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Stuart Sutcliffe

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Stuart Sutcliffe
File:Sutcliffe in Hamburg.jpg
An Astrid Kirchherr photo of Sutcliffe in 1960.
Born23 June 1940
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died10 April 1962(1962-04-10) (aged 21)
Hamburg, Germany
Occupation(s)Artist, Bassist, Singer
SpouseEngaged to Astrid Kirchherr
ChildrenNone
Parent(s)Charles and Millie Sutcliffe

Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was an artist, and the original bassist of The Beatles for two years. Sutcliffe earned praise for his paintings, which mostly explored a style related to Abstract Expressionism.

Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with coming up with the name for The Beatles, as they both liked Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets. Sutcliffe played with The Beatles in Hamburg, where he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr, to whom he was later engaged. He enrolled in the Hamburg College of Art after leaving The Beatles, and studied under future pop artist, Eduardo Paolozzi.

Sutcliffe suffered from debilitating headaches while he was studying in Hamburg, and although tests were carried out by German doctors, no reason could be found for his worsening condition. He died on the way to hospital in April 1962, with Kirchherr sitting alongside him in the ambulance.

Early years

File:Sutcliffeselfportrait.jpg
Sutcliffe's self-portrait.

Sutcliffe's father, Charles Sutcliffe, was a naval officer, who was often at sea during his son's early years. His mother, Millie, was a schoolteacher. Sutcliffe had two sisters: Pauline and Joyce.[1]

A small but delicately handsome boy, Sutcliffe was born at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion Hospital in 1940, in Edinburgh, Scotland and brought up at 37 Aigburth Drive in Liverpool, and attended the Prescot Grammar School.[2][3] Sutcliffe sang in the local church choir in Huyton.[4] When Sutcliffe's father did return home on leave, he invited his son and Rod Murray (Sutcliffe's room-mate) for a "real good booze-up" and slipped £10 into Sutcliffe's pocket before disappearing for another six months.[2][5]

Sutcliffe met Lennon when they were both studying at the Liverpool College of Art. According to Lennon, Sutcliffe had a "marvellous art portfolio" at the age of fourteen and was a seriously talented painter who was one of the "stars" of the school.[2][6] Paul McCartney said that he was jealous of Sutcliffe's relationship with Lennon, as he had to take a "back seat" to Sutcliffe (taking second-place to Sutcliffe in Lennon's friendship).[7]

Sutcliffe lived in Percy Street before moving to Hillary Mansions at 3 Gambier Terrace, which was occupied by Beatniks.[8][9] The flat was near the new Anglican Cathedral in the run-down area of Liverpool 8, with bare lightbulbs and a mattress on the floor in the corner. Lennon moved in with Sutcliffe in early 1960.[10][11] Sutcliffe painted the rooms yellow and black, which his landlady did not appreciate.[12]

After talking to Sutcliffe one night at The Cashbah Coffee Club, owned by Pete Best's mother, Mona Best, Lennon and McCartney persuaded Sutcliffe to buy a Höfner 500/5 model, known in Europe as a President bass with the money he had won in the John Moore art exhibition.[7][13][14] Sutcliffe's fingers would often be blistered during long rehearsals, as he had never played long enough for his fingers to become calloused, although he had previously played acoustic guitar.[15][16] Sutcliffe started acting as a booking agent for the group, and they often used his flat as a rehearsal room.[10]

In July of 1960, the British Sunday newspaper The People ran an article entitled, "The Beatnik Horror", which featured a photograph taken in the flat below Sutcliffe's, with a teenaged Lennon lying on the floor. Allan Williams had set up the photograph. He took over from Sutcliffe booking concerts for "The Silver Beetles", as they were then known, which was Lennon, McCartney and Sutcliffe.[17] The Beatles' subsequent name-change came from an afternoon in the Renshaw Hall bar when Sutcliffe, Lennon, and Cynthia Powell thought up names similar to Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets, and came up with The Beatals.[18] Lennon later changed the name to "The Beatles", because he thought it sounded French and suggested Le Beat, or Beat-less.[19][20]

The Beatles and Hamburg

Main article: The Beatles

Sutcliffe's playing style was elementary, mostly sticking to root notes of chords.[21] Bill Harry, an art school friend of Sutcliffe's and the group, 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 but not brilliant bassist.[22] While Sutcliffe is often described in Beatles biographies as appearing very uncomfortable onstage, and as often playing with his back to the audience, Pete Best denies this, recalling Sutcliffe as usually good-natured and "animated" before an audience.[23] When The Beatles auditioned for Larry Parnes at the Wyvern Club, Seel Street, Liverpool, Williams stated 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 couldn't play very well—Parnes said that he would only employ the group if they got rid of Sutcliffe. Harry has said that the story is not true, as Parnes' only concern was that the group had no permanent drummer.[24]

McCartney has said that Sutcliffe was a typical art student, with bad skin and pimples, although in Hamburg, his stature grew after he began wearing dark Ray-Ban sunglasses and tight trousers.[25] 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.[26][27] Lennon took a train home, but as Sutcliffe had a cold he stayed in Hamburg.[28] Sutcliffe later borrowed airfare money from Astrid Kirchherr in order to fly to Liverpool in early January of 1961, though he returned to Hamburg, in March 1961, with the other Beatles.[29] 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 critcise Sutcliffe, and made jokes about Sutcliffe's size and playing.[29]

After Sutcliffe left The Beatles, he lent McCartney his President bass until the latter could earn enough money to buy a bass guitar of his own. Sutcliffe asked McCartney (who is left-handed) not to change the strings around, so McCartney had to play it upside down.[30] In 1967, The Beatles included a photo of Sutcliffe among those on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album (he appears at the extreme left, next to fellow artist Aubrey Beardsley).

