Astrid Kirchherr
Born	(1938-05-20) 20 May 1938 (age 74) Hamburg, Germany
Occupation	Photographer, Artist
Spouse	Engaged to Stuart Sutcliffe, and twice divorced
Children	None
Parents	Nielsa Kirchherr

Astrid Kirchherr (born 20 May 1938), is a German photographer and artist and is well known for her association with The Beatles (along with her friends Klaus Voormann and Jürgen Vollmer), and her photographs of The Beatles during their Hamburg days: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best.

Kirchherr met artist Sutcliffe in the Kaiserkeller bar in Hamburg in 1960, where he was playing bass with The Beatles, and was later engaged to him, before his death in 1962. Although Kirchherr has taken very few photographs since 1967, her early work has been exhibited in Hamburg, Bremen, London, Liverpool, New York City, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Vienna, and at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. She has published three limited-edition books of photographs.

Early life[link]

Astrid Kirchherr was born in 1938 in Hamburg, Germany, and is the daughter of a former executive of the German branch of the Ford Motor Company. During World War II she was evacuated to the safety of the Baltic Sea where she remembered seeing dead bodies on the shore (after the ships Cap Arcona and the SS Deutschland had been bombed and sunk), and the destruction in Hamburg when she returned.^[1]

After her graduation Kirchherr enrolled in the Meisterschule für Mode, Textil, Graphik und Werbung in Hamburg, as she wanted to study fashion design but demonstrated a talent for black-and-white photography.^[2][3] Reinhard Wolf, the school's main photographic tutor, convinced her to switch courses and promised that he would hire her as his assistant when she graduated.^[4] Kirchherr worked for Wolf as his assistant from 1959 until 1963.^[5]

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Kirchherr and her art school friends were involved in the European existentialist movement whose followers were later nicknamed "Exis" by Lennon.^[6] In 1995 she told BBC Radio Merseyside: "Our philosophy then, because we were only little kids, was wearing black clothes and going around looking moody. Of course, we had a clue who Jean Paul Sartre was.^[7] We got inspired by all the French artists and writers, because that was the closest we could get. England was so far away, and America was out of the question. So France was the nearest. So we got all the information from France, and we tried to dress like the French existentialists. ... We wanted to be free, we wanted to be different, and tried to be cool, as we call it now."^[8][9]

The Beatles[link]

Kirchherr, Voormann, and Vollmer were friends who had all attended the Meisterschule, and shared the same ideas about fashion, culture and music. Voormann became Astrid's boyfriend, and moved into the Kirchherr home, where he had his own room.^[10] In 1960, after Kirchherr and Vollmer had had an argument with Voormann, he wandered down the Reeperbahn (in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg) and heard music coming from the Kaiserkeller club. Voormann walked in and watched a performance by a group called The Beatles: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Sutcliffe, and Best, their drummer at the time.^[11] Voormann asked Kirchherr and Vollmer to listen to this new music, and after being persuaded to visit the Kaiserkeller (which was in the rough area of the Reeperbahn),^[12] Kirchherr decided that all she wanted to do was to be as close to The Beatles as she could.^[13] The trio of friends had never heard this new music called Rock n' Roll before, having previously only listened to Trad jazz, with some Nat King Cole and The Platters mixed in.^[6][14] The trio then visited the Kaiserkeller almost every night, arriving at 9 o'clock and sitting by the front of the stage.^[15] Kirchherr later said: "It was like a merry-go-round in my head, they looked absolutely astonishing... My whole life changed in a couple of minutes. All I wanted was to be with them and to know them."^[16]

Kirchherr later said that she, Voormann, and Vollmer felt guilty about being German, and about Germany's recent history. Meeting The Beatles was something very special for her, although she knew that English people would think that she ate sauerkraut, and would comment on her heavy German accent, but they made jokes about it together.^[10] Lennon would make sarcastic remarks from the stage, saying "You Krauts, we won the war," knowing that very few Germans in the audience spoke English, but any English sailors present would roar with laughter.^[12]

Sutcliffe was fascinated by the trio, but especially Kirchherr, and thought they looked like "real bohemians". Bill Harry later said that when Kirchherr walked in, every head would immediately turn her way, and that she always captivated the whole room.^[6] Sutcliffe wrote to a friend that he could hardly take his eyes off her, and had tried to talk to Kirchherr during the next break, but she had already left the club.^[6] Sutcliffe managed to meet them eventually, and learned that all three had attended the Meisterschule, which was the same type of art college that Lennon and Sutcliffe had attended in Liverpool.^[6] (Note: Meisterschule für Mode, Textil, Grafik und Werbung [Master Craftspeople College for Fashion, Textile, Graphics, and Advertising], although it is now called the University of Applied Sciences).^[17]

