An interview with Astrid Kirchherr.
Astrid was the young German photographer who, accompanying
boyfriend Klaus Voormann, happened upon The Beatles in a dingy bar
in Hamburg in 1960 and was immediately smitten by Stuart Sutcliffe,
the enigmatic fifth Beatle and close friend of John Lennon. The Beatles
were also drawn to Astrid 's pale and waspish beauty and a
strong friendship developed with all of them and at the same time
a passionate love affair with Stu specifically. Astrid took
many photographs of the boys in their formative steps to stardom and
was a strong influence on their 'greaser' image at that stage (an
image which Brian Epstein was later to totally eradicate in favour
of Saville Row-tailored suits). Astrid 's sweetheart Stu was
soon to tragically die of a brain hemorrhage, leaving her and best
friend Lennon distraught. The remaining Beatles, John, Paul, George
and Pete Best, were to return to England and, for three of them at
least, stardom beyond imagination. Astrid married another
musician but ultimately reunited with Klaus Voormann, her original
boyfriend and the one who actually introduced her to The Beatles in
the first place.
These days, Astrid 's photographs are recognised as the best
and definitive of The Beatles in their formative years. Astrid
very kindly agreed to answer some questions for www.retrosellers.com and here is
that interview.
This interview is the intellectual property of www.retrosellers.com
and cannot be reproduced without express permission.
Astrid in the early sixties in Hamburg
Digger : 'A picture is worth a thousand words', so they
say. Which photographs and photographers are your favourites and
why?
Astrid : My most favourite photographer, as far as music
pictures are concerned, is Annie Leibowitz, because she’s got
so much humor and that’s what I like. Other photographers are
Irwing Penn, Richard Avedon, Jim Rakete and Reinhard Wolf of course.
Digger : Which of your photos are you most proud of?
Astrid : When we talk about the Beatles pictures, I most
like the one I took of Stuart on the Baltic sea - the portrait where
you can see all his freckles as well as the one of John and George
in my attic at Eimsbütteler Strasse where George is standing behind
John and John is sitting down.
Digger : What do you think of Linda McCartney’s work?
Astrid : I haven’t seen a lot of her work but I was
most impressed by her picture of Paul wearing a fur coat and holding
his little son. That is my favourite picture.
Digger : What do you think of the modern digital technology
and how it is impacting photography, music and so on?
Astrid : Well it’s hard for me to answer that question
because I haven’t got a clue about computers. But we have got
to go on with it because that is the future. We’ve got to see
what it will do. I just hope it doesn’t influence the art of
photography, that one has got to think about the picture before
he takes it and not just taking any pictures, put it in the computer
and that’s it. It has got to be art. Always.
Digger : What do you think of the Internet?
Astrid : I think it’s a great invention but I’m
sorry I have never been in the Internet or even think about it because
I’m afraid of the Internet.
Digger : Are you a nostalgic person?
Astrid : Not at all. I’m not a nostalgic person, I
don’t think of the past, I think of the future as far as fashion
and music is concerned. I think it’s very, very bad for an
old person like I am to just think of the past. Then you don’t
feel young anymore.
Digger : What was it like growing up in the war and what
lasting effects did this have on you?
Astrid : Well, as far as my childhood was concerned it
was wonderful because we were evacuated to the Baltic sea and the
only horrible thing I have seen at the time was when the ship "Cap
Arcona" and the "Deutschland" were bombed and there
were dead people on the shore. But otherwise, I had a nice childhood.
And after the war we came back to Hamburg where everything was broken.
But nevertheless our place was comfortable and cozy even though
we only had a kitchen with broken windows, but my mother did everything
nicely so when I think about it I quite liked it. I haven’t
got any regrets.
Digger : How would you describe the creative buzz in the
sixties?
Astrid : I think it was a very, very wonderful time because
it was even though it sounds really weird so soon after the war
and everything had to start again...when you think about art, photography,
fashion and music. So there was a big urge for young people to be
creative and to be individual which I do miss now.
Digger : The explosion of music and the arts in Britain
in the sixties was a result of a youth backlash to the austerity
after the war. I find it ironic that Germany was so instrumental
in grounding the Beatles who were the kings of that cultural revolution.
Why do you think this was?
Astrid : Well because it was new and fresh. So that was
where we got our inspirations. We didn’t want to get our inspirations
from the past because our past was the war, was Hitler, was uniforms,
so we were searching for something new and fresh and creative.
Digger : Do you think that what happened in the sixties
is relevant or interesting to the youth of today?
Astrid : In a way it is relevant because that’s where
it all started. But I do think the young people of today are far
too ignorant to see that. Or "ignorant" is maybe a too
hard expression. Thinking about, when I was 17, I didn’t want
to know about things which happened 40 years ago. So let them find
their own way and maybe when they are 40 years old they know where
the inspiration came from.
