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Music by Cat Stevens 'Oh Very Young' released on his 1974 album Buddha a...
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Music by Cat Stevens 'Oh Very Young' released on his 1974 album Buddha and the Chocolate Box.
John Lennon met Sutcliffe in the later part of the 1950s when they were both studying at the Liverpool College of Art, and according to Lennon, Sutcliffe had a "marvellous art portfolio", and was a seriously talented painter who was one of the "stars" of the school.
They became best of friends and John persuaded Stu to buy a Höfner 500/5 model, known in Europe as a President bass with the money he had won in a John Moore art exhibition.
In May 1960, Stu joined John, Paul and George (then known as The Silver Beetles). Stu's playing style was later described as elementary, mostly sticking to root notes of chords.
In Hamburg 1960 when the Beatles first played at the Indra Club his stature grew after he began wearing dark Ray-Ban sunglasses and tight trousers. Sutcliffe's high spot each evening was singing "Love Me Tender", which drew more applause than the other Beatles songs.
Astrid Kirchherr was born in 1938 in Hamburg, Germany. After her graduation Astrid enrolled in the Meisterschule für Mode, Textil, Graphik und Werbung in Hamburg, as she wanted to study fashion design, but demonstrated a talent for black-and-white photography and was convinced to switch courses.
Astrid met Klaus Voormann at the Meisterschule and shared the same ideas about fashion, culture and music. In 1960, after Astrid and Klaus had had an argument, Klaus wandered down the Reeperbahn (in the St.Pauli district of Hamburg) and heard music coming from the Kaiserkeller club. Klaus walked in and saw the Beatles play.
Klaus asked Astrid to listen to this new music, and after visiting the Kaiserkeller the next day, Astrid decided that all she wanted to do was to be as close to The Beatles as she could, and especially Stu who she had fallen in love with at first sight. In November 1960 only a few weeks after first meeting Stu, Astrid and Stu declared themselves engaged and brought each other rings.
Within a few weeks of the Beatles returning to Hamburg in April 1961 to appear at the Top Ten Club, Stu had left the group to be with Astrid and to enrol at the Hamburg Art College. When the Beatles returned to England in July 1961 Stu stayed behind with Astrid and was to meet up with them again when they returned in April 1962.
Stu however flew back to Liverpool for Christmas 1961 where he had looked ill and had complained of constant headaches and occasional blackouts. When he returned to Hamburg his condition deteriorated and he collapsed on April 10th 1962 and died in Astrid's arms of a brain haemorrhage aged only 21 years. The Beatles arrived in Hamburg soon after to be met by Astrid and told of the terrible news. John was devastated to have lost his best friend.
Astrid was a real influence on the Beatles look at this time - with Stu she had restyled his hair with the straight look that the other Beatles soon copied. Astrid also designed clothes such as tight fitting black leather outfits for Stu with long boots that the other Beatles also soon copied.
Astrid was learning photography at the time and applied contemporary techniques to her numerous photographic studies of the Beatles. Astrid first used the faces half in shadow technique that was later used on the album sleeve 'With The Beatles'.
In 1964 Astrid became a freelance photographer, and with her colleague Max Scheler she took "behind the scenes" photographs of The Beatles during the filming of "A Hard Day's Night", as an assignment for the German STERN magazine.
By the 1970's, she became very frustrated with photography. People didn't look at her recent photos; they were interested only in the photos she had taken of the Beatles. She has hardly taken a photo since then. After reclaiming many of the copyrights to her photographs, which were lost over time, she has appeared at many exhibitions in major cities around the world.
In 1994 a movie was made about the Beatles' Hamburg days, (Backbeat) the focus being mainly on the love triangle between Astrid, Stuart and John Lennon. Astrid made a big contribution to the movie with interviews, and praises it for it's accuracy.
Since the mid-1990s Astrid has operated the K&K photography shop in Hamburg, offering custom vintage prints, books and artwork for sale. K&K periodically helps arrange Beatles' conventions and other Beatles-related events in the Hamburg area.
Since 1964 Astrid has been married and divorced twice and has no children. Today, she is convinced Stuart was the only one she should have married, the love of her life. She does not look back longingly but rather happily, and is glad to have known and been such an influence to the Beatles. She is proud of them for everything they have done in their career, and is recognized - often not as much as she should be - as an integral influence and role model to the Fab Four. Astrid is currently aged 70 years.
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God bless you:-)