Photographs[link]

A Rolleicord camera (1955), which Kirchherr used

Kirchherr asked The Beatles if they would mind letting her take photographs of them in a photo session, which impressed them, as other groups only had snapshots that were taken by friends. The next morning Kirchherr took photographs with a Rolleicord camera,^[18] at a fairground in a municipal park called Hamburger Dom which was close to the Reeperbahn,^[12] and in the afternoon she took them all (minus Best, who decided not to go), to her mother's house in Altona.^[16][19] Kirchherr's bedroom (which was all in black, including the furniture, with silver foil on the walls and a large tree branch suspended from the ceiling), was decorated especially for Voormann, whom she had a relationship with, although after the visits to the Kaiserkeller their relationship became purely platonic. Kirchherr started dating Sutcliffe, although she always remained close friends with Voormann.^[5][20]

Kirchherr later supplied Sutcliffe and the other Beatles with Preludin, which, when taken with beer, made them feel euphoric and helped to keep them awake until the early hours of the morning. The Beatles had taken Preludin before, but it was only possible at that time to get Preludin with a doctor's prescription note, so Kirchherr's mother got them from a local chemist, who supplied them without asking questions.^[21] After meeting Kirchherr, Lennon filled his letters to Cynthia Powell (his girlfriend at the time), with "Astrid said this, Astrid did that",^[22] which made Powell jealous, until she read that Sutcliffe was in a relationship with Kirchherr.^[23] When Powell visited Hamburg with Dot Rhone (McCartney's girlfriend at the time), in April 1961, they stayed at Kirchherr's house.^[24] In August 1963, Kirchherr met Lennon and Cynthia in Paris while they were both there for a belated honeymoon, as Kirchherr was there with a girlfriend for a few days holiday. The four of them went from wine bar to wine bar, and finally ended up back at Kirchherr's lodgings, where all four fell asleep on Kirchherr's single bed.^[25]

The Beatles met Kirchherr again in Hamburg in 1966 when they were touring Germany, and Kirchherr gave Lennon the letters he had written to Sutcliffe in 1961 and 1962. Lennon said it was "the best present I've had in years".^[26] All of The Beatles wrote many letters to Kirchherr: "I only have a couple from George [Harrison], which I'll never show anyone, but he wrote so many. So did the others. I probably threw them away. You do that when you're young - you don't think of the future."^[9] Harrison later asked Kirchherr to arrange the cover of his Wonderwall Music album in 1968.^[27]

The Beatles Haircut and clothes[link]

Kirchherr is credited with inventing The Beatles' moptop haircut although she disagrees, saying: "All that rubbish people said, that I created their hairstyle, that's rubbish! Lots of German boys had that hairstyle. Stuart [Sutcliffe] had it for a long while and the others copied it. I suppose the most important thing I contributed to them was friendship."^[28][29] In 1995, Kirchherr told BBC Radio Merseyside: "All my friends in art school used to run around with this sort of what you call Beatles haircut. And my boyfriend then, Klaus Voormann, had this hairstyle, and Stuart liked it very very much. He was the first one who really got the nerve to get the Brylcreem out of his hair and asking me to cut his hair for him. Pete [Best] has really curly hair and it wouldn't work."^[8] Kirchherr says that after she cut Sutcliffe's hair, Harrison asked her to do the same when she was visiting Liverpool, and Lennon and McCartney had their hair cut in the same style while they were in Paris, by Kirchherr's friend, Vollmer, who was living there at the time as an assistant to photographer William Klein.^[12]

After moving into the Kirchherr family's house, Sutcliffe used to borrow her clothes, as he was the same height as Kirchherr. He wore her leather pants and jackets, collarless jackets, over-sized shirts, and long scarves. He also borrowed a corduroy suit with no lapels that he wore on stage, which prompted Lennon to sarcastically ask if his mother had lent him the suit.^[12]

Stuart Sutcliffe[link]

