Stuart Sutcliffe

This article is a featured article. This means that it has been identified as one of the best articles on the Beatles Wiki.

Stuart Sutcliffe
[[Image: Sutcliffe in 1961 |center|300px]]
Born	23 June 1940
Died	10 April 1962 (21 years old)
Occupation	Artist
Association with the Beatles	Former bassist of The Beatles

Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a Scottish artist and bass guitarist who gained fame with The Beatles. He joined the band in early 1960 and featured in their Hamburg tour.

Sutcliffe is often known as the "fifth Beatle", a title which many are known as. He is also known for coming up the band name "Beatles", alongside John Lennon. Lennon and Sutcliffe met in art school and befriended each other, Sutcliffe eventually joining Lennon's band The Beatals in January 1960. After several namechanges they went to tour in Hamburg, Germany.

At Hamburg, Sutcliffe met photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who became his fiancèe in 1960. In 1961, Sutcliffe left for a variety of reasons, particularly to pursue a career in art.

Sutcliffe was known for his art too, which mostly had a style similar to abstract expressionism. His former art teacher Eduardo Paolozzi referred Sutcliffe as one of his best students.

History

Early career

Sutcliffe was known for being gifted at art at a very young age. He attended the Liverpool College of Art and was introduced to John Lennon by friend Bill Harry. He and friend Rod Murray were in a race to be the bassist in the The Beatles. In 17 November 1959, he sold a painting to John Moores at the Biennial John Moores Exhibition for £65. After a conversation at the Casbah Coffee Club with Lennon and Paul McCartney, Sutcliffe bought a Höfner 500/5 President bass from Frank Hessey's Music Shop and won the race.

With The Beatles

Sutcliffe in Feburary 1961

In January 1960, after the purchase, Sutcliffe officially joined The Beatals (unnamed at the time). He is credited for suggesting the name "Beatles", with Lennon altering the name so it could have a double meaning (Beat referencing beat music).

Sutcliffe and the band recorded several songs in McCartney's house in Forthlin Rd. in April. Three of these tracks were released in the Anthology 1 album in 1995. In May, they auditioned to be a backing band to Billy Fury and were known as The Silver Beetles by that point, though they instead played for a lesser-known artist called Johnny Gentle. Sutcliffe turned his back in the audition, since the judges could've found out about Sutcliffe's incability of playing. During the tour, Sutcliffe used "Stu de Staël" as a stage name, in respect to Nicolas de Staël, another painter.

In August, the band arrived at Hamburg, and kicked off their tour with a show at the Indra Club. Local groups were guarded by gangsters and others, with feuds between Englishmen and Germans. However, a woman by the name of Astrid Kirchherr photographed the Beatles, and started a relationship with Sutcliffe.

Instruments

Basses

• Höfner 500/5 President (1960–1961)

Guitars

Acoustic

• Unidentified guitar (c. 1957–1962)

Others

• Bugle (?–?)
• Piano (?–?)

Gallery