I'm giving love to the most tragic Beatle for my birthday.
Who's the coolest Beatle? The one we never met.
Beatle ghost.
Had Stuart Sutcliffe lived and stayed with the band, he would have been the oldest (beating Ringo out by a couple of weeks) and the only Scotsman. Arguably, the hottest as well.
But it was never really meant to be, as Stu was a visual artist at heart and went along with the others to Germany for the chance to escape Liverpool for a while, check out German art schools, and fall in love.
Why wasn't this a Beatles album cover?!
Stu met John at the Liverpool College of Art, where they were both students; Stu helped John improve his portfolio and prepare for exams while doing work-study as a custodian. They soon became roommates. While hanging out at Mona Best's Casbah Club, he informed the band he had sold one of his works, Summer Painting, a big deal for a student at the time. John and Paul encouraged him to use the money to purchase a bass guitar and join the group in early 1960.
Germany, in the clubs
Stu's time in the group was brief, but notable. His moment for their set during the Hamburg years was Elvis' Love Me Tender, and with the release of Anthology 1 in 1995, he is credited as a recording artist on songs Hallelujah I Love Her So, Cayenne, and You'll Be Mine. His most lasting contribution was renaming the Quarrymen: in homage to Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the band became The Silver Beetles, and finally The Beatles. He quit in July 1961 after the band was deported, opting to stay in Germany with his fiancée, Astrid.
Self-Portrait, 1959
His career as an artist spans the years 1957 to 1962. Labeled a "Beatnik Horror" in a Sunday newspaper article for The People, he studied at LCoA and earned a post-graduate scholarship to study at the Hamburg College of Art under Eduardo Paolozzi; he was considered an abstract expressionist. Some of his works include Hamburg, Hamburg No. 2, Self-Portrait, The Crucifixion, and Summer Painting.
Stu died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 21 in 1962.
The Beatles included him on the cover of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
as member #35
No comments:
Post a Comment