The Beatles: John Lennon Feared All His Loved Ones Would Die, Historian Says
John Lennon used his Beatles notoriety to promote causes of peace and love. His life was tragically cut short when he was murdered in 1980. According to historian David Bedford, Lennon had a fear of death since the ‘60s. It all started when friend and former bass player Stuart Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962 at the age of 21.
Bedford was a guest on the Beatles City podcast on Aug. 23, 2020 to discuss Sutcliffe. The author was then running the Sutcliffe fan club and revealed how Sutcliffe’s death impacted Lennon.
Stuart Sutcliffe death made John Lennon fear for all his loved ones
Bedford has authored books on The Beatles such as Liddypool: Birthplace of the Beatles, Looking for Lennon, and The Beatles: Fab Four Cities. In his research and interviews, he discovered a consistent account of Lennon after Sutcliffe’s death.
“John became a bit of a fatalist,” Bedford said on Beatles City. “He felt that anybody who got close to him was going to die. And he never really shook that off. He carried that with him because so many people got close to him and died. In a way, he was scared to form relationships.”
John Lennon could be ‘brutal’ about the subject of death
Sutcliffe’s fiance Astrid Kirchherr had to tell Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison when Sutcliffe died. After mourning, Harrison remained emotional. However, Bedford describes Lennon’s tone following Sutcliffe’s death as “brutal.”
“It’s how you react to these things,” Bedford said. “She had a very, very soft spot for George and he could be very tender in understanding whereas John, in the end, he said to Astrid, ‘You’ve got to make a decision now. Stuart’s not here. You either live or you die. You’ve got to make a decision. What are you going to choose?’ He was brutal but it made her listen and think, ‘I’ve got to get my head around this.’”
The Beatles never forgot Stuart Sutcliffe
Even though Sutcliffe left the band before his death, and even after he was gone, Lennon still thought about him. Bedford recalled how the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein kept Astrid involved. After Lennon’s death, his widow Yoko Ono confirmed Sutcliffe had remained on Lennon’s mind.
“Astrid came out to Liverpool,” Bedford said. “Brian engaged her to do some photographs of The Beatles here in Liverpool. They kept that connection. They stayed close. Part of that came from John’s point of view to still have a connection with Stuart. I remember Yoko Ono saying a number of years ago hardly a day went by that John didn’t mention Stuart. Even all those years later, that influence of Stuart on John was still there on John’s life.”
