Klaus Voormann
by Cathy Constable
17 April 1998

	Unless one is a Beatles fanatic, the name of Klaus Voormann
is probably not one that is familiar.  His art and artistry have
been important to the Beatles ever since he met them in Hamburg,
Germany in late 1960.  Though Voormann will probably always be linked
closely to the Beatles, his artistic talents should not be overlooked.
The two main types of art he is known for the album covers he has designed
and for his work as a bassist for many bands. 
	Klaus Voormann was born in Berlin, the son of an eminant doctor.
(Davies 81)  Like John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe (who was also a member
of the Beatles at that time), Voorman had attended an art school.
According to Davies, "He was training to be a commercial artist, but he
also took up photography as a special subject, which is how he met Astrid
[Kirchherr], who became his girl friend." (81)
	As legend has it, one night in 1960, Voormann and Kirchherr had a
bit of an argument, and Voormann decided to go to a movie by himself.
However, he wandered into the Reeperbahn, which is a street in Hamburg
sometimes referred to as "the naughtiest street in Europe".  According to
Voormann, "I came out and I was walking around.  I was in the Grosse
Freiheit whenI heard a lot of noise coming from a basement.  I went down
to see what was going on." (qtd Davies 81)  Thus entered Klaus Voormann
into the club named the Kaiserkeller.  
	However, the group that was playing wasn't the Beatles.  Instead
it was Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (of which Ringo Starr was a part at
that time).   Anwyay, Voormann happened to sit down next to a few people.
Soon afterwards, the realized that the people he was sitting next to was
the other band, which happened to be the Beatles.  He had been impressed
by the first band which had played, but was even more "knocked out" by the
Beatles.  (Davies 81-82)
	After visiting the Kaiserkeller on a couple more occasions, he
convinced Kirchherr to come see this band.  However, she was reluctant to
go, being that this was a club on the Reeperbahn.  Nevertheless, she
finally decided to go.  (Davies 82-83)  She, too was very impressed with
the Beatles.   
	Voormann, Kirchherr, and another friend of theirs, Jurgen Vollmer,
soon began talking to the Beatles and striking up a friendship with them,
even though "they [the Beatles] couldn't speak German, but some of the
students [Voormann, Kirchherr, Vollmer, and friends] could understand a
little English.  (Davies 83)
	The group became better friends, and before too long, Kirchherr
asked for the Beatles permission to photograph the Beatles.  They agreed
to this, and so Kirchherr and Vollmer took many pictures of the Beatles
all around Hamburg.  These photographs are considered to be very good
artistically, and of very high quality.  Many of them are quite famous. 
	Another thing that Kirchherr suggested, especially to Stu
Sutcliffe, since they were becoming close, and were soon to get engaged, 
was that he change his hairstyle.  "Astrid talked Stu into changing his
greased hairstyle to the floppy bangs worn by Klaus Voormann and his
student and artist friends.  Despite initial scorn, John, Paul, and
George, were soon sporting the same look.  Thus was the "Beatle Hairstyle"
born."  (Schaffner 21)
	After this point, not much about Voormann is to be found for
awhile.  However, he did get convinced to move to England, which he did in
1965, and joined a band which was managed by Brian Epstein (the Beatles'
manager).  The name of this band was Paddy, Klaus, and Gibson.  However,
this band was short lived, and broke up after less than a year.  After
playing with the Hollies for a very short time, he then became the bassist
for the group Manfred Mann. (Genesis : Biographies)  Also, around this
time, he married former Coronation Street actress Christine Hargreaves.
(Turner 129)
	As a friend of the Beatles, he influenced their music by being
around them.  One instance of this happening is in the song "Within You,
Without You."  The song was inspired by a conversation that George
Harrison was having with Voormann and some others at a dinner party at
Voormann's.  Besides this, Voormann had a harmonium that Harrison started
playing around with.  According to Tony King, who was also a close
