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Stuart Sutcliffe

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Stuart Sutcliffe

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Also known as S. Sutcliffe, Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe

Scottish painter and musician better known as the original bass guitarist of the English rock band the Beatles (1940–1962)

Person · Open Library

Works
3

Top works

  • Buildings and energy
  • Stuart Sutcliffe 1940-1962
  • A study of costs in use and performance of floor finishes

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
United Kingdom
Active from
1940
Active to
1962
fifth beatlerock

Member of

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
4,403
Total plays
35,143

Tags

The Beatlesrockbeatles related60'sunder 2000 listeners

Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) 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 referred 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. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/S

via Last.fm · Stuart Sutcliffe

Key facts

Born
Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe , ( 1940-06-23 ) 23 June 1940, Edinburgh , Scotland
Died
10 April 1962 (1962-04-10) (aged 21), Hamburg , West Germany
Occupations
Painter musician
Years active
1957–1961
Partner
Astrid Kirchherr ( engaged</span>"}]]}'>eng. 1960)
Origin
Liverpool , England
Genres
Rock and roll
Instruments
Bass vocals
Formerly of
The Quarrymen The Beatles

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Show 5 more facts
date of death
1962-01-01
date of birth
1940-01-01
start of work period
1958-00-00
name in native language
Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe
Commons category
Stuart Sutcliffe
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~21 min read

Article

Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a British painter and musician from Edinburgh, Scotland, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a painter, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art. Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with inventing the name "Beetles" [sic], as they both liked Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets. They also had a fascination with group names with double meanings (as Crickets, for example, the word referring to both an insect and a sport), so Lennon then came up with "The Beatles", from the word beat (though Lennon's original spelling was "Beatals"). As a member of the group when it was a five-piece band, Sutcliffe is one of several who are sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Beatle".

When he performed with the Beatles in Hamburg, he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr, to whom he was later engaged to marry. After leaving the Beatles, he enrolled in the Hamburg College of Art, studying under future pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi, who later wrote a report stating that Sutcliffe was one of his best students. Sutcliffe earned other praise for his paintings, which mostly explored a style related to abstract expressionism.

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