Stuart Sutcliffe

Stuart Sutcliffe (June 23, 1940 – April 10, 1962) was an artist who, until his sudden death, worked in a style related to Abstract Expressionism. He was a member of The Beatles for two years, and is often credited for naming the band (after Buddy Holly's band The Crickets). He is often referred to as "the fifth Beatle". He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and brought up in Huyton, Merseyside. He attended Prescot Grammar School.

Related Topics:
June 23 - 1940 - April 10 - 1962 - Abstract Expressionism - The Beatles - Buddy Holly - The Crickets - The fifth Beatle - Edinburgh - Scotland - Huyton - Merseyside

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Sutcliffe was never a skilled musician, having joined the group because of his friendship with John Lennon, whom he met while studying at the Liverpool College of Art. Lennon convinced him to buy a bass guitar with the money he had made from the sale of one of his paintings. He was very uncomfortable on stage and usually played with his back to the audience. He left the Beatles to pursue his career as an artist before they achieved their success, and died not long afterwards from a cerebral hemorrhage. It has been claimed that this was the result of a beating sustained in Liverpool while still a member of the group, but it is more likely to have been a hereditary condition. Lennon later said that he was profoundly affected by his friend's death. Paul McCartney, previously one of three guitar players in the group, replaced Sutcliffe on bass.

Related Topics:
John Lennon - Bass guitar - Cerebral hemorrhage - Paul McCartney

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Regarding Sutcliffe's musical talent, it should be noted that Bill Harry, founder and editor of the Mersey Beat newspaper, contended in a recent interview that Sutcliffe was a competent, if not brilliant, bassist, and that accounts of his musical ineptitude were exaggerated. Pete Best has expressed similar views. http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/petebest.html (An example of Sutcliffe's bass playing with the early Beatles is the track "Cayenne", on the Anthology 1 album.)

Related Topics:
Mersey Beat - Pete Best - Anthology 1

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Nevertheless, Sutcliffe's importance to the group came from his artistic rather than musical talent. He was the first in the group to have a "mop top" haircut, and his sense of style, influenced by his lover Astrid Kirchherr, contributed to the Beatles' early "look."

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As an artist, Sutcliffe displayed considerable talent from an early age. His few surviving works show the influence of the British and European abstract artists contemporary with the Abstract Expressionist movement in the United States. His more figurative work is reminiscent of the kitchen sink school, particularly John Bratby. His later gestural abstractions were influenced by his art tutor in Hamburg, Eduardo Paolozzi. They also bear comparison with the work of John Hoyland and Nicholas de Stael, though they are more lyrical.

Related Topics:
Kitchen sink - Eduardo Paolozzi - Nicholas de Stael

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Sutcliffe's role in the Beatles' early career, as well as the factors that led him to leave the group, is dramatised in the movie Backbeat, in which he was portrayed by Stephen Dorff. He was also portrayed by David Wilkinson in the film Birth of the Beatles.

Related Topics:
Backbeat - Stephen Dorff - Birth of the Beatles

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