Sutcliffe wrote to friends that he was infatuated with Kirchherr, and asked her friends which colours, films, books and painters she liked, and whom she fancied. Best later commented that the beginning of their relationship was, "like one of those fairy stories".^[30] Kirchherr says that she immediately fell in love with Sutcliffe, and still calls him "the love of my life".^[12] Kirchherr and Sutcliffe got engaged in November 1960, and exchanged rings, as is the German custom.^[31] Sutcliffe later wrote to his parents that he was engaged to Kirchherr, which they were shocked to learn, as they thought he would give up his career as an artist,^[32] although he told Kirchherr that he would like to be an art teacher in London or Germany in the future.^[12] Sutcliffe later borrowed money from Kirchherr for the airfare to fly back to Liverpool in February 1961, returning to Hamburg in March.^[33][34]

Kirchherr and Sutcliffe went to Liverpool in the summer of 1961, as Kirchherr wanted to meet Sutcliffe's family (and to see Liverpool) before their marriage. Everybody was expecting a strange beatnik artist from Hamburg, but Kirchherr turned up at the Sutcliffe's house at 37 Aigburth Drive, Liverpool, bearing a single long-stemmed orchid in her hand as a present, and dressed in a round-necked cashmere sweater and tailored skirt.^[35] In 1962, Sutcliffe collapsed in the middle of an art class in Hamburg. He was suffering from intense headaches, and Kirchherr's mother had German doctors perform various checks on him, although they were unable to determine exactly what was causing the headaches. While living at the Kirchherrs' house in Hamburg his condition got worse. On 10 April 1962, Kirchherr's mother phoned her daughter at work and told her Sutcliffe was not feeling well, had been brought back to the house, and an ambulance had been called for.^[12] Kirchherr rushed home and rode with Sutcliffe in the ambulance, but he died in her arms before it reached the hospital.^[36]

Three days later Kirchherr met Lennon, McCartney and Best at the Hamburg airport (they were returning to Hamburg to perform) and told them Sutcliffe had died of a brain haemorrhage.^[37] Harrison and manager Brian Epstein arrived on another plane sometime later with Sutcliffe's mother, who had been informed by telegram.^[12] Harrison and Lennon were helpful towards the distraught Kirchherr, with Lennon telling her one day that she definitely had to decide if she wanted to "Live or die, there is no other question."^[12]

Freelance photographer[link]

In 1964, Kirchherr became a freelance photographer, and with her colleague Max Scheler she took "behind the scenes" photographs of The Beatles during the filming of "A Hard Day's Night", as an assignment for the German Stern magazine. Epstein had forbidden any publicity photographs to be taken without his permission, but Kirchherr phoned Harrison, who said he would arrange it, but added, "Only if they pay you."^[12]

St. George's Hall, Liverpool. Kirchherr took photographs of Liverpool groups as they stood on the front steps

Stern phoned Bill Harry at his Mersey Beat newspaper and asked if he could arrange a photograph of all the groups in Liverpool,^[38] so Harry suggested Kirchherr be the photographer, although Kirchherr later said she placed an advertisement in the Liverpool Echo newspaper.^[12] Kirchherr and Scheler said that any group who wanted their photograph taken in front of St. George's Hall would be paid £1 per musician,^[18] but over 200 groups turned up on the day, which meant Kirchherr and Scheler soon ran out of money.^[8][39] Kirchherr didn't publish the photographs until 1995, in a book called Liverpool Days, which is a limited edition collection of black-and-white photographs.^[8] In 1999, a companion book called Hamburg Days was published (a two-volume limited edition), containing a set of photographs by Kirchherr and "memory drawings" by Voormann. The drawings are recollections of places and situations that Voormann clearly remembers, but Kirchherr had never photographed, or had lost the photographs.^[40]

Kirchherr described how difficult it was to be accepted as a female photographer in the 1960s: "Every magazine and newspaper wanted me to photograph The Beatles again. Or they wanted my old stuff, even if it was out of focus, whether they were nice or not. They wouldn't look at my other work. It was very hard for a girl photographer in the 60s to be accepted. In the end I gave up. I've hardly taken a photo since 1967.^[27]" Kirchherr was quoted as saying that When We Was Fab (Genesis Publications 2007), would be her last book of photographs: "I have decided it is time to create one book in which I am totally involved so that it contains the pictures I like most, printed the way I would print them, even down to the text and design.... This book is me and that is why it will be the last one. The very last one."^[41]

Kirchherr has expressed respect for other photographers, such as Annie Leibovitz (because of the humour in her work), Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Jim Rakete and Reinhard Wolf (German Wikipedia), and French film-makers François Truffaut, and Jean Cocteau.^[1] Kirchherr said that her favourite photos are the ones she took of Sutcliffe by the Baltic sea, and of Lennon and Harrison in her attic room at 45a Eimsbütteler Strasse. She has expressed reservations about digital photography, saying that a photographer should concentrate on the art of photography and not on the technical results, although admitting that she knows nothing about computers, and is "afraid of the internet".^[1]

