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The Beatles were first formed in 1956 under the name The Quarrymen. While the group included the famous bandmembers fans know and love today – Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison – it also included Pete Best as the drummer and Stuart Sutcliffe as the bassist. But while Best was eventually kicked out of the band, Sutcliffe never survived to see the group see success. This week, on April 10, marks the 61st anniversary of Sutcliffe’s sudden death.
Sutcliffe, who was just 21-years-old, began suffering extremely painful headaches. Once one began, he simply could not get rid of it. One instance was so excruciatingly painful that Sutcliffe collapsed in the middle of an art class.
The local doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him, so he was sent on his way. But the headaches got worse. And on April 10, 1962, Sutcliffe collapsed again – but this time he didn’t make it to the hospital in time. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
The Beatles were told the tragic news shortly thereafter. And Lennon simply couldn’t accept the news.
When he heard that one of his best friends had died suddenly, the grief-stricken star “laughed hysterically”. Then he fell to his knees and broke down into tears. He was reportedly inconsolable for some time. His sorry was apparently so great that he couldn’t even bring himself to attend the funeral.
Lennon was so upset by the star’s death that he rarely mentioned Sutcliffe for the rest of his life. The pain was somehow still too strong for him to discuss. No wonder, considering his mother had unexpectedly died in a hit-and-run car accident just four years prior.
The heartbreak was dreadful for the entire band, as Sutcliffe had been instrumental in building The Beatles. Together, they travelled to Hamburg, Germany, where they played residency slots for months at a time in an effort to build their reputation.
But after the band’s second residency slot came to an end in July 1961, Sutcliffe had some unexpected news for the group.
Sutcliffe told his lifelong friends that he was quitting The Beatles. He felt as if his first love – art – was calling to him. So he left the band and joined the local art college where he studied alongside his long-term girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr.
Lennon was furious about this news. The pair had known one another for years, and the Imagine singer no doubt felt abandoned by his friend. Lennon reportedly got into a fistfight with Sutcliffe over the news, leaving them bruised both emotionally and physically.
Lennon rarely broke his silence about Sutcliffe. But when he did, he would only say wonderful things about him. He once revealed: “I looked up to Stu. I depended on him to tell me the truth. Stu would tell me if something was good and I’d believe him.”
Years later, other members of the band looked back on how influential the star was for their lives and their careers.
In 2020 McCartney posted on his Instagram account to commemorate what would have been Sutcliffe’s 80th birthday. He wrote: “Our original bass player Stuart would have been 80 today! So many great memories of our time together. Happy birthday Stu! Love Paul.”
Harrison joked about the quality of Sutcliffe’s musicianship, suggesting he was “rubbish”. He said: “He wasn’t really a very good musician. In fact, he wasn’t a musician at all until we talked him into buying a bass. He picked up a few things and he practised a bit … It was a bit ropey, but it didn’t matter at that time because he looked so cool.”
Sutcliffe was cool enough to know where to look for inspiration. He was reportedly the person who introduced The Beatles to their famous “mop-top” hairstyles. Before that, they were looking all shook up with slicked-back hair and leather jackets, in an attempt to emulate the look of Elvis Presley.
Sutcliffe’s girlfriend, Kirchherr, later looked back on the trendsetter saying: “All my friends in art school used to run around with this sort of … what you call Beatles haircut. And Stuart liked it very, very much. He was the first one who really got the nerve to get the Brylcreem [hairgel] out of his hair, and asking me to cut his hair for him.”
Shortly thereafter, the rest of the band followed suit and cut their hair in the same way.
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