Stuart Sutcliffe life and biography

Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe 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 is one of the group of people sometimes reffered to “the fifth Beatle”.

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.

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