Stuart Sutcliffe

Scottish musician and painter best known as the original bass guitarist of the English rock band The Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a painter. He was engaged to German Beatles photographer Astrid Kirchherr at the time of his early death at age 21.

Born: 23 June 1940 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: 10 April 1962 in Hamburg, West Germany (aged 21)

While studying in West Germany, Sutcliffe began suffering from intense headaches and experiencing acute light sensitivity. In February 1962, he collapsed in the middle of an art class after complaining of head pains. German doctors performed tests, but were unable to determine what was causing the headaches. After collapsing again on 10 April 1962, he was taken to a hospital, but died in the ambulance on the way there. The cause of death was later found to have been a brain haemorrhage – severe bleeding in the right ventricle of his brain.