Kirchherr admits that she is not good at business as she is not organised enough, and has never really looked after the negatives of her photographs to prove ownership.^[27] Her business partner Ulf Krüger—a songwriter and record producer—successfully found many of Astrid's negatives and photographs and had them copyrighted, although he believes that Kirchherr has lost £500,000 over the years because of people using her photographs without permission.^[18][27] In July 2001 Kirchherr visited Liverpool to open an exhibition of her work at the Mathew Street art gallery, which is close to the former site of The Cavern Club.^[42] She appeared as a guest at the city's Beatles Week Festival during the August Bank Holiday.^[43] Kirchherr's work has been exhibited internationally in places, such as Hamburg, Bremen, London, Liverpool, New York City, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Vienna, and at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Later life to present[link]

In 1967, Kirchherr married English drummer Gibson Kemp, who had replaced Ringo Starr in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The marriage ended in divorce after seven years.^[6] She then worked as a barmaid, an interior designer, and then worked for a music publishing firm,^[18] getting married for a second time to a German businessman.^[12] Kirchherr worked as an advisor in 1994, on the film Backbeat, which portrayed Kirchherr, Sutcliffe and The Beatles during their early days in Hamburg.^[8] She was impressed with Stephen Dorff (who played Sutcliffe in the film), commenting that he was the right age (19-years-old at the time), and his gestures, the way he smoked, and talked were so like Sutcliffe's that she had goose pimples. Kirchherr was portrayed in the film by actress Sheryl Lee.^[27]

Since the mid-1990s Kirchherr and business partner Krüger have operated the K&K photography shop in Hamburg, offering custom vintage prints, books and artwork for sale. K&K periodically helps arrange Beatles' conventions and other Beatles' events in the Hamburg area.^[44] She has no children, and now lives alone: ""My [second] marriage ended in 1985... I regretted I had no children. I just couldn't see me have [sic] any. But now I am pleased when I see the situation the world is in. I live alone and am very happy."^[9]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Badman, Keith (2000). The Beatles Off The Record. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-7985-7. 
• Harry, Bill (1997). The Encyclopedia of Beatles People. London: Blandford Press. ISBN 978-0-7137-2606-0. 
• Lennon, Cynthia (2005). John. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-89512-2. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 978-0-7493-8658-0. 
• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-80352-6. 
• The Beatles (2003). The Beatles Anthology (DVD). Apple records. ASIN: B00008GKEG. 

External links[link]

• Biography
• Interview
• Interviews: Photographer Astrid Kirchherr, Fresh Air, 15 January 2008

Look up Astrid in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Astrid, Estrid, Æstriðr, Ástríðr or Aestrith is a given name of northern european origin

People

• Queen Astrid Eiriksdottir, daughter of Eirik Bjodaskalle and mother of Olaf I of Norway, who ruled Norway from 995-1000
• Astrid Olofsdotter (died 1035), Queen Consort of King Olav II of Norway
• Astrid Njalsdotter (died 1060), Swedish queen, consort of King Edmund the Old
• Queen Astrid of Belgium (1905–1935), wife of King Léopold III of Belgium
• Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este (born 1962), daughter of King Albert II
• Princess Astrid of Norway (born 1932), sister to King Harald
• Astrid Allwyn (1905–1978), American actress
• Astrid Bergès-Frisbey Catalan-French actress
• Astrid Cleve (1875-1968), Swedish botanist, geologist, chemist and researcher
• Astrid Gjertsen (born 1928), Norwegian politician
• Astrid Hadad, female vocalist and performance artist.
• Astrid Carolina Herrera (born 1963), Venezuelan actress and Miss World 1984
• Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (born 1987), Norwegian cross-country skier
• Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002), Swedish author of children's literature, among others Pippi Longstocking
• Astrid Lulling, Luxembourg politician and Member of the European Parliament
• Astrid Kirchherr (born 1938), German photographer and artist, known for her association with The Beatles
• Astrid Kumbernuss (born 1970), champion German shot putter and discus thrower
• Astrid Løken (1911-2008), Norwegian entomologist and member of the Norwegian resistance movement during World War II
• Astrid Plane, former lead singer of Animotion
• Astrid Strauss (born 1968), former freestyle swimmer for East Germany
• Astrid Thors (born 1957), Finnish politician
• Astrid Varnay (1918-2006), Swedish-born operatic soprano
• Astrid van der Veen, Dutch singer
• Astrid Villaume (1923-1995), Danish actress
• Astrid Williamson, Scottish musician
• Astrid Young (born 1962), Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician
• Astrid Zachrison (1895-2008), longest-lived Swede
• Astrud Gilberto (born 1940), Brazilian singer
• Estrid Svendsdatter (born between 990 and 997), princess and sister of Cnut
• Estrid of the Obotrites (c. 979–1035), queen consort of Olof Skötkonung, King of Sweden
• Estrid, 11th century Swedish lady whose saga is immortalized on six or seven runestones

