The original lineup of the Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best regularly performed at different clubs in Hamburg, West Germany, during the period from August 1960 to December 1962; a chapter in the group's history which honed their performance skills, widened their reputation, and led to their first recording, which brought them to the attention of Brian Epstein.
The Beatles' booking agent, Allan Williams, decided to send the group to Hamburg when another group he managed, Derry and the Seniors, proved successful there. Having no permanent drummer at the time, they recruited Best a few days before their departure. After breaking their contract by playing at another club, Harrison was deported for being underaged, and McCartney and Best were arrested and deported for attempted arson.
The Beatles first met Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg, who was instrumental in their adoption of the mop topped Beatle haircut. During their period in Hamburg, Sutcliffe decided to leave the group to continue his studies. In April 1962, less than a year after leaving the group, he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died as a result.
Hamburg in the 1960s
Hamburg had once been West Germany's main seaport, the fourth largest in the world, but during World War II in 1943 half of the city was reduced to rubble by American and British bombing raids. By 1960, when they arrived, the Hamburg that had grown up from the ruins of WWII had established a reputation throughout Europe as a city of vice and criminal activity. In contrast to an economically depressed post-war Liverpool, Hamburg was a wealthy city. Since the end of the war in which England and Germany had been mortal enemies, only 15 years had passed when this first wave of British musicians started to wash the shores of the Hamburg harbour. Tony Sheridan explained the resistance faced at home by these musicians as they were preparing to embark for Germany for the first time: "My parents - all our parents - they went wild when they heard that we were coming to Germany... When I went anyway, I broke my mother's heart by coming to Germany... to the enemy... to play rock and roll music."
Leaving Liverpool
Allan Williams, a 29-year-old Liverpool businessman and promoter, had sent his leading group, Derry and the Seniors (later known as Howie Casey and the Seniors) to Hamburg, where they were enjoying success, and wanted to send an additional group. He initially tried to send Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, but Storm and his group were committed to a Butlins holiday camp and turned Williams' offer down, as did Gerry and the Pacemakers. Williams started promoting concerts for The Beatles in May 1960, after they had played at his Jacaranda club in Liverpool, and offered The Beatles the Hamburg bookings. He booked them into Bruno Koschmider's Indra club in Hamburg for a season of bookings starting on 12 August 1960, but said that he was not impressed with them as a musical group, and hoped to find a better act to follow them.
As they had no permanent drummer, McCartney looked for someone to fill the position, which was difficult, as Lennon later said that drummers were "few and far between", because a set of drums was an expensive item. Harrison had seen Best playing with the Black Jacks in The Casbah Coffee Club (which was run by his mother, Mona Best). He was regarded as a steady drummer, playing the bass drum on all four beats in the bar, which pushed the rhythm, and was known in Liverpool at the time as being "mean, moody, and magnificent" by female fans, which convinced McCartney he would be good for the group. After the Black Jacks broke up, McCartney asked Best to go to Hamburg, telling him they would earn £15 per week each. Best had the chance to go to a teacher-training college, as he had passed his school exams, unlike Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, who had failed most of theirs, but decided that playing in Hamburg would be a better career move.