Astrid Kirchherr

Main article: Astrid Kirchherr
File:Sutcliffe and Kirchherr.jpg
Sutcliffe and Kirchherr in 1960.

Kirchherr was raised by her widowed mother, Nielsa Kirchherr, in Eimsbütteler Strasse in the wealthy Hamburg suburb of Altona.[31] 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.[32]

Sutcliffe wrote to friends that he was infatuated with Kirchherr, and asked her friends which colours, films, books, and painters she liked. Pete Best commented that the beginning of their relationship was, "like one of those fairy stories".[33] Kirchherr and Sutcliffe got engaged in November, 1960, and exchanged rings, as is the German custom.[25] Sutcliffe wrote to his parents that he was engaged to Kirchherr, something they were shocked to learn, as they assumed he would give up his career as an artist.[34]

Kirchherr and Sutcliffe traveled to Liverpool in the summer of 1961, as Kirchherr wanted to meet Sutcliffe's family and to see his home city before their marriage.[35]

Art

Hamburg Painting no. 2

Sutcliffe displayed artistic talent at an early age.[2][36] 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.[6]

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, John Moores bought Sutcliffe's canvas for £75, which was then equal to 6-7 weeks' wages for an average working man.[10]

After meeting Kirchherr, Sutcliffe decided to leave The Beatles and enrolled at the Hamburg College of Art in June 1961, under the tutelage of Paolozzi who respected Sutcliffe's talent, and later wrote a report stating that although Sutcliffe had missed some lessons because of illness, he was considered by Paolozzi to be one of his "best students".[25][37][38]

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. 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 but sold nonetheless.[39]

Sutcliffe's works bear some comparison with those of John Hoyland and Nicolas de Staël, though they are more lyrical. His later works are typically untitled, constructed from heavily impastoed slabs of pigment in the manner of de Staël, 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 color changes produced atmospheric energy. European artists (including Paolozzi) were influencing Sutcliffe at the time.[40] The Walker Art Gallery has other works by Sutcliffe, which are "Self-portrait" (in charcoal) and "The Crucifixion".[41][42]

Lennon later hung a pair of Sutcliffe's paintings in his house (Kenwood) in Weybridge. McCartney had a Paolozzi sculpture in his Cavendish Avenue home.[43][44]

Death

Stuart Sutcliffe collapsed in the middle of an art class in Hamburg. Nielsa Kirchherr had German doctors perform various tests, but they were unable to determine exactly what was causing the intense headaches from which he had been suffering. While living at the Kirchherrs' house in Hamburg, his condition grew steadily worse. After collapsing again, Sutcliffe was taken to a hospital by Kirchherr (who rode with him in the ambulance), but he died before reaching the hospital. The cause of death was Cerebral Paralysis, after bleeding in the right ventricle of his brain.[45][46]

On 13 April 1962, Kirchherr met The Beatles at the Hamburg airport and told them that Sutcliffe had died from a brain hemorrhage a few days before.[45][27]

It has never been known precisely what caused the brain hemorrhage that took Sutcliffe's life. Some believe that the cause was an earlier head injury, sustained during a fight outside Lathom Hall after a live performance in January of 1961 (although Sutcliffe had been beaten up before).[47] 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 Lennon broke his pinky finger.[48]

Sutcliffe had refused medical attention at the time (and had not kept an X-ray appointment at the Sefton General Hospital). He saw a doctor only months later in Germany, when he began experiencing severe headaches and acute sensitivity to light.[49] Kirchherr said later that some of the headaches left Sutcliffe temporarily blind.[35][46]

After Sutcliffe's death, Kirchherr wrote a letter to Millie Sutcliffe, 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 just crying his eyes out John is marvellous to me, he says that he know Stuart so much and he love him so much that he can understand me."[50]

Anthology 1

The Beatles' compilation album Anthology 1, consisting mostly of previously unreleased recordings from the band's early years, was released in 1995. Sutcliffe is pictured on the front cover, in the top right corner, as he was on the Sgt. Pepper album cover 28 years before. He is featured playing bass with the Beatles on three songs that the band recorded in 1960: "Hallelujah, I Love Her So", "You'll Be Mine", and "Cayenne".[7]

Film portrayals

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 Stephen Dorff. He was also portrayed by David Wilkinson in the film Birth of the Beatles (1979) and by Lee Williams in In His Life: The John Lennon Story (2000).

