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The Beatles’ original lineup was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Stuart Sutcliffe. They eventually added drummer Pete Best to the mix, but the four musicians created the band. They each played a key role in their later success, but according to Harrison, Sutcliffe wasn’t much of a musician. Harrison didn’t even consider him a musician at all, but he made some important contributions to the group. 

A black and white picture of Allan Williams, Beryl Williams, Lord Woodbine, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison sitting on steps together.
Allan Williams, Beryl Williams, Lord Woodbine, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison | Keystone Features/Getty Images

George Harrison didn’t think Stuart Sutcliffe added much musically to the band

Sutcliffe was one of Lennon’s close friends from art school. Sutcliffe taught Lennon about painting, and, in return, Lennon talked to him about music. When Lennon decided to form a new band, it felt natural that Sutcliffe would be a part of it. 

Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had worked together in The Quarrymen, so Sutcliffe was a new addition to their dynamic. According to Harrison, Sutcliffe didn’t add much to the group in terms of musical knowledge.

“Stuart was in the band now,” Harrison said, per The Beatles Anthology. “He wasn’t really a very good musician. In fact, he wasn’t a musician at all until we talked him into buying a bass. We taught him to play twelve-bars, like ‘Thirty Days’ by Chuck Berry. That was the first thing he ever learnt.”

Harrison said that it didn’t matter much, though. As long as Sutcliffe could make it through a song, he was welcome to join them onstage because of his looks.

“He picked up a few things and he practiced a bit until he could get through a couple of other tunes as well,” he said. “It was a bit ropey, but it didn’t matter at that time because he looked so cool.”

Despite what George Harrison said, Stuart Sutcliffe made one major contribution

While Sutcliffe might not have been a musical genius, he did make one major contribution to the band. 

“One April evening in 1960, walking along Gambier Terrace by Liverpool Cathedral, John and Stuart announced: ‘Hey, we want to call the band “The Beatles.”‘ We thought, ‘Hmm, bit creepy, isn’t it?’ — ‘It’s all right though; a double meaning,'” McCartney recalled. “One of our favorite groups, The Crickets, had got a dual-meaning name: cricket the game, and crickets the little grasshoppers. We were thrilled with that — we thought it was true literature.”

Lennon took credit for coming up with the name, but Harrison and McCartney recalled Sutcliffe’s involvement.

He had a greater impact on the group than other former members

Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison worked with a number of people, both in The Quarrymen and The Beatles, before landing on the band’s now-iconic lineup. None of these former bandmates — including Best, who drummed with them for two years — seemed to have as much of an impact on all of them as Sutcliffe did. 

Sutcliffe left the group after a short time and died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962. His death devastated Lennon, and Sutcliffe would later appear on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lennon also reportedly wrote “In My Life” with his former bandmate in mind. 

McCartney once said they feared Sutcliffe would come back to haunt them. In some ways, he did hang over their music after his death. While he may not have been a good musician in Harrison’s eyes, he left an impact on the band.

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