The original lineup of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
,
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
,
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
,
Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a Scottish painter and musician best known as the original bass guitarist of the English rock band the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a paint ...
and
Pete Best
Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...
regularly performed at different clubs in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, during the period from August 1960 to December 1962; a chapter in the group's history which honed their performance skills, widened their reputation, and led to their first recording, which brought them to the attention of
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
.
The Beatles' booking agent,
Allan Williams
Allan Richard Williams (21 February 1930 – 30 December 2016) was a British businessman and promoter who was the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles. He personally drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, Germany, in ...
, decided to send the group to Hamburg when another group he managed,
Derry and the Seniors, proved successful there. Having no permanent drummer at the time, they recruited Best a few days before their departure. After breaking their contract by playing at another club, Harrison was deported for being underaged, and McCartney and Best were arrested and deported for attempted arson.
The Beatles first met
Astrid Kirchherr
Astrid Kirchherr (; 20 May 1938 – 12 May 2020) was a German photographer and artist known for her association with the Beatles (along with her friends Klaus Voormann and Jürgen Vollmer) and her photographs of the band's original memb ...
in Hamburg, who was instrumental in their adoption of the mop topped
Beatle haircut
The English rock band the Beatles are commonly regarded as the foremost and most influential band in popular music history. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they sparked the " Beatlemania ...
. During their period in Hamburg, Sutcliffe decided to leave the group to continue his studies. In April 1962, less than a year after leaving the group, he suffered a
brain hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
and died as a result.
Hamburg in the 1960s
Hamburg had once been West Germany's main seaport, the fourth largest in the world, but during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1943 half of the city was reduced to rubble by American and British bombing raids. By 1960, when they arrived, the Hamburg that had grown up from the ruins of WWII had established a reputation throughout Europe as a city of vice and criminal activity. In contrast to an economically depressed post-war
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, Hamburg was a wealthy city.
Leaving Liverpool
Allan Williams, a 29-year-old Liverpool businessman and promoter, had sent his leading group, Derry and the Seniors (later known as
Howie Casey
Howard William Casey (born 12 July 1937) is a British rhythm and blues and rock saxophonist. He came to prominence in the early 1960s as a member of Derry and the Seniors, the first rock and roll band from Liverpool to play clubs in Germany, ...
and the Seniors)
to Hamburg, where they were enjoying success, and wanted to send an additional group. He initially tried to send
Rory Storm
Rory Storm (born Alan Ernest Caldwell; 7 January 1938 – 28 September 1972) was an English musician and vocalist. Born in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contempora ...
and the Hurricanes, but Storm and his group were committed to a
Butlins
Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.
Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...
holiday camp and turned Williams' offer down, as did
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...
. Williams started promoting concerts for The Beatles in May 1960, after they had played at his Jacaranda club in Liverpool, and offered The Beatles the Hamburg bookings.
[The Beatles, Anthology DVD (2003) (Episode 1 - 0:38:45) Harrison talking about the offer to play in Hamburg.] He booked them into
Bruno Koschmider
Bruno Koschmider (1926 – 2000) was a German entrepreneur in Hamburg, best known for employing the Beatles in the early 1960s. He controlled various businesses, such as the Bambi Kino, which was a cinema, the Indra club and the Kaiserkeller.
Pe ...
's Indra club in Hamburg for a season of bookings starting on 12 August 1960, but said that he was not impressed with them as a musical group, and hoped to find a better act to follow them.
As they had no permanent drummer, McCartney looked for someone to fill the position, which was difficult, as Lennon later said that drummers were "few and far between", because a set of drums was an expensive item. Harrison had seen Best playing with the Black Jacks in
The Casbah Coffee Club
The Casbah Coffee Club, officially Casbah Club, was a rock and roll music venue in the West Derby area of Liverpool, England, that operated from 1959 to 1962. Started by Mona Best, mother of early Beatles drummer, Pete Best, in the cellar of th ...
(which was run by his mother,
Mona Best
Alice Mona Best (née Shaw; 3 January 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a British music club proprietor, best known as the owner of The Casbah Coffee Club, a club in Liverpool which served as a venue for rock and roll music during the late 1950s an ...
). He was regarded as a steady drummer, playing the
bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
on all four
beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
s in the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
, which pushed the rhythm, and was known in Liverpool at the time as being "mean, moody, and magnificent" by female fans, which convinced McCartney he would be good for the group. After the Black Jacks broke up, McCartney asked Best to go to Hamburg, telling him they would earn £15 per week each. Best had the chance to go to a teacher-training college, as he had passed his school
exam
An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...
s, unlike Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, who had failed most of theirs, but decided that playing in Hamburg would be a better career move.
The
St. Pauli
St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...
quarter of Hamburg, where the Indra club was located, was well known as a red light district where prostitutes were to be found, and was a dangerous place for anyone that looked different from the usual clientele. McCartney's father, Jim McCartney, was reluctant to let his teenage son go to Hamburg, but relented after a visit from Williams, who told him that he "shouldn't worry". Lennon's aunt,
Mimi Smith
Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith (''née'' Stanley; 24 April 1906 – 6 December 1991) was a maternal aunt and the parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. Mimi Stanley was born in Toxteth, Liverpool, England
Liverpool is ...