Fictional characters

• Astrid, a friend of Juliette Darling's in the short-lived drama Dirty Sexy Money
• Astrid Peth, the Companion in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special Voyage of the Damned
• Astrid Ferrier, the main guest protagonist in the 1967-8 Doctor Who serial The Enemy of the World
• Astrid Larsson, a character in The Emberverse series
• Astrid Magnussen, troubled teenage protagonist of the novel White Oleander
• Astrid, a character from the video game Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
• Astrid, a minor character in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• Astrid Farnsworth, a character on the TV show Fringe
• Astrid Hofferson, a character in the film How to Train Your Dragon
• Astrid, an assassin from the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Astrid, a female protagonist in the "Gone Series by Michael Grant.

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a Scottish^[1] artist and musician, best known as the original bass player of The Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue a career as an artist, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art. Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with coming up with the name "The Beatles", as they both liked Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets. As a member of the group when it was a five-piece band, Sutcliffe is one of several people sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Beatle".

When The Beatles played in Hamburg, he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr, to whom he was later engaged. He later enrolled in the Hamburg College of Art after leaving The Beatles, and studied under future pop art artist, Eduardo Paolozzi. He earned praise for his paintings, which mostly explored a style related to abstract expressionism. In 1962, Sutcliffe collapsed in the middle of an art class in Hamburg after complaining of head pains. German doctors performed various checks on him, but were unable to determine exactly what was causing the headaches. On 10 April 1962, he was taken to hospital, but died in the ambulance on the way.

Early years[link]

Sutcliffe's father, Charles Sutcliffe (1905 – 18 March 1966), was a senior civil servant, who moved to Liverpool to help with wartime work in 1943, and then signed on as a ship's engineer, and so was often at sea during his son's early years. His mother, Millie, was a schoolteacher at an infant's school.^[2] Sutcliffe had two younger sisters, Pauline and Joyce.^[3][4]

Sutcliffe was born at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, and after his family moved south,^[5] he was brought up at 37 Aigburth Drive in Liverpool.^[6] He attended Park View Primary School, Huyton (1946–1950), and Prescot Grammar School (1950–1956).^[7][8] When Sutcliffe's father did return home on leave, he invited his son and art college classmate, Rod Murray (also Sutcliffe's roommate and best friend) for a "real good booze-up", slipping £10 into Sutcliffe's pocket before disappearing for another six months.^[7] The Beatles' biographer, Philip Norman, wrote that Charles Sutcliffe was a heavy drinker and physically cruel to his wife, which the young Sutcliffe witnessed.^[2]

During his first year at the Liverpool College of Art, Sutcliffe worked as a bin man on the Liverpool Corporation's waste collection trucks.^[9] Lennon was introduced to Sutcliffe by Bill Harry, a mutual friend, when all three were studying at Liverpool College of Art. According to Lennon, Sutcliffe had a "marvellous art portfolio" and was a seriously talented painter who was one of the "stars" of the school.^[7][10] He helped Lennon to improve his artistic skills, and, with others, worked with him when Lennon had to submit work for exams.^[11] (Paul McCartney later admitted that he was jealous of Sutcliffe's relationship with Lennon, as he had to take a "back seat" to Sutcliffe).^[12] Sutcliffe shared a flat with Murray at 9 Percy Street, Liverpool, before being evicted and moving to Hillary Mansions at 3 Gambier Terrace, where another art student lived, Margaret Chapman, who competed with Sutcliffe to be the best painter in class.^[13] The flat was opposite the new Anglican cathedral in the rundown area of Liverpool 8, with bare lightbulbs and a mattress on the floor in the corner. Lennon moved in with Sutcliffe in early 1960.^[14][15] Sutcliffe and his flatmates painted the rooms yellow and black, which their landlady did not appreciate. On another occasion the tenants, needing to keep warm, burned the landlady's furniture.^[16]

