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 to May ; 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.
In November and December they played with Ringo Starr on drums. 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 , less than a year after leaving the group, he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died as a result. Hamburg had once been West Germany's main seaport, the fourth largest in the world, but during World War II in half of the city was reduced to rubble by American and British bombing raids. By , 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.
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 Sheridan also reflected on the era when he arrived in Germany, just over a decade after the end of World War II.