, was also reluctant to allow Lennon to go to Hamburg, wanting Lennon to continue his studies, but Lennon placated her by exaggerating the amount he would earn. Best had an audition in Williams' Jacaranda club on 15 August 1960, and travelled to Hamburg the next day as a member of the group. Williams later admitted that the audition with Best was not needed, as they had not found any other drummer willing to travel to Hamburg, but did not tell Best in case he asked for more money.
[Goldsmith (2004) p46] The group were to be paid about £100 per week, which was much more than promoters in Liverpool paid. Williams drove the group and their equipment in his
Austin J4 minibus which was loaded by crane onto a ferry at
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
on 16 August 1960, and landed at
Hook of Holland
Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...
.
All five Beatles, Williams and his wife Beryl, her brother Barry Chang, and "
Lord Woodbine
Harold Adolphus Phillips (15 January 1929 – 5 July 2000), known as Lord Woodbine, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and music promoter. He is regarded by some as the musical mentor of The Beatles, and has been called the "sixth Beatle".Alan Clayso ...
" were in the minivan, along with Georg Sterner (Koschmider's translator and future waiter), making a total of ten people, which resulted in a journey that was both uncomfortable and dangerous.
As Williams had not obtained German work permits, they were detained at Harwich for five hours. Williams finally convinced the authorities that they were students on holiday,
although work permits were later obtained after their arrival in Hamburg.
Note: "Lord Woodbine" and Williams ran a strip club called New Cabaret Artistes club at 174A Upper Parliament Street in Liverpool. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe once played backing music for "Janice the Stripper" there, in July 1960.
Hamburg clubs
![Beatles Platz Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Beatles_Platz_Hamburg.JPG)
In the early 1960s, the Hamburg scene revolved around the
Kaiserkeller
Kaiserkeller is a music club in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, Germany, near the Reeperbahn. It was opened by Bruno Koschmider on 14 October 1959. The Beatles had a contract with Kaiserkeller to play there in 1960.
History
A Caribbean steel ...
,
Top Ten,
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 3 ...
, Beer-Shop, Mambo, Holle, Wagabond, and the Pacific Hotel, as well as the less popular clubs like Grannies, the Ice Cream Shop, Chugs, and Sacha's. The
Reeperbahn
The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nickn ...
and the
Grosse Freiheit
Große or Grosse is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Demetrius Grosse
*Maurice Grosse
*Katharina Grosse
*Ben Grosse
*Hans-Werner Grosse
*Heinz-Josef Große
*Julius Grosse
Julius Waldemar Grosse (25 April 1828 – 9 ...
were decorated with neon lights, with posters advertising the performers in the clubs. Each club had a doorman whose job was to entice customers inside, as the drinks were expensive.
The Indra and Kaiserkeller
![Indra-Club-Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Indra-Club-Hamburg.png)
The Beatles arrived very early in the morning of 17 August 1960, but had no trouble finding the St. Pauli area of Hamburg, as it was so infamous. Unfortunately the Indra Club (64 Große Freiheit) was closed, so a manager from a neighbouring club found someone to open it up, and the group slept on the red leather seats in the alcoves. The group played at the club on the same night, but were told they could sleep in the storeroom of Bambi Kino (a small cinema), which was cold and in very poor condition
(33 Paul-Roosen Straße).
McCartney later said, "We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them. The room had been an old storeroom, and there were just concrete walls and nothing else. No heat, no wallpaper, not a lick of paint; and two sets of bunk beds, with not very much covers—
Union Jack
The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
flags—we were frozen."
Lennon remembered: "We were put in this pigsty. We were living in a toilet, like right next to the ladies' toilet. We'd go to bed late and be woken up next day by the sound of the cinema show and old German fraus
omen
An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages fr ...
pissing next door."
After having been awoken in this fashion, the group were then obliged to use cold water from the urinals for washing and shaving. They were paid £2.50 each a day, seven days a week, playing from 8:30–9:30, 10 until 11, 11:30–12:30, and finishing the evening playing from one until two o'clock in the morning. German customers found the group's name comical, as "Beatles" sounded like nds, Piedel, which is an infantile word for penis.
Harrison remembered the Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit as the best thing the group had ever seen, as it had so many neon lights, clubs and restaurants, although also saying, "The whole area was full of transvestites and prostitutes and gangsters, but I couldn't say that they were the audience ... Hamburg was really like our apprenticeship, learning how to play in front of people."
Best remembered the Indra as being a depressing place that was filled with a few tourists, and having heavy, old, red curtains that made it seem shabby compared to the larger Kaiserkeller, a club also owned by Koschmider and located nearby at 36 Große Freiheit. After the closure of the Indra because of complaints about the noise, the Beatles played in the Kaiserkeller, starting on 4 October 1960.
Performances
Their playing schedule at the Kaiserkeller remained the same as it had been in the Indra.
Lennon said: "We had to play for hours and hours on end. Every song lasted twenty minutes and had twenty solos in it. That's what improved the playing. There was nobody to copy from. We played what we liked best and the Germans liked it as long as it was loud."