Pauline Sutcliffe's Memoir

In 2001, Stuart's younger sister, Pauline Sutcliffe (a former psychotherapist) published a memoir which included claims that Sutcliffe and Lennon had a homosexual relationship.[51] She also wrote that the cerebral haemorrhage that Sutcliffe died of was caused by an injury inflicted by Lennon in a jealous rage while in Hamburg.[52] After Sutcliffe died doctors revealed he had an indent in his skull, which must have been the result of some kind of "trauma".[53] Pauline claims that a few months before Sutcliffe's death, Lennon had viciously kicked Sutclife in the head in an unprovoked attack, as Lennon was bitterly resentful of Sutcliffe's affair with Kirchherr. The book received immense publicity. Pauline moved to the United States of America in 2002, and settled in Wainscott, New York, and still owns most of Sutcliffe's art work and letters.[1]

Pauline said that she did not want to reveal what she believed until after the death of her mother. Among the papers she presented was a a letter from Sutcliffe to his mother discussing that both men and women were attracted to him:

I’m waiting for my main meal of the day — beefsteak and mashed potatoes and a glass of milk — this costs 4 marks, every day. [I have just sung] and received the best applause of the night. Moments after I have finished singing, the people all look at me with sad wistful looks on their faces. Recently I’ve become very popular both with girls and homosexuals, who tell me I’m the sweetest, most beautiful boy. Imagine it, me, the one who has such a complex because I was small and thought I was ugly. . . . It appears that people refer to me as the James Dean of Hamburg. . . . I’m quite flattered.[1]

She commented about the media reaction to the two claims in 2007: "I didn’t throw out these two themes...They were extrapolated out by the media. I think I’m quite sophisticated, but, boy, was I naive".[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Fasolino, Elizabeth (2007-11-27). "Stuart Sutcliffe: Lost Beatle". The East Hampton Star. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Spitz 2005. p105
  3. ^ Prescot Grammar School uniform liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  4. ^ Photo of Sutcliffe in church choir liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  5. ^ The Comprehensive Stuart Sutcliffe Website (Basic info) geocities.com/imagine_80 - Retrieved 28 October 2007
  6. ^ a b Spitz 2005. p107
  7. ^ a b c ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 0:27:24) McCartney talking about being jealous of Sutcliffe’s friendship with Lennon. Cite error: The named reference "”TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD”" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ Spitz 2005. p172
  9. ^ Painting by Sutcliffe in Percy Street flat liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  10. ^ a b c Miles 1997 p50
  11. ^ Cynthia Lennon – “John” 2006. p63
  12. ^ “I heard that Stuart had painted his room”, by Norman Allanson triumphpc.com - Retrieved 26 November 2007
  13. ^ Sutcliffe's President Bass rockmine.com - Retrieved: 9 May 2007
  14. ^ Sutcliffe's cheque book - liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  15. ^ Cynthia Lennon – “John” 2006. p64
  16. ^ Sutcliffe’s first guitar liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  17. ^ Miles 1997 p53
  18. ^ Spitz 2005. p175
  19. ^ Cynthia Lennon – “John” 2006. p65
  20. ^ Renshaw Hall bar liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 9 May 2007
  21. ^ Spitz 2005. pp184-185
  22. ^ Spitz 2005. pp173-174
  23. ^ An Evening With Pete Best, Part I: The Interview rickresource.com - Retrieved: 20 Jan, 2007
  24. ^ Bill Harry interview on Beatle Folks - Retrieved 28 November 2007
  25. ^ a b c Miles 1997 p65
  26. ^ Cynthia Lennon “John” 2006. p93.
  27. ^ a b The BeatlesTimeline beatles.ncf.ca - Retrieved: 9 May 2007
  28. ^ Spitz 2005. p230
  29. ^ a b Spitz 2005. p242 Cite error: The named reference "Spitzp242" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  30. ^ Miles 1997 pp74-75
  31. ^ Miles 1997 p64
  32. ^ Spitz 2005. p224
  33. ^ Spitz 2005. p225
  34. ^ Spitz 2005. p235
  35. ^ a b Spitz 2005. p278
  36. ^ Cynthia Lennon – “John” 2006. p47
  37. ^ Hamburg identity card, 1961 liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  38. ^ Eduardo Paolozzi’s Report liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  39. ^ Spitz 2005. p168
  40. ^ 'Hamburg Painting No. 2' 1961 liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 12 May 2007
  41. ^ Sutcliffe's self-portrait (in charcoal) liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  42. ^ “The Crucifixion” by Sutcliffe liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 12 May 2007
  43. ^ Miles 1997 p170
  44. ^ Miles 1997 p258
  45. ^ a b Spitz 2005. p305
  46. ^ a b Cynthia Lennon– “John”. p110.
  47. ^ Spitz 2005. p240
  48. ^ Spitz 2005. p241
  49. ^ Sefton General Hospital report liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  50. ^ Astrid’s letter to Millie Sutcliffe liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007
  51. ^ Thompson, Douglas. "Douglas Thompson review". Douglas Thompson. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  52. ^ Lister, David (2001-10-31). "He helped found the Beatles". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  53. ^ Lister, David (2001-10-31). "He helped found the Beatles (page 2)". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

References

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