Although there were often fights and arguments within The Beatles during their Hamburg period, Paul McCartney later played down the problems.
There’s something I’d like to get straight because it is kind of historical – someone a few years ago said how it was my relentless ambition that pushed Stu out of the group. We did have some arguments, me and Stu, but actually I just wanted us to be a really cracking band, and Stu – being a cracking artist – held us back a little bit, not too much. If ever it came to the push, when there was someone in there watching us I’d feel, ‘Oh, I hope Stu doesn’t blow it.’ I could trust the rest of us; that was it. Stuart would tend to turn away a little so as not to be too obvious about what key he was in, in case it wasn’t our key.When it became clear that Stu was leaving because of Astrid, I asked him in the transition period to lend me his bass, which, for me, was upside down.
Anthology
In November 1960, just two months after they met, Sutcliffe and Astrid Kirchherr became engaged, and exchanged rings following the German tradition. The following month he chose to enrol at the Hamburg College of Art to study painting.
Stuart was engaged to Astrid and after that trip decided that he was going to leave the band and live in Germany because Eduardo Paolozzi was coming to be the lecturer at Hamburg Art College. Stu had never really been that single-minded about music. We liked him in the band: he looked great and he’d learnt enough to get by, but he was never totally convinced that he was going to be a musician.He said, ‘I’m out of the band, lads, I’m going to stay in Hamburg with Astrid.’
Paolozzi later wrote a report describing Sutcliffe as one of his “best students”. Although a small number of his works still survive, Sutcliffe’s art was influenced by British and European abstract artists. His earlier work had been figurative, but later on his paintings became more lyrical and abstract, influenced by artists such as John Hoyland and Nicolas de Staël.
The Beatles’ spell at the Kaiserkeller came to an end in November 1960 when the group was deported from Germany. Wanted by the police, Sutcliffe went into hiding with Kirchherr, but eventually flew back to Liverpool in February 1961.
We finished at the Kaiserkeller last week. The police intervened because we had no work permits. Paul and Peter [Best] the drummer were deported yesterday and sent in handcuffs to the airport. I was innocent this time, accused of arson – that is, setting fire to the Kino where we sleep. I arrive at the club and am informed that the whole of the Hamburg police are looking for me. The rest of the band are already locked up, so smiling and on the arm of Astrid, I proceed to give myself up. At this time, I’m, not aware of the charges. All of my belongings, including spectacles, are taken away and I’m led to a cell, where, without food or drink I sat for six hours on a very wooden bench, and the door shut very tight. I signed a confession in Deutsch that I knew nothing about a fire, and they let me go. The next day Paul and Pete were deported and sent home by plane, John and I were without money and job. The police had forbidden us to work as already we were liable to deportation for working three months in the country illegally. The next day John went home. I stay till January at Astrid’s house. At the moment she’s washing all my muck and filth collected over the last few months. God I love her so much.
Anthology
In December 1960 The Beatles had secured a regular booking at Hamburg’s Top Ten club; the performances began in April the following year. Although by then he had left the group, The Beatles persuaded Sutcliffe to write to Allan Williams, their manager, saying they were withholding his 10% commission as they had negotiated the contract themselves.
In April 1961, when The Beatles returned to Hamburg, Sutcliffe with them, Astrid Kirchherr met them at the train station. She wore a leather trouser suit; Sutcliffe loved it and persuaded her to make one for him. The rest of the group liked the look enough to have cheap copies made by a Hamburg tailor. It helped define their pre-Brian Epstein image, which was captured in a series of iconic photographs taken by Kirchherr in Hamburg.
One of Kirchherr’s other notable influences came with the introduction of what later became known as a ‘Beatle cut’.
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.
John Lennon is said to have “collapsed laughing” when Stuart arrived for the first gig after his haircut. Soon after, however, George Harrison also let Astrid cut his hair in a similar style. The rest of the group, apart from Pete Best, followed shortly afterwards.
Although Sutcliffe had essentially left The Beatles at the end of 1960, they remained close. He occasionally jammed with them, and he and Kirchherr continued to watch their performances.
