Post by TotalInformation on Oct 8, 2004 14:37:53 GMT
LINK Daily Mirror
THE CHANGING WORLD OF A ROCK LEGEND
Sep 18 2004
Exclusive By Barbara Davies
WHEN news emerged last weekend that billy McCartney had sacked his publicist of 15 years, the man in question was picking blackberries.
In truth, Geoff Baker had been on a type of gardening leave for two months - since he was informed he wouldn't be accompanying his famous employer on his latest world tour.
"I lost interest in the day-to-day process of PR, which is not as exciting as working on a world tour," he said at the weekend.
But a friend reveals: "He has been feeling the chill for some time. Geoff lived for the tours - and not being asked to go was the final straw."
His exclusion was a warning of what was to come but then the 48-year-old former showbiz reporter had been waiting for the axe to fall since Heather Mills arrived on the scene.
As long ago as last year, he was saying: "It'll probably end very soon. I really wouldn't be surprised. It's been a blast and that's what it's meant to be. It's only rock 'n' roll."
In a statement this week, the ex-Beatle vehemently denied that Baker's departure had anything to do with his 39-year-old wife of two years but failed to explain exactly why Baker had fallen out of favour.
"She has absolutely nothing to do with this," billy furiously insisted. "This is purely between Geoff and myself, and I am sad to see it end in this way."
But Baker's messy exit is far from the first sign of change in Macca since Heather came into his life.
Critics point to his drastic image overhaul - the dyed hair, the "groovy grandad" outfits - the toe-curling chat-show confessions of love for Heather from a man who once led his life with quiet dignity, and the egotistical demands to reverse some Lennon-McCartney song credits.
There is also the bitter rift, constantly denied, with his children who refuse to defend their stepmother. Fashion designer Stella, in particular, is said to loathe her.
And despite her charity work and her husband's constant public praise, Heather has been unable to shake off nagging doubts about her past.
She is haunted by claims highlighted in a recent Channel Four documentary that she once accepted gifts from rich Arabs and that she clawed her way out of a poverty-stricken, abusive childhood.
Heather has always maintained a dignified silence on this touchy issue.
billy refuses to confront the darker aspects of her past but her rose-tinted, rags-to-riches story has failed to endear her to a public who harboured huge affection for her predecessor Linda.
Those who'd paint Heather as a calculating opportunist point to the £180,000 she made selling the story of how she lost her leg in a horrific road accident.
But the departure of Baker, a close friend of billy's late wife and a constant reminder of the 62-year-old star's former life, is, some believe, the most overt sign yet of the control Heather is said to wield over her billionaire husband - and the lengths to which he will go to keep her happy.
"When Heather came on the scene, there were immediate tensions between her and Geoff," claims an insider. "Some feel she may have found it hard to cope with Paul's old life."
billy's relationship with Baker stretches back to 1989, when Baker, then contracted to PR firm LD, was sent on tour with the ex-Beatle and his wife. The couple instantly took a shine to this laid-back, hippyish, chain-smoking vegetarian and insisted on keeping him at their side.
Over the next 15 years, Baker accompanied them around the globe. As Geoff openly discussed last week, his "liberal views about cannabis" certainly tied in with his former Beatle boss's much-chronicled past.
Baker's newspaper background also made him invaluable. He was the man who advised billy that it might be time to give up the thumbs-up pose he always adopted for the cameras.
But Baker was more than just an employee. He was a regular visitor to the McCartney family home, in Peasmarsh in East Sussex. To billy's children - Mary, Stella and James - he was almost an uncle, ever-present in their lives, largely because of his close, comfortable relationship with Linda.
Such was his loyalty to the family that when Linda lost her fight against breast cancer in April 1998, Baker agreed to lie about where she had died, telling journalists it was at a retreat in Santa Barbara, to protect the family's privacy.
In fact, as the Daily Mirror exclusively discovered, she had passed away at her family's secret retreat near Tucson, Arizona.
