stuart8

The Traducing of Stuart Sutcliffe.

     I was recently consultant on the Planet Wild production of 'The Real
Lennon'. However, I did express some disappointment when the programme was
aired to discover Allan Williams continued to trot out his incorrect
anecdotes.
     I was talking to Frieda Kelly, the Beatles former fan club secretary and
she told me that Allan had suggested she just tell people what they wanted to
hear, intimating that she simply make up stories to satisfy an audience eager
for anecdotes.
     Then I received a call from Fred O'Brien, a former art school chum, who
had sponsored a plaque, to be placed on the site of John's former birthplace
in Oxford Street, Liverpool.
     He told me that Alan had suggested he include on the plaque words to the
effect that John was born in Ward No. 9. There was no evidence to support
this, he just suggested it to fit in with the fact that No. 9 was so
important in John's life and was associated with a number of his addresses.
     I told Fred that if he placed this fiction on the plaque, it would soon
be found out. Perhaps a former midwife would turn up and say that there was
no Ward No. 9 in the hospital, or that John was born in Ward 14. However,
wards are generally named after consultants or sponsors and not numbers.
     I mention this to indicate that Allan, though an amusing character,
doesn't care a hoot for the true facts and has, indeed, been responsible for
a number of the apocryphal stories in the Beatles history.
     On 'The Real John Lennon', he came out with the story that Stuart
Sutcliffe played with his back to Larry Parnes at the Wyvern Club audition
because he couldn't play the bass - and that Parnes said that he would take
the group as Billy Fury's backing group if they got rid of Stuart.
     This story first appeared in Williams' book 'The Man Who Gave The
Beatles Away'. I intend to delve further into the tales, which appeared in
this book in a later article.
     In regard to the Wyvern audition, the Williams' allegation is untrue.
Parnes was to say that he had no problem with Stuart, that his objection was
to drummer Tommy Moore who turned up late for the audition, was dressed
differently from the other members and was a lot older than them.
     Cheniston Roland took photographs of that particular session and in the
main picture, which has been reproduced on a number of occasions, Stuart can
plainly be seen performing with his hands on the bass guitar plainly visible
to the audience. All other shots I have seen of Stuart on stage have him
facing the audience.
     When we used to book the group for the art college dances, there seemed
no problem with Stuart's performance. I remember once in the room at the back
of the canteen stage, Stuart handed me his guitar and I tried to strum it and
found that the skin had come off my fingers. I hadn't realised I'd need a
plectrum!
     In fact, I never heard any criticism of Stuart as a musician until after
the publication of Williams' book.
     Pauline Sutcliffe, Stuart's young sister told me that Stuart had had
piano lessons, along with the rest of the family and his father had brought
him an acoustic guitar from Spain as a present some years before.
     Stuart, who had always been interested in music and art, was a big Elvis
Presley fan. When he obtained his bass guitar on hire purchase from Frank
Hessy's (he never bought it with the money he received from selling a
painting at the John Moore's exhibition) he began to practice to Elvis
records on his tiny record player and had David May, a fellow art student who
was a member of a local group the Silhouettes, teach him how to play the
Eddie Cochran number 'C'Mon Everybody.' May also began to coach him on
further numbers.
     Pauline said that from letters she received and what people had told
her, Stuart was a popular performer in Hamburg and a highlight of the Beatles
act was Stuart's solo on 'Love Me Tender.' He left the Beatles for reasons
other than his musical ability, but later still hungered for the stage and
actually joined a German rock group for a short time before his death.
     She also told me that he was a better musician than history remembers
him, commenting, "I don't think he was as outstandingly bad as he's been
described, because none of them were excellent, were they, until they went to
Hamburg and started to play." She added, "George was better, Paul was better,
but nothing like the musicians they became. I mean, they were just more
competent, but according to Stuart's letters and conversations with him he
thought he was progressing quite well and loved it and thought he was quite
innovative as a bass player. He thought himself good enough to do session
work after he left them and, I've got letters, he was asked to be in other
groups."
     I talked to Rick Hardy (aka Richards), who was a member of the first
British rock band to appear in Hamburg, the Jets. The Beatles performed on
some sessions with the Jets on their first trip and when I told him what
Allan had written in his book, he said, "What's the matter with this guy? Stu
never turned his back on stage. I remember him as he played 'Matchbox',
appearing a lonely figure on stage, dressed like James Dean. He certainly
played to the audience and he certainly played bass. If you have someone who
can't play the instrument properly, you have no bass sound. There were two
rhythm guitarists with the Beatles and if one of them couldn't play, you
wouldn't have noticed it - but it's different with a bass guitar.
     "I was there and I can say quite definitely, Stuart never did a show in
which he wasn't facing the audience."
     When the group were playing in Liverpool and Hamburg, there seemed to be
no complaints about Stuart's ability in the group.
     Howie Casey, leader of the first Liverpool band to play in Hamburg,
Derry & the Seniors, was topping the bill at the Kaiserkeller while the
Beatles were playing at the Indra. Promoter Koshmider decided to have another
band in the interval at the Kaiserkeller rather than a jukebox, so he split
up the Beatles and the Seniors and another outfit was formed with Casey on
sax, Stan Foster on piano, Stu on bass and a German modern jazz drummer. If
Stu couldn't play, Casey certainly wouldn't have tolerated him in this outfit.
     Next we come to Klaus Voormann, who was to become a famous bass
guitarist appearing with numerous bands over the years and making several
records backing John Lennon. Klaus watched Stuart's many performances in
Hamburg and was inspired to become a bass guitarist himself. He said, "He
(Stu) was a really great bass player, a very basic bass player, completely
different so basic that you could say he was at the time my favourite bass
player, but primitive. But of all the people or groups, and when we saw
groups later, he was my favourite bass player."
     It was Stuart who first began to show Klaus the basics of playing bass
guitar.
     What happens when a seed is planted in a book like Williams' is that the
story grows and grows and in all subsequent books, mainly by people who never
knew him or witnessed his performances, the same old story that he couldn't
play the bass guitar and performed with his back to the audience is trotted
out.
     Repeat a story enough times and even some people involved begin to
believe it. The mud sticks.
    Even Paul McCartney, many years later, was to say, "The problem with Stu
was that he couldn't play bass guitar. We had to turn him away in photographs
because he'd be doing F-sharp and we'd be holding G."
     Initially, all the local musicians were self-taught and in various
stages of ability. Paul himself made a hash of it at the New Clubmoor Hall on
18 October 1959 when he attempted to play lead guitar. He played an
abominable version of 'Guitar Boogie' and ended his one and only stint at
playing lead.
    Yet George Harrison would seem to have a different point of view
regarding Stu's ability. When the group returned to Liverpool following their
Hamburg debut, Stuart stayed behind and they recruited Chas. Newby to appear
on three gigs with them. Then, until Stuart returned, Paul took over on bass.
George had refused to become the group's bass guitarist and wrote to Stuart
in Hamburg, "Come home sooner, as if we get a new bass player for the time
being, it will be crumby, as he will have to learn everything. It's no good
with Paul, playing bass, we've decided, that is if he had some kind of bass
and amp to play on!"
     If Stuart was such a hopeless player as the many people who never knew
or saw him maintain, why would George be so anxious to have him back in the
group?

-Bill Harry