The Beatles had been used to simply standing still when they had performed in Liverpool, but Koschmider would come to the front of the stage and loudly shout "Mach schau, mach schau!" ("make
show" or, more idiomatically, "put on a show" for the customers). Harrison explained that this prompted Lennon to "dance around like a gorilla, and we'd all knock our heads together." As Best had been the only one to take
O-Level
The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...
German at school, he could communicate with Koschmider and the clientele better than the rest of the group, and was invited to sing a speciality number called "
Peppermint Twist
"Peppermint Twist" is a song written by Joey Dee and Henry Glover, recorded and released by Joey Dee and the Starliters in 1961. Capitalizing on the Twist dance craze and the nightclub in which Dee performed ("The Peppermint Lounge"), the song hi ...
" (while McCartney played the drums) but Best complained that he always felt uncomfortable being at the front of the stage. Willie Limpinski, Koschmider's business manager, decided that the club would attract more customers if it presented continuous live music.
Williams warned the Beatles about the competition they would face by playing in the same club as the Hurricanes (featuring future Beatle
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
on the drums) by saying, "You'd better pull your socks up because Rory Storm and the Hurricanes are coming in, and you know how good they are. They're going to knock you for six."
In early October 1960, Storm and the Hurricanes were free to travel to Hamburg, replacing Derry and the Seniors at the Kaiserkeller. They arrived in Hamburg on 1 October 1960, having negotiated to be paid more than the Seniors or the Beatles. They played five or six 90-minute sets every day, alternating with the Beatles. They were appalled at the living conditions the Beatles and other groups like Howie Casey and the Seniors (who were sleeping in one room at the back of the Kaiserkeller) had to put up with,
so they booked into Hamburg's
Seamens' Mission.
Violence and conflict
The stage of the Kaiserkeller was made of planks of wood balanced on the top of beer crates, so the two groups made a bet to see to who would be the first to break it. After punishing the stage for days, a slight crack appeared, and when Storm jumped off the top of the upright piano it finally broke. Johnny 'Guitar' Byrne remembered that as Storm hit the stage, it cracked loudly and formed a V-shape around him. He disappeared into it, and all the amplifiers and drummer Ringo Starr's cymbals slid into the hole. Koschmider was furious and had to replace the live music with a juke box. Both groups went across the road to ''Harold's cafe'' for breakfast on the Große Freiheit, but were followed by Koschmider's doormen, armed with
coshes, who beat them all as punishment.
Horst Fascher
Horst Fascher (born 5 February 1936) is a German music business figure who was a friend and business associate of the Beatles during their early career playing in Hamburg, Germany.
Biography Early life
Horst Fascher was born in Hamburg, Ger ...
(born 1936, Hamburg) was Koschmider's nightclub
bouncer
A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or m ...
, who had been the 1959 West German featherweight boxing champion, but his career was cut short after he unintentionally killed a sailor in a street fight. He later became a friend of the Beatles, and protected them from drunken customers.
Lennon occasionally urinated out of his apartment's window onto the street below, and often started arguments with the audience, so that eventually one member of the audience would jump on stage to hit him, but it was Fascher's job to protect Lennon and the group. In some occasions beer bottles were thrown at them.
Fascher remembered Lennon often greeting the audience with a "Heil
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
", and a Nazi salute: "He'd pull out a black comb and pretend it was a moustache... people laughed."
Lennon was missing for a performance one evening, and Fascher found him in the toilet with a woman. He broke up the tête-à-tête with a bucket of cold water which he threw over them both, and ordered Lennon onto the stage. Lennon was furious, and complained that he could not go on stage dripping wet. Fascher snapped back: "I don't give a shit, you're going onstage and I don't care if you do it naked." A short time later the audience was roaring with laughter. Fascher ran to see what the commotion was, and saw Lennon playing guitar, but only wearing underpants with a toilet seat around his neck.
(Epstein later asked Liverpool journalist
Bill Harry
William Harry (born 17 September 1938) is the creator of '' Mersey Beat'', a newspaper of the early 1960s which focused on the Liverpool music scene. Harry had previously started various magazines and newspapers, such as ''Biped'' and ''Premier ...
not to publish photos showing Lennon walking along the Reeperbahn in his underpants).
Fascher's brother, Fred, sang lead vocals with the group on "
Be Bop A Lula", while he sang with them on "
Hallelujah I Love Her So
"Hallelujah I Love Her So" is a single by American musician Ray Charles. The rhythm and blues song was written and released by Charles in 1956 on the Atlantic label, and in 1957 it was included on his self-titled debut LP, also released on Atl ...
", and his alliance with the Beatles continued, as he later went to work at the Star-Club.
Performance skills
According to McCartney, Sutcliffe was a "typical art student", with bad skin and
pimples
A pimple is a kind of comedo that results from excess Sebaceous gland#Sebum, sebum and dead skin cells getting trapped in the pores of the skin. In its aggravated state, it may evolve into a Cutaneous condition, pustule or papules. Pimples can ...
, but his reputation grew after he began wearing tight trousers and dark
Ray-Ban
Ray-Ban is an American-Italian brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is known for its Wayfarer and Aviator lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to Italian eyewear conglomerate ...
sunglasses. Sutcliffe's high spot was singing "
Love Me Tender". Lennon also started to criticise Sutcliffe; making jokes about Sutcliffe's size and playing. While Sutcliffe is often described in Beatles' biographies as appearing very uncomfortable onstage, and often playing with his back to the audience, Best denies this, recalling Sutcliffe as usually good-natured and "animated" before an audience.
