Product Description

The poignant memoir of forgotten Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe, and a remarkable chronicle of the early days of the world's most influential pop group Stuart Sutcliffe is the most famous contender for the crown of 'fifth Beatle'. One of the founding members, a close friend of Lennon, he left the band after their Hamburg sojourn in order to pursue his promising career as an artist, dying shortly thereafter of a brain haemorrhage. For years his sister Pauline has tried to protect his memory against the Beatles' need to sanitise their early history and now she is ready to tell the real story. In so doing she sheds new light on their formative period - the rivalry with McCartney, how George Harrison tried to keep the peace, the truth about Stuart's intense relationship with Lennon and why Lennon was haunted by guilt over her brother's death. And she describes what it was like for those like herself and Cynthia Lennon who have had no choice but to live with the Beatles all their lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #474301 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 251 pages

Review
'Gripping...the story of Stuart Sutcliffe...holds the key to the birth of pop's greatest group' Daily Mail; 'An odd, fascinating book' MOJO

About the Author
Pauline Sutcliffe is a family psychotherapist and former social services manager. She is the executor of her brother's estate. Douglas Thompson's most recent collaboration was The Truth At Last, Christine Keeler's bestselling autobiography.

Customer Reviews

A happy and sad story
I have read every Lennon biography available.I found this book very interesting because it was written by an insider of the early Beatles.
The story of Stu and his artwork was wonderful and I found the relationship between Lennon and Stu very believable..it is pretty well known now to the public Lennon may have had bisexual tendancies.I enjoyed the many letters in the book written by Stu to his family...he had a very painful death and his artwork will always live on in all our hearts. I believe also Lennon's temper had to do with Stu's death...but I know by what I have read John felt very guilty of his temper and tried to contol it on his own terms. John and Stu are together...and now George is there with them...probably rehashing all those old times...Thanks Ms Sutcliffe for a wonderful story.

Speaking Ill and kind of the deceased.
I have been a Beatles fan since 1964, seen the Beatles in concert here in the US 3 times. Over the years, I've read just about every book on the Beatles, including Hunter Davies, Phillip Norman and other authors who either loved them, or had an ax to grind. Ms. Sutcliffe certainly does a great job in her book of doing such that. I became very concerned when she began to judge and
accuse people that are unable to stand for themselves. The memories of Stuart were beautiful, just adding to the information I've digested about him. She offers a strong statement that Stuart and his life were important to the "birth of the Beatles". However, she gives the impression that Stuart's contribution was dismissed. I don't agree. Stuart has always been representated through the Beatles(or publicists) as a very intelligent, talented young man who made several very positive contributions to the Beatles. I just didn't understand the purpose of the story. Most of it we've read a thousand times. In conclusion, I felt that John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were all unfairly represented in this book. John and Stuart are not here to defend anything that was stated in the book.

He Was Definately Himself
This shows exactly how much Sturart Sutcliffe helped to define himself first as an artist and then briefly as a musician. Infact even though i never knew him he inspired me to write poetry. True Sturart was an artist, i believe that he was truely a person that should never be forgotten simply because there will never be another one like him. I know that Mr Lennon thought highly of him as a freind. And if this book helps others to know of Sturart , then maybe it will touch others like he did-Mark Williams