Alan Livingston, Music Titan, Dies

As the president of Capitol Records in the 1950s and 1960s, Alan Livingston took a waning label and turned it into a success, the Independent reports. Livingston, who died on March 13, signed Frank Sinatra in 1953, the Beach Boys in 1962 and went on to sign Steve Miller Band and Don McLean, although he'll be most remembered for bringing the fab four to America. In 1963, despite the fact that British records were considered non-starters, he reluctantly ended up persuading Swan Records, which had launched the Beatles' first single "She Loves You" in 1963, to drop their dibs on the group's second single. The rest is history—the $40,000 promotional campaign about the group's long hair, the fainting women and the changing direction of American music.