Ray Coleman; Magazine Editor, Beatles’ Biographer

Ray Coleman, former editor of the British pop music weekly Melody Maker and biographer of the Beatles and Eric Clapton, has died at 59.

Coleman, who reportedly had had a cancerous kidney removed, died Sept. 10 at his home near London.

A former newsman, he joined Melody Maker in 1960 and was credited with bringing a professional and objective interview style to a field that had been dominated by fan magazines.

He stepped down as Melody Maker’s editor in 1979 to concentrate on freelance journalism and books. The first was a two-volume 1984 biography of John Lennon, compiled with the cooperation of Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, and widow Yoko Ono.

It was “the first exhaustive biography of Lennon,” said Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn. “It was candid, but it wasn’t scurrilous, and you could be sure that everything in Ray’s book actually happened.”

Coleman later wrote a biography of the group’s manager, Brian Epstein, and another of Paul McCartney. He collaborated with the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman on his autobiography, “Stone Alone,” wrote a biography of Eric Clapton and, in 1994, a study of the professional and private lives of the Carpenters.

At the time of his death, Coleman was wrapping up an authorized biography of Phil Collins.