<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Alan W. Livingston, the music executive who created Bozo the Clown and signed the Beatles during his tenure as president of Capitol Records, has died. He was 91.<br /><br />Livingston died Friday of age-related causes in his Beverly Hills home, said his stepdaughter, Jennifer Lerner.<br /><br />Livingston began his multifaceted career in show business as a writer and producer of children&#39;s read-along record albums for Capitol Records. He came up with the Bozo the Clown character for the 1946 album &quot;Bozo at the Circus,&quot; which became a hit and spawned a cottage industry of merchandise and the television series featuring the wing-haired clown.<br /><br />When he moved into executive positions at Capitol Records in the early 1950s, Livingston signed Frank Sinatra, then at a low point in his career, and introduced him to arranger Nelson Riddle. Together, the pair produced &quot;I&#39;ve Got the World on a String&quot; and &quot;Young At Heart,&quot; which led to Sinatra&#39;s comeback.<br /><br />Livingston left the record label in the late 1950s to work in television, where he produced the western series &quot;Bonanza.&quot; He returned to Capitol Records as president in the 1960s, when he signed the Beach Boys and Steve Miller and the Band.<br /><br />When Livingston heard the Beatles song &quot;I Want to Hold Your Hand,&quot; he agreed to release the single and brought the Fab Four to the United States in 1964 to promote it. Capitol, which was partly owned by the Beatles&#39; record company EMI in the United Kingdom, earlier had rejected the group&#39;s initial hit singles as unsuitable for the American market.<br /><br />&quot;He had great taste and judgment, as far as musical talent, and as an executive, he was always very mentoring, very supportive,&quot; said Neil Portnow, the president and CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts &amp; Sciences, who worked with Livingston in the 1970s.<br /><br />In addition to Lerner, Livingston is survived by his wife Nancy Olson, one son, one daughter, and another stepdaughter.<br /><br />His late brother Jay Livingston, who died in 2001, was a composer who teamed with songwriter Ray Evans to produce such standards as &quot;Mona Lisa,&quot; &quot;Silver Bells&quot; and &quot;Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)&quot; and the theme music for &quot;Bonanza.&quot;<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->