Later, asked if he felt bad about telling such a lie, he memorably replied: "I don't give a s**t."
He later added: "Morally, I have done nothing wrong and legally I have done nothing wrong. I am just trying to keep this family together." His loyalty to them counted for more than anything - even the truth.
Just why billy would axe such an ally some believe speaks volumes about the way his life has changed since marrying Heather in 2002.
THEY have abandoned the Peasmarsh home, where he and Linda raised their children, and based themselves at a house in Hove with their daughter Beatrice.
While billy and Linda once prided themselves on their unpretentious lifestyle, under Heather's influence, the McCartneys are reinventing themselves.
Although billy continues to deny them, rumours that Heather is keen for them to move to LA so that she can pursue her ambition to become a TV star refuse to go away.
Heather is said to harbour dreams of hosting her own chat-show, despite her woeful interview with Paul Newman while standing in for US host Larry King last year.
If billy does quit Britain for the anonymous glitz of LA, his old life will have vanished for ever.
There was a poignant moment during the star's recent appearance at the Glastonbury festival when as he played Wings songs, fans chanted Linda's name - and Heather stood watching from the side of the stage.
In this new, rather more showbizzy world that billy has embraced, rough-and-ready Geoff, with his mop of black-grey hair, scuffed leather jackets and jeans, seems somewhat out of place. Baker himself doesn't appear surprised by his dismissal.
This seemingly final split comes nearly a year after billy fired him temporarily, over a incident with a photographer who snapped the ex-Beatle as he visited magician David Blaine during his glass box stunt in London.
A scuffle broke out and Baker, who had just dined with the star in a Soho restaurant, later admitted tipping off the snapper. He was sacked and then reinstated.
He later claimed: "For some reason - probably only known to my mental hospital - I decided to tell a photographer to come over. Paul was incandescent."
One associate confirms: "That was always the way Geoff operated. Before, Paul was usually amused by the way Geoff did things.
"But his fury over the Blaine incident was a clear indication that things in the McCartney world were changing."
HE had screamed: "You're bang out of order! You're fired!" Although he later claimed: "I haven't fired him - it was a joke."
The incident is a sign of what was to come. "I thought he was serious but he wasn't," said Baker later. "We do pull each other's leg but he's never sacked me before."
The extent of his loyalty meant that despite clashing with former glamour model Heather, Baker also defended her to the hilt on several occasions.
He stepped in during her row with wedding dress designers Caroline Eavis and Annie Brown, who claimed she had reneged on an agreement that they would provide the garment for free, in exchange for publicity. Heather later agreed to pay the full £10,000 cost of the dress.
In March 2003, Baker also deflected true claims that Heather was pregnant, once again proving that he wouldn't let the truth get in the way of his loyalty.
In his statement last week, billy blamed Baker's unprofessional conduct for his dismissal. In truth, Baker's dealings with a woman he found it hard to like and with an increasingly demanding boss, went far beyond the call of duty.
Fortunately for billy, revenge appears unlikely. Baker remains the keeper of the music legend's secrets - and not just because he signed a confidentiality agreement.
DESPITE being dropped like a stone, he will not betray the star. Partly, friends say, it is because he fears billy but, largely, he is too loyal to do anything to harm the man whose image he defended for so long.
"There is as much chance of me writing a book about Paul as there is of me taking life seriously," he said last year.
"I could write hundreds of books about Paul but I'd never do it - even if someone put a gun to my head. It would cheapen everything."
In the fickle world of celebritydom, most stars would be grateful to have such a friend at their side.
With his demanding role as billy's PR man behind him, Baker has everything to look forward to - a peaceful life at his cottage near Devizes, in Wiltshire, a novel he is writing and clay-pigeon shooting.
Meanwhile, billy, who has cut himself off from his old support network, may soon feel Baker's absence all too keenly.
