ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: ENT3 - 5TH BEATLES LETTERS

(19 Apr 2000) English/Nat TITLE: FIFTH BEATLE'S LETTERS LOCATION: LIVERPOOL DATE: APRIL 18 2000 Letters and artwork created by STUART SUTCLIFFE, the tragic BEATLES bass player, go on show today, giving a unique insight into the world-conquering band's early days. They have been loaned for the next 12 months to the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool by his sister Pauline after lying largely unseen for nearly 40 years. She had promised their late mother Martha she would not release the personal papers until at least 15 years after her death. Sutcliffe, a Liverpool Art School friend of John Lennon's, was 21 when he died in Hamburg in April 1962 from a brain haemorrhage, just six months before the band first dented the charts with Love Me Do. The pair had met three years earlier and Sutcliffe, a talented artist, was persuaded to buy a guitar with the cash from his first sale of a painting and join his early band Johnny And The Moondogs. Sutcliffe was with the band during their infamous days in the red light district of Hamburg playing the clubs and honing their craft. But after meeting up with photographer girlfriend Astrid Kircherr he quit the group in 1961 to continue his studies at Hamburg School Of Art. It was the couples artistic flair and satorial style that forged the image with which the band found worldwide fame. That period and his death were retold in the movie BACKBEAT. Sutcliffe's mother, Martha, died in 1983, three years to the day after John Lennon was shot dead. "Occasionally I have used some aspects of the collection for publications, but these things have never been seen in their entirety," sister Pauline said. Museum curator Shelagh Johnston added: "The Beatles story began way back in the late 1950s and this particular period was so important in the formation of the band and their relationships and was a potent period in developing their style." In one of his letters Sutcliffe wrote to potential concert promoters in Liverpool, misspelling the name of the band as he sought gigs. "I would like to draw your attention to the Beatals," he said. "This is a promising group of young musicians who play music for all tastes, preferably rock and roll - if necessary the group is prepared for an audition, I hope you will be able to engage them." His letters also describe Paul McCartney and drummer Pete Best's deportation from Hamburg and distraught letters from Astrid to the family following Sutcliffe's death are included with the papers. Pictures show Stuart as the first Beatle to adopt the long 'mushroom head' hairstyle and he writes with excitement about the new look he has developed. For more information call On Line Broadcasting on 020 7565 7111. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0894b1c770f9a1e7108f4f55a42e9bd6

Added 6 May 2026