After talking to Sutcliffe one night at The Casbah Coffee Club (owned by Pete Best's mother, Mona Best), Lennon and McCartney persuaded Sutcliffe to buy a Höfner President 500/5 model bass guitar on hire-purchase from Frank Hessey's Music Shop.^[9][17][18] Sutcliffe was versed in music: he had sung in the local church choir in Huyton, his mother had insisted on piano lessons for him since the age of nine, he had played bugle in the Air Training Corps, and his father had taught him a few chords on the guitar.^[19][20] In May 1960, Sutcliffe joined Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison (then known as The Silver Beatles).^[21][22] Sutcliffe's fingers would often blister during long rehearsals, as he had never played long enough for his fingers to become calloused, although he had previously played acoustic guitar.^[23][24] Sutcliffe started acting as a booking agent for the group, and often used his Gambier Terrace flat as a rehearsal room.^[14]

In July 1960, the British Sunday newspaper The People ran an article entitled "The Beatnik Horror" that featured a photograph taken in the flat below Sutcliffe's of a teenaged Lennon lying on the floor and Sutcliffe standing by a window.^[25] They had often visited the Jacaranda club,^[26] and its owner, Allan Williams, arranged for the photograph to be taken, subsequently taking over from Sutcliffe to book concerts for "The Silver Beatles", as they were then known: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Sutcliffe.^[27] The Beatles' subsequent name change came during an afternoon in the Renshaw Hall bar when Sutcliffe, Lennon and his girlfriend, Cynthia Powell, thought up names similar to Holly's band, The Crickets, and came up with The Beatals.^[28] Lennon later changed the name because he thought it sounded French, suggesting Le Beat or Beat-less.^[29][30]

The Beatles and Hamburg[link]

Sutcliffe's playing style was elementary, mostly sticking to root notes of chords.^[31] Harry—an art school friend and founder and editor of the Mersey Beat newspaper—complained to Sutcliffe that he should be concentrating on art and not music, as he thought that Sutcliffe was a competent musician whose talents would be better used in the visual arts.^[32] While Sutcliffe is often described in Beatles' biographies as appearing very uncomfortable onstage, and often playing with his back to the audience, their drummer at the time, Best, denies this, recalling Sutcliffe as usually good-natured and "animated" before an audience.^[33] When The Beatles auditioned for Larry Parnes at the Wyvern Club, Seel Street, Liverpool, Williams claimed that Parnes would have taken the group as the backing band for Billy Fury, but as Sutcliffe turned his back to Parnes throughout the audition (because, as Williams believed, Sutcliffe could not play very well), Parnes said that he would only employ the group if they got rid of Sutcliffe. Parnes later denied this, stating his only concern was that the group had no permanent drummer.^[34] Klaus Voormann regarded Sutcliffe as a good bass player,^[35] although Beatles historian Richie Unterberger described Sutcliffe's bass playing as an "artless thump".^[36]

Sutcliffe's popularity grew after he began wearing dark Ray-Ban style clip-on flip-up sunglasses and tight trousers.^[37] Sutcliffe's high spot was singing "Love Me Tender", which drew more applause than the other Beatles, and increased the friction between him and McCartney. Lennon also started to criticise Sutcliffe, making jokes about Sutcliffe's size and playing.^[38] On 5 December 1960, George Harrison was sent back to England for being under-age. McCartney and Best were deported for attempted arson at the Bambi Kino, which left Lennon and Sutcliffe in Hamburg.^[39][40] Lennon took a train home, but as Sutcliffe had a cold he stayed in Hamburg.^[41] Sutcliffe later borrowed money from his girlfriend, Kirchherr, in order to fly back to Liverpool on Friday, 20 January 1961, although he returned to Hamburg in March 1961, with the other Beatles.^[38]

About eight months after meeting Kirchherr, Sutcliffe decided to leave the group in July 1961, to continue painting, although he had been turned down when he requested to study for the ATD (Art Teachers Diploma) course at the Liverpool Art College.^[42] After being awarded a postgraduate scholarship,^[11] he enrolled at the Hamburg College of Art under the tutelage of the pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi.^[37] He lent McCartney his bass until the latter could earn enough to buy a specially made smaller left-handed Höfner bass guitar of his own in June 1961. Sutcliffe asked McCartney (who is left-handed) not to change the strings around, so McCartney had to play the guitar upside down.^[43] In 1967, a photo of Sutcliffe was among those on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album (extreme left, in front of fellow artist Aubrey Beardsley).^[44]