associate of theirs, "Klaus had this pedal harmonium and George started
fiddling around on it.  It made these terrible groaning noises and by the
end of the evening, he'd worked something out on it and was starting to
sing snatches of it to us.  It's interesting that the eventual recording
of "Within You, Without You" had the same sort of groaning sound that I'd
heard on the harmonium because John [Lennon] once told me that the
instrument you compose a song on determines the tone of a song.  (qtd
Turner 129)
	As a bassist, Klaus Voormann became one of the most in-demand
session musicians, especially during the 1970's. (Genesis : Biographies) 
He has played for acts such as John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr,
B.B.  King, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel, Henry Nilsson, and Yoko Ono, among
others.  (Klaus Voormann) 
	In the 1980's, he fronted a German group named Trio.  In the last
year or so, the song "Da Da Da" that Trio did has resurged in popularity,
after it started being used for a Volkswagen commercial on television. (Da
Da Da : That Volkswagen Television Commercial)
	However, Klaus Voormann is not merely a bassist.  He has also done
much as far as designing album covers for records.  
	One of the most famous album covers he has designed is the cover
for the Beatles' album "Revolver" which came out in 1966.  The cover to
this album was regarded to be an important work of art immediately.  In
it, it "depicts the four Beatles' faces looking away from each other,
connected in the middle with a cornucopia of black and white images
pouring from the center fo their collective consciousnesses." (Riley 182)
It was also said that he "sketched the surrealism fo psychadelia with none
of it's color." (Riley 182)  Revolver, with it's Klaus Voormann
illustration, was the first album to win the Grammy award from the
National Academy for Arts and Sciences for best album cover.  (Greenman)
	In 1973, he also designed the cover for Ringo Starr's album
"Ringo", as well as illustrating the booklet that accompanied the record.
In some ways, this has been said to be an answer to the Sgt. Pepper album.
In Sgt. Pepper, Ringo is "Billy Shears" and is the leader of the band.
However, in this picture, he is on his own.
	Klaus Voormann, along with a man named Kiefer, designed the cover
for the Beatles' Anthology set.  This collage has won him much praise for
his artistic abilities as well.  The collage depicts a series of Beatles
posters that have been posted up on a wall.  These posters range from
their first acts in Germany to ones just before the Beatles break-up.
However, all the posters have been torn, so as to give the viewer a
feeling of time having passed since even the most recent ones have been
put up, but it also gives the viewer a feeling of how much is really
there, and reminds the viewer of all the excitement that the Beatles
evoke.  
	Klaus Voormann has played an important role in the history of rock
and roll as an art form, both as a bassist, and as a artist who uses
visual means.  His contributions, though not as earth-shattering as the
Beatles, have helped shape the way rock and roll is viewed.  It is for
these reasons that he should not be overlooked just because he gets
overshadowed by the Beatles.  


Bibliography
"Da Da Da : That Volkswagen Television Commercial"
	http://www.scottvw.com/wvfun/dadada.html accessed 17 April 1998
 	last updated 21 March 1998 
	(Moved to: http://scottvw.com/vwfun/dadada.htm)	

Davies, Hunter.  The Beatles The Authorized Biography. 1st ed. New York:
	McGraw-Hill, 1968

"Genesis : Biographies"  http://www.widemedia.com/genesis/biog/voo.html
	accessed 17 April 1998

Greenman, Ben.  "The Art of the Matter"  Miami New Times 13-19 November
	1997  http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1997/111397/music1.html
	accessed 17 April 1998
        (Moved to: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/1997-11-13/music3.html)

"Klaus Voormann"
	http://www.tunes.com/tunes-cgi2/tunes/person_frame/1208/10/0/76
	accessed 17 April 1998

Riley, Tim.  Tell Me Why.  New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1988

Schaffner, Nicholas. The Boys From Liverpool.  New York: Methuen, 1980

Turner, Steve.  A Hard Day's Write.  New York: HarperCollins, 1994
 
Check this page out as well http://www.kkbeatlesphotos.com/page3.html