reply was "Nothing. Just let me go over your accounts."
Klein's investigation of Bobby Darin's books resulted, true to his prediction, in a $100,000 check given to Darin by his record company, and Allen Klein began to make a name for himself--a good one among celebrity clients, who praised him for the money and financial security he was able to give them, and a nasty one among industry insiders, who spoke of his tenaciousness and tendency to be blunt, and as a contract-buster to be dreaded. Either way, Klein well earned his nickname "the Robin Hood of Pop."
The "British Invasion" of the early 1960s brought Klein many more clients-- some readily, some only with time. As The Beatles became the biggest act in popular music, Klein expressed an interest in "buying" them from Brian Epstein, but made little progress. In the meantime, he took over the management of The Rolling Stones from Andrew Loog Oldham, bought a quantity of stock in MGM, and gained control of the Cameo-Parkway record label. The latter he merged with his own company, resulting in the birth of ABKCO (for Allen & Betty Klein and Company).
Ironically, it was Paul McCartney who first suggested Klein be contacted to possibly work in some way for the Beatles, after the Rolling Stones sang his praises (so to speak) with the ready cash Klein acquired for them, by an advance on their recording contract. John Lennon met Klein casually in 1968 on the set of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1996), but only months later did Klein's chance truly come, when he read Lennon's comment in the press that business problems at Apple Corps (the Beatles' company) would leave them "broke in six months". Their management had foundered since Brian Epstein's death, with no one person acting as "the boss" in over a year, and the band mostly in charge of their own affairs.
Klein invited Lennon and Yoko Ono to visit his hotel suite in London, and spent an evening getting acquainted with them. He impressed Lennon greatly by knowing not only his song lyrics, but the real meaning and intent behind many of them. Lennon felt some kinship with Klein; both had grown up without a father around and raised by an aunt, and both preferring to speak their minds. Klein was also kind to Yoko, which was a rare occurrence at the time.
After meeting with Klein, Lennon immediately endorsed him as his de facto manager (writing the chairman of EMI "From now on Allen Klein handles all my stuff"), and convinced George Harrison and Ringo Starr to also take him on. Paul McCartney objected, preferring his soon-to-be father-in-law Lee Eastman to take the reins. An attempt at a joint meeting between the band and both would-be managers misfired badly, as Eastman first patronized, then lost his temper with Klein, who used this to his advantage, gaining the immediate sympathies of Lennon, Harrison and Starr, and their signatures on paper soon afterward as their new manager. McCartney chose Eastman instead, but did pose for "signing" pictures with Klein.
Allen Klein's involvement with the Beatles was a factor in their breakup, the same with countless other things. He successfully renegotiated their recording contract with EMI, after threatening to have the Beatles quit recording if their royalty rates weren't increased, and stopped the money and resources that were pouring out of Apple, getting them on a more solid financial footing. (Apple staff balked at now having to punch in on a time-clock.) He wasn't able to regain control of Northern Songs (Lennon and McCartney's publishing company) though, or realize many of the original hopes for Apple as a conglomorate. And he wasn't able to stop the band from growing apart as people.
Klein's working relationship with the former Beatles deteriorated considerably after their split. He helped George Harrison put together the The Concert for Bangladesh (1972), with the proceeds going to UNICEF, but some mistakes in paperwork and timing kept much of the money frozen in an escrow account, instead of going where it was needed. Lennon and Yoko Ono also cooled on Klein, after Klein sided with Harrison in declining Ono a chance to perform at the concert, and was unable to help in their custody battle for her daughter Kyoko. Eventually suits and countersuits began to fly.
Klein eventually settled with Lennon, Harrison, and Starr in January 1977 and continued his own business career, eventually owning the publishings and recordings of many of his artists (and thereby considerable control of their potential income). Early records by Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and Phil Spector are still sold through ABKCO, while most of the Cameo/Parkway repertoire (including hits by Chubby Checker, The Dovells, Little Eva, The Tymes, and ? and the Mysterians) remained in the vaults from the 1980s until the 2000s.
Klein gradually retired, turning his business affairs over to his son Jody. Jody remarketed ABKCO's music catalog, bringing out CDs of Cameo/Parkway acts for the first time, and also resolved his father's longtime dispute with El Topo (1970) director Alejandro Jodorowsky. Klein passed away of complications from Alzheimer's Disease in 2009.
