Sue Mautner left school at 16 in 1962 and, through chutzpah and serendipity, found herself rubbing shoulders with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many more 60s legends while still in her teens. Mautner went from a Ready, Steady Go! TV dancer to an accidental music journalist and then a record company executive, becoming a front-row witness to pop’s first golden age.
Along the way she mixed with high-class hookers on the Beatles’ 1966 German tour. Her much older boyfriend, unbeknown to her, was selling them LSD; and she was rescued from an over-amorous pop star by their producer George Martin.
All this, plus how Sue discovered Cat Stevens, her close friendship with tragic Rolling Stones star Brian Jones, Simon Dee’s ego, and why she ended up wearing Cathy McGowan’s trousers, can be heard at length for the first time on her new podcast series, She’s With The Band: A Love Letter to Rock and Roll.
Here Sue, 79, shares some of her secrets…
The Beatles played Essen on the second night of their 1966 German tour. This concert was absolutely wild; the noise was deafening. You couldn’t hear the band for the screaming. After the show, the boys had to leave by the exit door at the back of the hall and there was a stampede. I thought I was going to be trampled to death. Peter Brown [then manager Brian Epstein’s personal assistant] practically lifted me out. The police outside looked like Nazis and they set their big Alsatians on these very young kids, and used tear gas on them. They were teeny-boppers. Kids. In the panic, shoes were lost and clothes were left behind. It was the most horrendous thing I’d ever seen.
I dated a guy called John Riley in 1964. I was still 17, he was 33 and a dental surgeon. We went out for about six months. He was my date for the first Beatles premiere that July. He was often late picking me up, he’d turn up with his hair still wet, and he used to disappear mysteriously.
The Beatles used to talk about “Dr Feelgood” – unbeknown to me, it was John. Years later it emerged that he had spiked their coffee with LSD and then became their supplier. He was their dentist! He was leading a double life. No wonder he turned up late and in a state. I was so ashamed.
The 1966 tour started in Munich in June. I arrived too late for the concert, but there was a note waiting saying the boys were having a party in their suite after the show and they’d love to have me there. I went up to the suite, everyone was there and along with lots of very beautiful women, really good-looking girls as one would expect when the Beatles were in town. I was the only journalist there. After midnight I was talking to George [Harrison] and noticed the women had all gone. I said, “Where have all the lovely girls gone?” He said, “Sue, what did you think they were?”
I said, “Models”. George grinned and shook his head. “They weren’t models,” he said. “They were ladies of the night. They left at midnight because they’re not allowed in the hotel after midnight.” I was 20, but in many ways, I was quite naïve.
When we reached Hamburg, I wanted to visit the Kaiserkeller – the bierkeller where the Beatles used to have a residency. Everyone was friendly until we said we were on the Beatles tour. The manager of the venue went ballistic. He said that one of the band had had his way with his daughter.
*Groundbreaking podcast She’s With The Band: A Love Letter to Rock and Roll launches tomorrow, chronicling the untold stories of a music industry insider.