When The Beatles returned to England, Sutcliffe and Lennon wrote frequently and at length to each other, exchanging jokes, poems and stories, and news on each other’s fortunes. Sutcliffe wrote a number of letters in a tone suggesting he thought he were Jesus. Thinking it was a joke, Lennon replied pretending to be John the Baptist.
But for Sutcliffe it wasn’t an act; he was suffering a series of increasingly debilitating headaches. Towards the end of 1961 he collapsed in a class at Hamburg College of Art and was taken home. Although it was thought he was working too hard at college, he returned the next day.
Kirchherr’s mother arranged for doctors to carry out a series of tests, but no cause for the headaches could be found. While living at the Kirchherr family house in Hamburg his condition grew worse, suffering extreme pains and an aversion to light.
Not long before he died, he showed up in Liverpool and he went around and hung out with us – almost as if he’d had a premonition that he wasn’t going to see us again. He came to visit me at my house quite apart from when I saw him with the others and it was a very good feeling I got from him.I didn’t know Stuart was ill, but he was trying to give up smoking. He’d cut his cigarettes up into little bits and every time he fancied a cigarette he’d smoke a little piece, like a dog-end. All the stories make out that somebody kicked him in the head and he died of a haemorrhage, and I do remember him getting beaten up after a gig once in Liverpool – just because he was in a band – but that was a couple of years before.
There was something really warm about his return, and in retrospect I believe he was finishing something.
Anthology
Typical. This is one of those articles you just start to read, then can’t let go. I’m hooked!!
Awesome article!I’m impressed. It had a lot of information I didn’t know about…
Do you think that the release of “Love Me Tender” here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Tender-Elvis-Presley-cover/dp/B005XLTRLO
is really Stu??
elvis Presley did a cover of the song but stuart did make the song
I look after Stuart’s grave in Hyton cemetry,Liverpool…R.I.P
It’s been said that Sutcliffe’s mental health declined heavily after Lennon kicked him in the head.
There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that lennon “kicked” sutcliffe in the head. Lets be clear about that. Eyewitnesses do not recall sutcliffe being struck in the head when he was attacked in liverpool either. (the time lennon came to his aid)
John was not with Stu in the four months prior to his death. No head trauma causes cerebral bleeding and death after that long an interval.
The sad truth is that it is far more likely sutcliffe’s tragic death was the result of an Aneurysm. Possibly acerbated by the huge amount of speed that he was taking. But that just isn’t as sensational a story though.
Very touching, very moving article. Impossible to stop reading. Thank you so much for this deeply emotional and beautiful bit of writing.
Just been to Stuart’s grave this morning. 55 years gone yesterday. Only a kid x
My son dated a distant relative of Stuart’s her name is Sarah sutcliffe
Being an artist himself, I wonder what Stu would’ve thought of Yoko Ono, and/or John’s fascination with her?
I feel that Paul sounds a liar when he involves George in his jealousy towards Stu, when the reality is that George liked Stu, he was never jealous of him, it was only Paul who felt that jealousy very strongly. Paul has a tendency to involve others in feelings that are uniquely his own.
Look, Paul’s memory is not perfect and nobody’s is. In the “Anthology”, Paul has complimented Stuart by calling him a very good painter and when he says that the only trouble with Stuart being the bassist was that he couldn’t play, he may have been referring to the formative days.
George even said that Stuart did learn a few tunes, but never fully felt at ease being in The Beatles, so he decided to return to the Liverpool College of Art or perhaps in Hamburg – I’m not really sure. It’s not like Stuart never put any effort into learning how to actually play.
Paul also denies that he ever tried to force Stuart out of the group so that he could take over on bass himself and it has to be noted that he reluctantly took over bass guitar duties.
Allan Williams alleged that Paul would surreptitiously unplug Stuart’s bass from the amplifier without his knowledge, but AFAIK, I have never seen any photographic evidence to prove it.
I’m not talking about Stu’s musical abilities. Nor am I talking about why Stu left the group. I’m talking about Paul saying that he and George were jealous of Stu, because of his friendship with John. But the only one jealous was Paul. This is very clear in Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In. It is not right for Paul to involve George in feelings that are exclusively his own.
@Isa. I wonder why you are assuming it’s Paul who is lying rather than George. George looked up to John, followed him and Cyn everywhere, according to John who felt irritated by it. George could have felt humiliated or silly years later after the acrimonious Beatles split and not admit to being jealous for all we know.