Digger : What do you think of the current music scene?
Astrid : I think it’s wonderful because there are
so many gifted young people who make music. And even though they
get inspired now by disco music or by old songs from the sixties
and change it and make it up over the computer I think it’s
great. It’s wonderful that they put their own thing into their
music.
Digger : Who are your heroes?
Astrid : Today’s music or all-time? All time heroes
I start of course with the Beatles, then Jim Morrison from the Doors,
David Bowie...then a long time nothing...and from today my favourite
band is Jamiroquai as well as Jay Kay as a singer, because I think
he’s very creative. He picks up things and invents new things
and that is what I really, really like.
Digger : What about films? The French movies apparently
influenced you a lot in the past?
Astrid : Well I think the French movie industry
has changed a lot, and all the very gifted directors like Truffaut,
Jean Cocteau and so on and on were a big influence on me at that
time.
Astrid recently
Digger : Which Beatles-related question do you most get
asked?
Astrid : Of course it’s their haircut which I do get
furious sometimes because it has got nothing to do with the genius
of the Beatles. That was just a little tiny part which helped them
to put them on their way.
Digger : What do you think were the most significant events
of the sixties and what lasting effects have there been?
Astrid : The Beatles again have changed the whole music
industry. They also influenced the fashion industry. And another
thing which I thought was great was when punk came in. There happened
a lot concerning fashion and music and that I liked very much.
Digger : Can you tell us your favourite sixties music?
Astrid : The Beatles again, American singers like Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, Al Green and Otis Redding or groups like
the Miracles or the Walker Brothers. Oh I could go on and on and
on...
Digger : And what about sixties films?
Astrid : Well, when I think about the cinema in the sixties,
I just went to see the French movies which then were old because
Cocteau did all his wonderful work in the fifties...or at the end
of the fifties...and then Truffaut’s movies came in...and Vittorio
De Sica which I liked. So the German movies were absolutely ridiculous
so I never went to see them and I can’t give a statement about
them.
Digger : What projects are you currently engaged in?
Astrid : Well, together with my friend and manager Ulf
Krueger, who puts it all together, I’m doing exhibitions of
my work and selling the pictures as original prints and posters.
We also made a book (together with Klaus Voormann and Ulf Krueger)
called "Hamburg Days" which was published by Genesis publications.
This is a book about our relationship to the Beatles when they were
working in Hamburg, when we met them first. We tell our life stories
in the book, Klaus and myself, and Klaus did all the drawings of
places and events I never took pictures of.
Digger : How would you describe your life so far?
Astrid : Wonderful.
Digger : What do you see as your biggest achievements and
what are your biggest disappointments?
Astrid : My biggest achievements are that I had the pleasure
to become friends with John, Paul, George, Pete Best and Ringo which
last until today and which brought me a lot of happiness. I’m
still very, very proud of what they did.
And my biggest disappointment...I haven’t got any disappointments...
Digger : At the end of the sixties many of your photographs
were overlooked when people focused on the ones with the Beatles
in. Was this upsetting?
Astrid : No, it wasn’t such a big disappointment.
If I had the strength and if I had been a bit older I wouldn’t
have cared so much. But anyway that I gave up photography was the
reason that people didn’t recognise all my other work and I
was very unsure if I am a good photographer. But I think now I was
far too young for all this fame as far as my photos of the Beatles
were concerned.
Digger : What would you still like to do?
Astrid : I still would like to do going to Liverpool every
year with my friend Ulf and have a good time and go on living my
life like I do it now, be happy, be healthy and feel young at heart.
And if you ask me what I’m looking forward to it’s the
Beatles convention in Berlin next year which my friend Ulf is in
charge of. So that should be fun for me to go there and see all
the people and I hope there will be a lot of them.
Digger : Do you think talent will always triumph or does
it need a bit of luck and a helping hand?
Astrid : I do believe that talent will always triumph. And
it will help to have a little help from your friends but first of
all it’s the talent and the charisma. Whatever you do, if you
are a musician, a fashion designer, a painter or a writer, charisma
for me is so important. And humour as well.
Digger : Please tell us your happiest memories from your
Hamburg Beatles days.
Astrid : Well, as long as I’m with one of them, even
now, it is a happy moment. So there were so many, many happy moments
in my life and not only with the Beatles but with all my other friends
that makes my life complete. So I couldn’t spot one moment.
Many thanks to Astrid for the fascinating
interview.
Many thanks to Thomas Schmidt and to Ulf Krueger for their help
and support.
Astrid 's famous images of The Beatles and
contemporaries in Hamburg and Liverpool are available at the following
web site:
http://www.center-of-beat.com/
K & K U l f K
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Laufgraben 16
20146 Hamburg - Germany
Phone: *49-(0)40-450 59 06
Fax: *49-(0)40-450 59 95
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For more information, email info@centerofbeat.de
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