The Beatles steadily improved during their time in Hamburg, and this was noticed by other musicians who were there at the time. McCartney recalled, "We got better and better and other groups started coming to watch us. The accolade of accolades was when Sheridan would come in from the Top Ten (the big club where we aspired to go) or when Rory Storm or Ringo
tarr
''Tarr'' is a modernist novel by Wyndham Lewis, written in 1909–11, revised and expanded in 1914–15 and first serialized in the magazine ''The Egoist (periodical), The Egoist'' from April 1916 until November 1917. The American version was pu ...
would hang around to watch us. '
What'd I Say
"What'd I Say" (or "What I Say") is an American rhythm and blues song by Ray Charles, released in 1959. As a single divided into two parts, it was one of the first soul songs. The composition was improvised one evening late in 1958 when Charl ...
' was always the one that really got them."
The song was often played by the group, once being played for 90 minutes non-stop, with group members walking off stage to wash and drink before returning.
Sutcliffe wrote a letter to his mother saying, "We have improved a thousand-fold since our arrival and Allan Williams, who is here at the moment, tells us that there is no group in Liverpool to touch us."
On Saturday 15 October 1960, Williams arranged a recording session for Lou Walters (of the Hurricanes) at the Akustik Studio, a small booth on the fifth floor of 57 Kirchenallee (The Klockmann-House).
[Lou Walters' recording session](_blank)
Retrieved: 29 January 2007 Williams asked Lennon, McCartney and Harrison to play and sing harmonies on the recording.
Best was in town buying drumsticks, so Starr, the Hurricanes' drummer, played drums. This was the first time Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr recorded together.
They recorded three songs: "
Fever
Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single ...
", "
September Song
"September Song" is an American standard popular song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. It was introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical production ''Knickerbocker Holiday.'' The song has been recorded by nu ...
" and "
Summertime".
The Top Ten
![Reeperbahn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Reeperbahn.jpg)
Formerly the Hippodrome (Reeperbahn 136), the Top Ten club was opened in 1960 by Peter Eckhorn,
and was operated by Iain Hines, who was an organist.
In late October 1960, The Beatles left Koschmider's club to work at the Top Ten Club, as Eckhorn offered the group more money, a better PA (with reverb and echo) and a slightly better place to sleep (above the club itself) although by doing so the group broke their contract with Koschmider. Koschmider then reported Harrison for working under the legal age limit (even though he had been working at Koschmider's club) and Harrison was deported on 21 November 1960. When Best and McCartney went back to the Bambi Kino to get their belongings they found it in almost total darkness. As a snub to Koschmider, McCartney and Best found a
condom
A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
in their luggage, attached it to a nail on the concrete wall of the room, and set fire to it in order to have light to gather their possessions. There was no real damage done, but Koschmider reported them both for attempted arson. McCartney: "One evening we were just walking down the Reeperbahn, when we heard this 'ta-ti-ti-ta', and then 'Komm mit mir!' ('Come with me!')".
Best and McCartney spent three hours in the
Davidwache
The Davidwache (''David(s) Watch'') is a well-known police station in Hamburg, Germany. It is located in the St. Pauli quarter, near Reeperbahn, at the corner of Spielbudenplatz square and Davidstraße. Today, it is the seat of Hamburg Police ...
Police Station, and were deported on 1 December 1960.
Lennon's
work permit was revoked a few days later and he went home by train, but as Sutcliffe had a
cold
Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...
, he stayed in Hamburg. Sutcliffe later borrowed money from Kirchherr (his German girlfriend) for the airfare back to Liverpool in early January 1961. Back in Liverpool, no one contacted each other for two weeks, but Best and his mother made numerous phone calls to Hamburg to recover the group's equipment.
Back in Liverpool, the group played an engagement on 17 December 1960, at the Casbah Coffee Club, with
Chas Newby
Charles Newby (born 18 June 1941) is a British musician who was briefly the bassist for the Beatles for several gigs in December 1960, while Stuart Sutcliffe was still in Hamburg focusing on his art career.
Career
When the Beatles returned f ...
substituting for Sutcliffe, playing bass with them for four shows. Newby was shocked at the vast improvement of their playing and singing after the residency in Hamburg, and was struck by how powerful Best's drumming now was, pushing the group to play harder and louder. (It was probably due to McCartney that Best developed a loud drumming style, as he would often tell Best in Hamburg to "Crank it up" = play as loud as possible).
After Harrison turned 18 and the immigration problems had been solved, the Beatles went back to Hamburg for another residency at the Top Ten Club, playing from 27 March to 2 July 1961. To secure their return, Eckhorn paid
DM 158 to the German authorities, which was the cost of deporting McCartney and Best back to Liverpool the previous winter. Fellow musician,
Tony Sheridan
Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...
, later remembered the living conditions at the club: "John, George, Paul, Stuart and Pete and I were booked to open the smart Top Ten in the Reeperbahn. We moved into a dormitory over the club and slept in bunks. It was terrible really, now I look back. We all washed our own shirts and socks so the place smelt like a Chinese laundry. But we had great times and I’m afraid we used to tease the life out of the old lady who
ook care ofus".