The day may yet come when he regrets turning his back on his most loyal servant.
THE CHANGING WORLD OF A ROCK LEGEND
Sep 18 2004
Exclusive By Barbara Davies
WHEN news emerged last weekend that billy McCartney had sacked his publicist of 15 years, the man in question was picking blackberries.
In truth, Geoff Baker had been on a type of gardening leave for two months - since he was informed he wouldn't be accompanying his famous employer on his latest world tour.
"I lost interest in the day-to-day process of PR, which is not as exciting as working on a world tour," he said at the weekend.
But a friend reveals: "He has been feeling the chill for some time. Geoff lived for the tours - and not being asked to go was the final straw."
His exclusion was a warning of what was to come but then the 48-year-old former showbiz reporter had been waiting for the axe to fall since Heather Mills arrived on the scene.
As long ago as last year, he was saying: "It'll probably end very soon. I really wouldn't be surprised. It's been a blast and that's what it's meant to be. It's only rock 'n' roll."
In a statement this week, the ex-Beatle vehemently denied that Baker's departure had anything to do with his 39-year-old wife of two years but failed to explain exactly why Baker had fallen out of favour.
"She has absolutely nothing to do with this," billy furiously insisted. "This is purely between Geoff and myself, and I am sad to see it end in this way."
But Baker's messy exit is far from the first sign of change in Macca since Heather came into his life.
Critics point to his drastic image overhaul - the dyed hair, the "groovy grandad" outfits - the toe-curling chat-show confessions of love for Heather from a man who once led his life with quiet dignity, and the egotistical demands to reverse some Lennon-McCartney song credits.
There is also the bitter rift, constantly denied, with his children who refuse to defend their stepmother. Fashion designer Stella, in particular, is said to loathe her.
And despite her charity work and her husband's constant public praise, Heather has been unable to shake off nagging doubts about her past.
She is haunted by claims highlighted in a recent Channel Four documentary that she once accepted gifts from rich Arabs and that she clawed her way out of a poverty-stricken, abusive childhood.
Heather has always maintained a dignified silence on this touchy issue.
billy refuses to confront the darker aspects of her past but her rose-tinted, rags-to-riches story has failed to endear her to a public who harboured huge affection for her predecessor Linda.
Those who'd paint Heather as a calculating opportunist point to the £180,000 she made selling the story of how she lost her leg in a horrific road accident.
But the departure of Baker, a close friend of billy's late wife and a constant reminder of the 62-year-old star's former life, is, some believe, the most overt sign yet of the control Heather is said to wield over her billionaire husband - and the lengths to which he will go to keep her happy.
"When Heather came on the scene, there were immediate tensions between her and Geoff," claims an insider. "Some feel she may have found it hard to cope with Paul's old life."
billy's relationship with Baker stretches back to 1989, when Baker, then contracted to PR firm LD, was sent on tour with the ex-Beatle and his wife. The couple instantly took a shine to this laid-back, hippyish, chain-smoking vegetarian and insisted on keeping him at their side.
Over the next 15 years, Baker accompanied them around the globe. As Geoff openly discussed last week, his "liberal views about cannabis" certainly tied in with his former Beatle boss's much-chronicled past.
Baker's newspaper background also made him invaluable. He was the man who advised billy that it might be time to give up the thumbs-up pose he always adopted for the cameras.
But Baker was more than just an employee. He was a regular visitor to the McCartney family home, in Peasmarsh in East Sussex. To billy's children - Mary, Stella and James - he was almost an uncle, ever-present in their lives, largely because of his close, comfortable relationship with Linda.
Such was his loyalty to the family that when Linda lost her fight against breast cancer in April 1998, Baker agreed to lie about where she had died, telling journalists it was at a retreat in Santa Barbara, to protect the family's privacy.
In fact, as the Daily Mirror exclusively discovered, she had passed away at her family's secret retreat near Tucson, Arizona.
