Astrid Kirchherr
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Astrid Kirchherr (born 20 May 1938) is a German photographer and artist. (Kirchherr's photos have been shown in Hamburg, Bremen, London, New York, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Vienna, and the Rock'n`Roll Hall of Fame.) As a leading member of the Exies, she was a close acquaintance of The Beatles during their early career in Hamburg. Kirchherr first met The Beatles at a club when she was dating Klaus Voormann (who later designed the cover to The Beatles' "Revolver" album) and left him for Stuart Sutcliffe who was a member of The Beatles at the time.
Kirchherr is incorrectly credited with inventing The Beatles' moptop haircut. She is quoted in The Beatles Off The Record by Keith Badman, stating: "All that shit people said, that I created their hairstyle, that's rubbish! Lots of German boys had that hairstyle. Stuart had it for a long while and the others copied it. I suppose the most important thing I contributed to them was friendship." Noted Beatles expert Badman believes that Kirchherr is mistaken in stating that Sutcliffe was the first member of The Beatles to have the hairsyle. The first were, according to Jürgen Vollmer, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
The person responsible for the moptop haircut was Jürgen Vollmer. Vollmer is also quoted in "The Beatles off The Record" stating: "I was combing my hair forward as an act against the bourgeois horrors in Hamburg. The barbers here always cut it too short, so I cut my own hair, but I never did anyone else's. So when John and Paul came to Paris, I gave them this haircut. It was their idea to have it the same as mine."
The bio-pic "Backbeat" deals with the early years of The Beatles, concentrating mainly on the relationships between Kirchherr, Sutcliffe, and Lennon, with Sheryl Lee playing the role of Kirchherr. Astrid was also consulted a number of times throughout the creation of the film to "ensure its faithfulness to what truly happened."
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