Sutcliffe decided to leave the Beatles to concentrate on his art studies and to be with Kirchherr, so McCartney (unwillingly) took over as bass player for the group. Sutcliffe later enrolled at the Hamburg College of Art under the tutelage of the
pop artist
Eduardo Paolozzi
Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art.
Early years
Eduardo Paolozzi was born on 7 March 1 ...
. Sutcliffe lent McCartney his
Höfner
Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German (originally Austro-Bohemian) manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures other string instruments, such as violins, violas, cell ...
President 500/5 model bass guitar but asked McCartney not to change the strings around, so McCartney had to play it with the strings arranged backwards, until he could buy a specially made left-handed Höfner bass of his own.
[Sutcliffe's cheque book -](_blank)
liverpoolmuseums.org.uk - Retrieved: 13 May 2007 McCartney bought his first Höfner Violin bass guitar (model 500/1) from the Steinway-Haus Music Store (Colonnaden 29) for £30 (equivalent to £ in ); he couldn't afford a Fender since they cost around £100 (equivalent to £ in ). Lennon bought a 1958
Rickenbacker 325
The Rickenbacker 325 is the first of the Capri series of hollow body guitars released in 1958 by Rickenbacker.
Overview
It was designed by Roger Rossmeisl, a guitar craftsman from a family of German instrument makers. Production models were sho ...
Capri guitar prior to Sutcliffe's departure and Harrison bought a Gibson amplifier.
The matching lilac jackets, made by McCartney's next-door neighbour in Liverpool to be worn as stage clothes, were soon threadbare, as were any other items of clothing,
so the group bought cowboy boots, jeans and black leather jackets and trousers, from Paul Hundertmark's (Spielbudenplatz 9) and a tailor's shop at Thadenstrasse 6.
Lennon said: "We had a bit more money the second time so we bought leather pants ... we looked like four
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rockabilly and rock and roll. His 1956 top ten hit with his backing band the Blue Caps, " Be-Bop-a-Lula ...
s."
The Star-Club
![Guitarras de McCartney y Harrison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Guitarras_de_McCartney_y_Harrison.jpg)
On 13 April 1962, the Beatles were booked as the opening act for the launch of a new club. The Star-Club, opened by Manfred Weissleder, had a capacity for two thousand people, as well as cinema-style seating.
When the Beatles were booked to play there,
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall (13 October 1941 24 March 2008) was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head the Beatles' company Apple Corps.
The Beatles employed Aspinall first as th ...
left his job to become the Beatles' permanent road manager, as he was earning more money driving them around than he was earning by being an
accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
, and had his van ferried to Hamburg.
[First meeting with George Harrison - Merseybeat](_blank)
triumphpc.com - Retrieved 11 February 2007 The Beatles returned to Hamburg by plane to play from 13 April to 31 May 1962. Upon their arrival, they were informed of Sutcliffe's death.
By the time of their second Star-Club visit from 1–14 November 1962, Starr had become the group's drummer. The Beatles stayed at the Hotel Germania (Detlev-Bremer-Strasse 8), having the luxury of single rooms for the first time, and then stayed at the Hotel Pacific (Neuer Pferdemarkt 30) for another booking from 18 to 31 December 1962.
Harrison said: "We came back to play the Star-Club, a big place and fantastic because it had a great sound system. This time we had a hotel. I remember it was quite a long walk from the club, at the top of the Reeperbahn going back towards the city."
Portions of their final performances were taped with a portable recorder by an associate of Ted "King Size" Taylor of the Dominoes, another group playing at the club. The tapes were released on West Germany's
Bellaphon
Bellaphon Records is an independent German record label of Bellaphon records GmbH. The label produces its own artists and distributes those of other labels.
Recording artists
* Johnny Cash
* The Flippers
* Ganymed
* Geordie
* Joan Jett & th ...
label in 1977 as ''The Beatles:
Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
*Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of albums ...
,'' and subsequently re-released in various formats and titles.
The set list at the Star-Club (with the lead singer in parentheses):
"
I Saw Her Standing There
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album ''Please Please Me'' and their debut US album '' Introducing... The B ...
" (McCartney)
"
Roll Over Beethoven
"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records single, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace clas ...
" (Harrison)
"
Hippy Hippy Shake
"Hippy Hippy Shake" is a song written and recorded by Chan Romero in 1959. That same year, it reached No. 3 in Australia. Romero was 17 years old when he wrote the song.
Personnel
* Chan Romero – guitar, vocals
* Barney Kessel – rhythm gui ...
" (McCartney)
"
Sweet Little Sixteen
"Sweet Little Sixteen" is a rock and roll song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry, who released it as a single in January 1958. His performance of it at that year's Newport Jazz Festival was included in the documentary film ''Jazz on a Summ ...
" (Lennon)
"
Lend Me Your Comb" (Lennon)
"Your Feet's Too Big" (McCartney)
"
Red Sails in the Sunset" (McCartney)
"
Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is a rockabilly song often credited to Carl Perkins. Based on a 1936 song written by singer/songwriter Rex Griffin, it achieved widespread popularity when it was released in 1957 by Perkins and covered by the ...