Later, asked if he felt bad about telling such a lie, he memorably replied: "I don't give a s**t."
He later added: "Morally, I have done nothing wrong and legally I have done nothing wrong. I am just trying to keep this family together." His loyalty to them counted for more than anything - even the truth.
Just why billy would axe such an ally some believe speaks volumes about the way his life has changed since marrying Heather in 2002.
THEY have abandoned the Peasmarsh home, where he and Linda raised their children, and based themselves at a house in Hove with their daughter Beatrice.
While billy and Linda once prided themselves on their unpretentious lifestyle, under Heather's influence, the McCartneys are reinventing themselves.
Although billy continues to deny them, rumours that Heather is keen for them to move to LA so that she can pursue her ambition to become a TV star refuse to go away.
Heather is said to harbour dreams of hosting her own chat-show, despite her woeful interview with Paul Newman while standing in for US host Larry King last year.
If billy does quit Britain for the anonymous glitz of LA, his old life will have vanished for ever.
There was a poignant moment during the star's recent appearance at the Glastonbury festival when as he played Wings songs, fans chanted Linda's name - and Heather stood watching from the side of the stage.
In this new, rather more showbizzy world that billy has embraced, rough-and-ready Geoff, with his mop of black-grey hair, scuffed leather jackets and jeans, seems somewhat out of place. Baker himself doesn't appear surprised by his dismissal.
This seemingly final split comes nearly a year after billy fired him temporarily, over a incident with a photographer who snapped the ex-Beatle as he visited magician David Blaine during his glass box stunt in London.
A scuffle broke out and Baker, who had just dined with the star in a Soho restaurant, later admitted tipping off the snapper. He was sacked and then reinstated.
He later claimed: "For some reason - probably only known to my mental hospital - I decided to tell a photographer to come over. Paul was incandescent."
One associate confirms: "That was always the way Geoff operated. Before, Paul was usually amused by the way Geoff did things.
"But his fury over the Blaine incident was a clear indication that things in the McCartney world were changing."
HE had screamed: "You're bang out of order! You're fired!" Although he later claimed: "I haven't fired him - it was a joke."
The incident is a sign of what was to come. "I thought he was serious but he wasn't," said Baker later. "We do pull each other's leg but he's never sacked me before."
The extent of his loyalty meant that despite clashing with former glamour model Heather, Baker also defended her to the hilt on several occasions.
He stepped in during her row with wedding dress designers Caroline Eavis and Annie Brown, who claimed she had reneged on an agreement that they would provide the garment for free, in exchange for publicity. Heather later agreed to pay the full £10,000 cost of the dress.
In March 2003, Baker also deflected true claims that Heather was pregnant, once again proving that he wouldn't let the truth get in the way of his loyalty.
In his statement last week, billy blamed Baker's unprofessional conduct for his dismissal. In truth, Baker's dealings with a woman he found it hard to like and with an increasingly demanding boss, went far beyond the call of duty.
Fortunately for billy, revenge appears unlikely. Baker remains the keeper of the music legend's secrets - and not just because he signed a confidentiality agreement.
DESPITE being dropped like a stone, he will not betray the star. Partly, friends say, it is because he fears billy but, largely, he is too loyal to do anything to harm the man whose image he defended for so long.
"There is as much chance of me writing a book about Paul as there is of me taking life seriously," he said last year.
"I could write hundreds of books about Paul but I'd never do it - even if someone put a gun to my head. It would cheapen everything."
In the fickle world of celebritydom, most stars would be grateful to have such a friend at their side.
With his demanding role as billy's PR man behind him, Baker has everything to look forward to - a peaceful life at his cottage near Devizes, in Wiltshire, a novel he is writing and clay-pigeon shooting.
Meanwhile, billy, who has cut himself off from his old support network, may soon feel Baker's absence all too keenly.
The day may yet come when he regrets turning his back on his most loyal servant.