We’re talking about the relationship between Paul and Stu, nothing to do with Cynthia and John. According to the people who were there, Paul was jealous of John’s relationship with Stu, but George was not jealous of Stu, on the contrary, he got on very well with him. Therefore, Paul’s statement that “we were a bit jealous of him (Stu)” is a way of ascribing to someone else feelings that were his alone, nobody else’s. Moreover, Paul was not “a little jealous” of Stu, he was “very jealous”, according to the testimonies of Dot Rhone (Paul’s girlfriend in those days), Astrid Kirchherr, and even his brother Mike McCartney, among others.
Well, if anyone knows jealousy it is George since he spent his entire Beatles and Post Beatles life jealous of Paul for many reasons but especially because of how John favored Paul above everyone, including his own wife! Just look at Geo’s face in every interview when Paul and John are going on about something or joking – George looks like a jilted GF! You see it clearly in Get Back. George has this angry, sad puss on his face the entire time. In 1970 John finally gave George attention because he USED him to set the campaign against Paul to dis-barge his career. Sad but all true!
Back to Stu…Paul has admitted many times he was jealous of John’s relationship with Stu but John also admitted he would go overboard with attention to Stu to get a rise out of Paul because he loved how it bothered him. Paul, not one to show affection – so this what the only way John got to see that Paul really dug him, cared for him. That is what people do to get attention – they go out of their way to make the person they truly love jealous and that is exactly what John did with Stu. Not saying John didn’t love Stu, he certainly did.
Lets face it… John and Paul had one of the most loving, toxic, incredible, strange and erotic relationships in Rock history. Not even Yoko could deny John’s feelings, deep deep feelings for Paul – let alone either of them. Paul, still today at 80, still grapples with his emotions concerning John. What a love story!
“…but John also admitted he would go overboard with attention to Stu to get a rise out of Paul because he loved how it bothered him. Paul, not one to show affection – so this what the only way John got to see that Paul really dug him, cared for him.”
Really? Have you the source? I’m curious!
Why shouldn’t Paul be jealous? It’s quite normal in young male and female friendships and there doesn’t have to be any romance involved. John and Paul shared their mutual love of writing songs when they met and Paul taught John many chords he didn’t know. He helped get the Quarrymen going and got George on board. Then John, nearly two years older than Paul, went to art school befriending Sutcliffe and started treating Paul like a school boy. He minimized their friendship and everything Paul had contributed. And, according to Lewisholn, both of them played some pretty mean tricks on him. Why shouldn’t Paul feel upset? John pulled rank on him again years later when he replaced Paul with Yoko Ono. Who cares whether George was jealous of Stu or not; he was undoubtedly jealous of John and Paul. I’m sure he enjoyed every moment of Paul’s distress and I’d say it’s Paul’s way of not letting George off the hook. Paul’s detractors really seem very smug about all this.
This page busts the misconception that Stuart was a mediocre bassist and even Klaus Voormann praises him as a good bassist. It wasn’t like he had no prior musical experience and his father did teach him some chords on the guitar.
The circumstances surrounding Stuart and Pete Best’s exists were vastly different – Stuart chose to leave the band to return to art college and focus on visual arts, so he wasn’t fired, whereas Pete got kicked out of the group for a myriad of reasons.
We can only speculate what Stuart could’ve done with his life had his life not been cut so short – he could very well have done album covers for The Beatles if they asked him to provide paintings and John himself was a talented visual artist in his own right or perhaps become an art teacher in Hamburg or Liverpool.
I know that lots of biographies state that Stuart had two sisters named Joyce and Pauline, but a lot of them don’t mention this: he also had three elder half-brothers named Joe, Ian and Charles and an elder-half sister named Mattie, all of whom were the offspring of his father’s first marriage to a woman whose name has never been disclosed to any biographers. Until I knew of the existence of his elder half-siblings, I used to think that Stuart’s only siblings, half or full, were his two sisters Joyce and Pauline.
Who knows what Stuart could have done with his life had he lived?
” In 2001 she published a memoir which alleged that Sutcliffe and Lennon had had a homosexual relationship” That shocked me a lot.