" (Harrison)
"
Matchbox
Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc.
Matchbox
A matchbox is a box made of cardboard or thin wood and designed ...
" (Lennon)
"Talkin' 'bout You" (Lennon)
"Shimmy Shimmy" (McCartney)
"
Long Tall Sally
"Long Tall Sally", also known as "Long Tall Sally (The Thing)", is a rock and roll song written by Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, and Little Richard. Richard recorded it for Specialty Records, which released it as a single in March ...
" (McCartney)
"
I Remember You" (McCartney)
"
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)
"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)" is a popular song written in 1953 by Joe Thomas and Howard Biggs and originally recorded by Roy Hamilton in 1954. Since then, it became something of a minor pop standard, largely due to several well-rec ...
" (Lennon)
"Where Have You Been All My Life" (Lennon)
"
Twist and Shout
"Twist and Shout" is a 1961 song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns (later credited as "Bert Russell"). It was originally recorded by the Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers ...
" (Lennon)
"
Mr. Moonlight" (Lennon)
"
A Taste of Honey
''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...
" (McCartney)
"
Besame Mucho" (McCartney)
"Reminiscing" (Harrison)
"
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
" (McCartney)
"Nothin' Shakin' But the Leaves on a Tree" (Harrison)
"
To Know Her is to Love Her" (Harrison or Lennon)
"
Little Queenie
"Little Queenie" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry. Released in March 1959 as a double A-side single with " Almost Grown", it was included on '' Chuck Berry Is on Top'' (1959), Berry's first compilation album. He performed the song in ...
" (McCartney)
"
Falling in Love Again" (McCartney)
"
Ask Me Why
"Ask Me Why" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles originally released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of their single "Please Please Me". It was also included on their 1963 debut album ''Please Please Me''. It was written primarily ...
" (Lennon)
"Hallelujah I Love Her So" (club manager Horst Fascher)
"Be-Bop-A-Lula" (Fred Fascher, Horst's brother)
"
Till There Was You
"Till There Was You" is a show tune written in 1950 by Meredith Willson, originally entitled "Till I Met You." It was originally recorded October 25, 1950, by Meredith Willson & his Orchestra and Eileen Wilson. The song was retitled and used ...
" (McCartney)
"
Sheila
Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caelius, meanin ...
" (Harrison)
Debauchery
McCartney explained that the Beatles had only experienced sex with girls from Liverpool, but when they got to Hamburg the only women who hung around the clubs late at night were strippers, dancers, or prostitutes. Harrison (who was then only 17) called Hamburg "the naughtiest city in the world". McCartney said: "By the time you got to Hamburg, a girlfriend there was likely to be a stripper, so to be suddenly involved with a hard-core striptease artist, who obviously knew a thing or two about sex... it was quite an eye-opener."
Gerry Marsden
Gerard Marsden MBE (24 September 1942 – 3 January 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and television personality, best known for being leader of the Merseybeat band Gerry and the Pacemakers. He was the younger brother of fellow ba ...
—frontman for Gerry & the Pacemakers—remembered visiting a Hamburg brothel in
Herbertstrasse with Lennon: "We paid our money, went in and sat down. This guy came out with the biggest lady we had ever seen in our lives. She looked like a bus with a bra on. We ran out that door so quick we didn't hear it shut. I wanted to go back to get my money back but John said: 'No, we'd better not. Might cause trouble.'"
The Beatles's introduction to "Prellies" (
Preludin
Phenmetrazine (INN, USAN, BAN) (brand name Preludin, and many others) is a stimulant drug first synthesized in 1952 and originally used as an appetite suppressant, but withdrawn from the market in the 1980s due to widespread abuse. It was ini ...
) was in Hamburg. As the group had to play for hours, Sheridan offered them Preludin, saying: "Here's something to keep you awake."
Astrid Kirchherr also 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. Looking back, Harrison said that the whole group would be "frothing at the mouth" and would sometimes stay awake for days. Lennon recalled, "The waiters always had these pills
reludin so when they saw the musicians falling over with tiredness or drink, they'd give you the pill. You could work almost endlessly until the pill wore off, and then you'd have another." McCartney said that he would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five.
Legitimate use of Preludin required a doctor's
prescription, but Kirchherr's mother was able to obtain it from a local
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
who supplied the drug without asking questions. Epstein later asked the Star-Club owner, Weissleder, not to publish photographs showing the group playing with tubes of Preludin.
Starr explained that
Dexedrine
Dextroamphetamine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant and an amphetamine enantiomer that is prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It is also used as an athletic performance and c ...
too was in plentiful supply in Hamburg, as it was known to produce increased wakefulness and focus, in association with decreased fatigue, and decreased appetite.
Record release
The first recording of the Beatles ever released was the single "
My Bonnie
My or MY may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station
* Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe
* ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak
* ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon
Business
* Market ...
", made in Hamburg with Tony Sheridan, who also had a residency at the Top Ten club. He recruited the band to act as his
backing group
A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...
on a series of recordings for the West German
Polydor Records
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
label, the tracks produced by the bandleader
Bert Kaempfert
Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the musi ...
