Stuart Sutcliffe – The Lost Beatle.

He was the first to sport a Beatles haircut and appeared on the sleeve of Sergeant Pepper, but Stuart Sutcliffe has been dubbed by many as the lost Beatle, who left the band before they broke into the big time and died soon after.

The tragic tale of one of the earliest members of the world’s most popular band, a man who was John Lennon’s best pal and credited with giving them their distinctive style, but died within a year of quitting the band, is chronicled in Stuart Sutcliffe – The Lost Beatle.

Released by Digital Classics for the first time ever on DVD on 6 March 2006, this is the definitive documentary of his life and times and his role in the early days of the Beatles.

Featuring some of his closest friends and colleagues, including Beatles associates and former fiancée Astrid Kircherr, who first gave him the distinctive moptop haircut that the rest of the band – and later teenagers everywhere – adopted, the documentary charts Sutcliffe’s story. This unique production blends archive footage, interviews, along with Sutcliffe’s own words and art, to paint a truly remarkable picture of this influential man.

Sutcliffe was instrumental in the early days of the Beatles, when they travelled to sleazy Hamburg, experimented with drugs, women and honed their craft in front of tough crowds on the notorious Reeperbahn. But, after becoming engaged to German artist Kircherr, he realised his true calling was as an artist, quitting the band and leaving his best pal Lennon. But as acclaim for his paintings grew, his health failed and Sutcliffe tragically died from a brain haemorrhage. All that remains of his legacy is his paintings and his photograph lurking at the back of his old mates’ seminal album, Sergeant Pepper. Stuart Sutcliffe – The Lost Beatle tells his story.

Release Date: 6 March 2006 RRP: £12.99 Catalogue No.: DC10008