Astrid Kirchherr[link]

Kirchherr was brought up by her widowed mother, Nielsa Kirchherr, in Eimsbütteler Strasse in a wealthy part of the Hamburg suburb of Altona.^[45] Sutcliffe met Kirchherr in the Kaiserkeller club, where she went to watch The Beatles perform. After a photo session with them, Kirchherr invited the group to her mother's house for tea and showed them her bedroom, decorated in all black, including the furniture, with silver foil on the walls and a large tree branch hanging from the ceiling. Sutcliffe began dating Kirchherr shortly thereafter.^[46]

Sutcliffe wrote to friends that he was infatuated with Kirchherr, and asked her German friends which colours, films, books and painters she liked. Best commented that the beginning of their relationship was, "like one of those fairy stories".^[47] Kirchherr and Sutcliffe got engaged in November 1960, and exchanged rings, as is the German custom.^[37] Sutcliffe later wrote to his parents that he was engaged to Kirchherr, which they were shocked to learn, as they thought he would give up his career as an artist,^[48] although he told Kirchherr that he would like to be an art teacher in London or Germany in the future.^[49] After moving into the Kirchherr family's house, Sutcliffe used to borrow her clothes, as he was the same height. He wore her leather pants and jackets, collarless jackets, over-sized shirts and long scarves, and also borrowed a corduroy suit with no lapels that he wore on stage, which prompted Lennon to sarcastically ask if his mother had lent him the suit.^[49]

Art[link]

Sutcliffe displayed artistic talent at an early age.^[7][50] Helen Anderson (a fellow student) remembered his early works as being very aggressive, with dark, moody colours, which was not the type of painting she expected from such a "quiet student".^[10] One of Sutcliffe's paintings was shown at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool as part of the John Moores exhibition from November 1959 until January 1960. After the exhibition, Moores bought Sutcliffe's canvas for £65, which was then equal to 6–7 weeks' wages for an average working man.^[14] The picture Moore bought was called Summer Painting, and Sutcliffe attended a formal dinner to celebrate the exhibition with another art student, Susan Williams.^[51] Rod Murray remembered that the painting was painted on a board, not a canvas, and had to be cut into two pieces (because of its size) and hinged. Murray added that only one of the pieces actually got to the exhibition (because they stopped off in a pub to celebrate) but sold nonetheless because Moores bought it for his son.^[52]

Sutcliffe was turned down when he applied to study for an ATD (Art Teachers Diploma) course at the Liverpool Art College,^[42] but after meeting Kirchherr, he decided to leave The Beatles and attend the Hamburg College of Art in June 1961, under the tutelage of Paolozzi, who later wrote a report stating that Sutcliffe was one of his best students.^[37][53][54] He wrote: "Sutcliffe is very gifted and very intelligent. In the meantime he has become one of my best students."^[5]

Sutcliffe's few surviving works reveal influence from the British and European abstract artists contemporary with the Abstract Expressionist movement in the United States. His earlier figurative work is reminiscent of the kitchen sink school, particularly of John Bratby, though Sutcliffe was producing abstract work by the end of the 1950s, including The Summer Painting, purchased by Moores.^[55] Sutcliffe's works bear some comparison with those of John Hoyland and Nicolas de Staël, though they are more lyrical (Sutcliffe used the stage name "Stu de Staël" when he was playing with The Beatles on a Scottish tour in spring 1960). His later works are typically untitled, constructed from heavily impastoed slabs of pigment in the manner of de Staël, whom he learned about from Surrey born, Art College instructor, Nicky Horsfield, and overlaid with scratched or squeezed linear elements creating enclosed spaces. Hamburg Painting no. 2 was purchased by Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery and is one of a series entitled "Hamburg" in which the surface and colour changes produced atmospheric energy. European artists (including Paolozzi) were also influencing Sutcliffe at the time.^[56] The Walker Art Gallery has other works by Sutcliffe, which are "Self-portrait" (in charcoal) and "The Crucifixion".^[57][58] Lennon later hung a pair of Sutcliffe's paintings in his house (Kenwood) in Weybridge, and McCartney had a Paolozzi sculpture in his Cavendish Avenue home.^[59][60]

Death[link]