. On 22 June 1961, Sheridan and the Beatles drove to
Hamburg-Harburg
Harburg is a Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg#Boroughs, borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of Harburg (quarter), Harburg quarter in the borough, which used to be the capital of the Harburg (district), Harburg district in ...
(about 30 minutes from Hamburg) to the
Friedrich-Ebert-Halle
Friedrich-Ebert-Halle (also known as Eberthalle) is an indoor arena located in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which can accommodate 2,250 guests. The facility was designed by Roland Rainer and completed in 1965. It is used for sporting events, fairs ...
(auditorium/hall) and were paid 330 Deutschmarks (about $75) for the recording. Kaempfert signed the group to a one-year Polydor contract
at the first session on 22 June 1961. There were subsequent recording sessions on 23 June and in May 1962.
On 31 October 1961, Polydor released "My Bonnie" (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur), appearing on the West German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers"—a generic name used for whoever happened to be in Sheridan's backup group. McCartney later explained: "They didn't like our name and said, 'Change to the Beat Brothers, this is more understandable for the German audience.' We went along with it... it was a record."
The song was later released in the UK, on 5 January 1962.
["My Bonnie“ / "The Saints“ 23 April 1962. Polydor NH 66833 (Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers)] A few copies were also pressed on the American
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
label.
[Palowski (1989), p. 64]
Brian Epstein
"My Bonnie" was to bring the Beatles to the attention of a key figure in their subsequent development and commercial success,
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
. In September 1961, Harrison had a German copy of the record, which Sutcliffe had sent to him, as he was still in Hamburg. Harrison loaned it to
Bob Wooler
Frederick James "Bob" Wooler (19 January 19268 February 2002) was compère and DJ at The Cavern Club, Liverpool from 1961 until 1967. An important figure in the Merseybeat scene, Wooler was instrumental in introducing The Beatles to their manag ...
(The Cavern Club DJ) who played it at various venues, when the members of the group lent it to him. On 28 October 1961, the 27-year-old Epstein, manager of the record department in his father's NEMS music store in Whitechapel Street, Liverpool, was asked for the record by an 18-year-old boy, Raymond Jones (Epstein's record department sales manager subsequently stated in a 2000s TV documentary the name 'Raymond Jones' was made up by him as part of his standard practice of ordering in foreign records that NEMS would not have ordinarily ordered due to selling risks and supplier's minimum order quantity (25 units). He also stated upon receipt of the records from Germany he himself paid for the record under that name when it came in. Several teenagers had pestered him about the record and they kept coming back asking, and he got tired of having to tell them they didn't have it in stock, so he initiated the order himself). Epstein could find nothing on his files about the Beatles or the record, but the following day it was requested again by two girls, this time mentioning that the Beatles had been seen playing at the Cavern, a club in nearby Mathew Street.
Alistair Taylor
James Alistair Taylor (21 June 1935 – 9 June 2004) was an English personal assistant of Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles. As an employee at Epstein's company NEMS, Taylor accompanied him when he first saw the Beatles perform, a ...
(Epstein's assistant) later said that the story had been invented and that he had used the name Jones to order copies of the record himself.
''
Mersey Beat
''Mersey Beat'' was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and s ...
'' founder Bill Harry later repudiated the story about Epstein not knowing who the Beatles were, as Harry had been talking to Epstein about the band for a long time (being the group he promoted the most in ''Mersey Beat'') and by McCartney saying, "Brian
psteinknew perfectly well who the Beatles were, they were on the front page of the second issue of ''Mersey Beat''."
Regardless, the interest in the record eventually led Epstein to make his way to the Cavern with Taylor, during lunch hour on 9 November 1961. He was initially repelled by the dark, damp club, but he congratulated them on their performance.
Associates and social circle
Astrid Kirchherr,
Klaus Voormann
Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer.
Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...
, and
Jürgen Vollmer
Jürgen Vollmer (born 11 July 1939) is a German photographer known for his association with the Beatles during the band's time in Hamburg in the early 1960s. Vollmer, along with Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann (the " Exis"), befriended th ...
were early fans of the Beatles after they heard the group play in the Kaiserkeller. Kirchherr, Voormann's girlfriend, was initially horrified at the idea of spending any time in such a sordid district, but Voormann, after watching the Beatles several times without her, eventually persuaded her to come too. After having previously only listened to
trad jazz
Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a revival ...
,
the Platters
The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The ac ...
and
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
, the
Rock n' Roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
that the Beatles played was totally new to them. The three friends visited the Kaiserkeller almost every night, arriving at 9 o'clock and sitting by the front of the stage. Kirchherr, then 22 years old, 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." Sutcliffe was fascinated by Kirchherr and Harry later wrote that when Kirchherr walked in, every head would immediately turn her way. Sutcliffe wrote to a friend that he could hardly take his eyes off her when she had first walked into the club and tried to talk to her during the next break, but she had already left.
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
Snapshot, snapshots or snap shot may refer to:
* Snapshot (photography), a photograph taken without preparation
Computing
* Snapshot (computer storage), the state of a system at a particular point in time
* Snapshot (file format) or SNP, a file ...
that were taken by friends. The next morning Kirchherr took photographs in a fairground park called "
Der Dom" which was close to the Reeperbahn.
