THE CUTTING EDGE

The Cutting Edge is a book about how the history of Rock and Roll was changed by a single hairstyle leading directly to the creation of the groundbreaking Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Full of anecdotes and behind the scene portraits of John, Paul, George and Ringo, at home, in the recording studio and in town.

The Beatles' hair changed the world. As their increasingly wild, untamed manes grew, to the horror of parents everywhere, they set off a cultural revolution as the most tangible symbol of the Sixties' psychedelic dream of peace, love and playful rebellion. At the centre of this epochal change was Leslie Cavendish, hairdresser to the Beatles and designer of the four iconic men's hairstyles, a brand image as immediately recognizable as the Nike swoosh or the Coca-Cola bottle.

But just how did a fifteen-year-old Jewish school dropout from an undistinguished North London suburb, with no particular artistic talent or showbusiness connections, end up literally at the cutting edge of Sixties' fashion in just four years? His story honest, always entertaining and inspiring parallels the meteoric rise of the Beatles themselves, and is no less astounding.

Leslie Cavendish was born in East London and grew up as part of a large and lively Jewish family in Burnt Oak, North London. He was apprenticed to Vidal Sassoon in 1962, becoming a stylist in his own right three years later. By a stroke of luck he became Paul McCartney's private hairdresser in 1966, and soon began to work on the image of all four Beatles, at the Apple offices and in their recording studios, and was even invited along as a friend and participant on the Magical Mystery Tour. In 1967, he opened his own salon, backed by Apple and the Beatles, at King's Road, Chelsea.

After the official breakup of the Beatles, Leslie closed his salon and ran a clothing boutique in South London, while remaining a freelance hairdresser. In 1978, he entered the family footwear business and remained there until 1998 before moving to Spain. He now works for a major charity but also conducts occasional "VIP Beatles Tours" of London, lectures on the Beatles and Sixties culture, and consults with the Beatles Fan Club. Leslie Cavendish has two sons and divides his time between Britain and Spain. This is his first book.