While in Germany, Sutcliffe began experiencing severe headaches and acute sensitivity to light,^[61] and Kirchherr stated that some of the headaches left him temporarily blind.^[62][63] In 1962, Sutcliffe collapsed in the middle of an art class in Hamburg. Kirchherr's mother had German doctors perform various checks on him, but they were unable to determine exactly what was causing the headaches. They suggested he go back to England and have himself checked into a hospital with better facilities, but Sutcliffe was told there was nothing wrong with him, so he returned to Hamburg. While living at the Kirchherrs' house his condition got worse, and after collapsing again on 10 April 1962, he was taken to hospital by Kirchherr (who rode with him in the ambulance), but he died before the ambulance reached the hospital.^[63] The cause of death was revealed to have been an aneurysm, which caused bleeding in the right ventricle of his brain.^[63][64]

On 13 April 1962, Kirchherr met the group at Hamburg Airport, telling them that Sutcliffe had died a few days before.^[40][64] Sutcliffe's mother flew to Hamburg with The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, and returned to Liverpool with her son's body.^[49] Sutcliffe's father did not hear of his son's death for three weeks, as he was sailing to South America, although the family arranged for a padre to tell him when he docked in Buenos Aires.^[65] After Sutcliffe's death, Kirchherr wrote a letter to his mother, apologising for being too ill to attend his funeral in Liverpool and saying how much she and Lennon missed him: "Oh, Mum, he (Lennon) is in a terrible mood now, he just can't believe that darling Stuart never comes back. [He's] just crying his eyes out.... John is marvellous to me, he says that he knows Stuart so much and he loves him so much that he can understand me."^[66]

The cause of Sutcliffe's brain haemorrhage is unknown, although it is believed to have been started by an earlier head injury, as he was either kicked in the head or thrown, head first, against a brick wall during a fight outside Lathom Hall, after a performance in January 1961.^[67] According to former manager Allan Williams, Lennon and Best went to Sutcliffe's aid, fighting off his attackers before dragging him to safety. Sutcliffe sustained a fractured skull in the fight and had his little finger unintentionally broken by Lennon.^[68] Sutcliffe refused medical attention at the time and failed to keep an X-ray appointment at Sefton General Hospital.^[68] However, in a post to the New York Times, Sutcliffe's friend, Mersey Beat editor Bill Harry, claimed that Sutcliffe did not appear at Lathom Hall at the time Williams said the attack had happened. According to Harry, Sutcliffe's mother told him that he had fallen down the steps from the attic room in Kirchherr's house, and that Neilsa Kirchherr, Astrid's mother, confirmed this.^[69]

Although Lennon did not attend or send flowers to Sutcliffe's funeral, his second wife, Yoko Ono, remembered that Lennon mentioned Sutcliffe's name very often, saying that he was "[My] alter ego ... a spirit in his world ... a guiding force".^[3]

[edit] Anthology 1

The Beatles' compilation album, Anthology 1, consisting mostly of previously unreleased recordings from the group's early years, was released in 1995. Sutcliffe is pictured on the front cover, in the top right corner. Sutcliffe is featured playing bass with The Beatles on three songs they recorded in 1960: "Hallelujah, I Love Her So", "You'll Be Mine", and "Cayenne".^[70]

Film, TV and books[link]

Sutcliffe was portrayed by David Nicholas Wilkinson in the film Birth of The Beatles (1979) and by Lee Williams in In His Life: The John Lennon Story (2000).^[71] Sutcliffe's role in the Beatles' early career, as well as the factors that led him to leave the group, is dramatised in the film Backbeat (1994), in which he was portrayed by American actor Stephen Dorff. Four television documentaries have been broadcast that deal with Sutcliffe's life:

• Midnight Angel (1990) Granada TV (networked) U.K. ^[72]
• Exhibition (1991) Cologne, German TV ^[5]
• Stuart, His life and Art (2005) BBC ^[5]
• Stuart Sutcliffe, The Lost Beatle ^[73]

Books about Sutcliffe:

• Backbeat, Stuart Sutcliffe, The Lost Beatle (1994) Alan Clayson and Pauline Sutcliffe ^[74]
• Stuart, The Life and Art of Stuart Sutcliffe (1995) Pauline Sutcliffe and Kay Williams ^[75]
• The Beatles Shadow, Stuart Sutcliffe, & his lonely hearts club (2001) Pauline Sutcliffe and Douglas Thompson ^[5]
• Stuart Sutcliffe: a retrospective (2008) Matthew H. Clough and Colin Fallows ^[76]
• Baby's in Black (2010) Arne Bellstorf ^[77]

The Stuart Sutcliffe Estate sells memorabilia and artefacts of Sutcliffe's, which include poems written by him and the chords and lyrics to songs Lennon and Sutcliffe were learning.^[78]

Notes[link]