[(''The Beatles Anthology'') DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 0:47:16) Harrison talking their friends Kircherr, Voormannn and Vollmer.] Kirchherr started dating Sutcliffe, and they were engaged in November 1960.
Kirchherr is credited with inventing the Beatles'
moptop
The English rock band the Beatles are commonly regarded as the foremost and most influential band in popular music history. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they sparked the " Beatlemania ...
haircut, although she personally disagreed. In 1995, she 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
utcliffeliked it very very much. He was the first one who really got the nerve to get the
Brylcreem
__NOTOC__
Brylcreem () is a British brand of hair styling products for men. The first Brylcreem product was a hair cream created in 1928 by County Chemicals at the Chemico Works in Bradford Street, Birmingham, England, and is the flagship produ ...
out of his hair and asking me to cut his hair for him. Pete
esthas really curly hair and it wouldn't work."
[Kirchherr's interview on BBC Radio Merseyside's 500th ''On the Beat'' programme, Saturday 26 August 1995.](_blank)
/ref> After suffering blackouts and intense headaches, Sutcliffe was taken to a hospital on 10 April 1962—Kirchherr rode with him in the ambulance—but died before the ambulance reached the hospital.[Lennon (2005) p110] Three days later Kirchherr met the Beatles at the Hamburg airport and told them Sutcliffe had died of a brain haemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
.
In 1966, Voormann was asked by Lennon to design the sleeve for the Beatles' album ''Revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
'', and also played bass on solo recordings by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. In 1995, Voormann designed the artwork for the three-volume CD sets in ''The Beatles Anthology
''The Beatles Anthology'' is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and R ...
'' series. In 1999, Kirchherr published a book called ''Hamburg Days'' (a two-volume limited edition) containing a set of photographs by Kirchherr and "memory drawings" by Voormann of the Beatles time in Hamburg.Genesis books - Hamburg Days
genesis-publications.com - Retrieved: 23 May 2007
Later years
The Beatles returned to Hamburg in June 1966, staying at the Tremsbüttel castle (Schlosstraße 10), and played two concerts in the
Ernst-Merck-Halle Ernst-Merck-Halle was a 5,600-capacity indoor arena located in Hamburg, Germany, that was opened in 1950 and demolished in 1986. It was named after German businessman and politician Ernst Merck. Artists that appeared at the hall include The Beatles ...
on 26 and 27 June.
Lennon later said, "I might have been born in Liverpool - but I grew up in Hamburg".
Lennon posed in front of the door of Jäger-Passage at Wohlwillstraße 22 for a photograph which was later used on the covers of the ''
Rock 'n' Roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
'' and ''Rock 'n' Roll Sessions'' albums. The photo was taken by Jürgen Vollmer, during the time The Beatles were playing at the Top Ten club.
![John Lennon Rock'n Roll - Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/John_Lennon_Rock%27n_Roll_-_Hamburg.jpg)
Individual Beatles later commented about their memories of Hamburg, with Lennon reflecting, "We'd outlived the Hamburg stage and wanted to pack that up. We hated going back to Hamburg those last two times. We'd had that scene. Brian
psteinmade us go back to fulfill the contract". Harrison had positive memories of the period: "I'd have to say with hindsight that Hamburg bordered on the best of Beatles times. We didn't have any luxury, we didn't have any bathrooms or any clothes, we were pretty grubby, we couldn't afford anything, but on the other hand we weren't yet famous, so we didn't have to contend with the bullshit that comes with fame." McCartney was philosophical: "Hamburg was certainly a great childhood memory. But I think all things are enhanced by time. It was very exciting, though I think it felt better to me a little later in our career, once we'd started to get a bit of success with the records."
A memorial square, ''
Beatles-Platz
The Beatles-Platz (german: Beatles Square/Plaza) is a plaza in the St. Pauli quarter in Hamburg, Germany, at the crossroads of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit. It is circular, with a diameter of and paved black to make it look like a vinyl recor ...
'', was constructed in Hamburg in 2008 at the meeting of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit streets, containing five stainless steel sculptures of the Beatles.
Construction costs amounted to €550,000 ($776,000), of which €200,000 was provided by sponsors and donors. The idea of creating a memorial to the Beatles had been initiated in 2001 by Hamburg radio station Oldie 95. Hamburg's Mayor, Ole von Beust, said at the opening, "It is about time that Hamburg commemorated this great group." The square when illuminated resembles a spinning turntable.
Because the band members are shown only in outline form, the figure of the drummer can be either Best or Starr.
Notes
References
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External links
The Jets and the beginning
Photos taken by Robert Whitaker of the Beatles in Hamburg.Interview with James McGrath about Liverpool's black communityIncludes Discussion of
Lord Woodbine
Harold Adolphus Phillips (15 January 1929 – 5 July 2000), known as Lord Woodbine, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and music promoter. He is regarded by some as the musical mentor of The Beatles, and has been called the "sixth Beatle".Alan Clayso ...
and
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
in Hamburg
Article on Bambi Kinoat ''Keenwood Blogspot''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatles in Hamburg, The
History of the Beatles
Culture in Hamburg
1960 in music
1961 in music
1962 in music
1960 in British music
1961 in British music
1962 in British music
1960s in Germany
Musical groups from Hamburg