Tuesday 29 April 2008

Klaus Voormann Biography

Happy 70th Birthday to Klaus Voormann!

Exactly 70 years ago, Klaus was born in Berlin. He played a very important role in the Beatles universe, befriending him early during the Hamburg days, designing the Revolver cover and later playing with Ringo, George and John.

Klaus Voormann is probably responsible for bringing Astrid Kirchherr in the picture, since he wandered into the Kaiserkeller Club where Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were playing, followed by The Beatles. Klaus was so fascinated by the music that he invited Jürgen Vollmer and Astrid Kirchherr the next day to see The Beatles perform.

John Lennon called them "the Exies" and they befriended The Beatles (especially Stu Sutcliffe and George Harrison).

In the early 1960's, Voormann lived with George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their Green Street flat (London Mayfair) when Paul decided to move into Jane Asher's home and John lived with his wife Cynthia.

In 1963 Klaus was managed by Brian Epstein and had formed a group called "Paddy, Klaus & Gibson", made up of Paddy Chambers (guitar/vocals), Klaus Voormann (bass/vocals) and Gibson Kemp (drums).

In 1966 Voormann designed the cover of Revolver and received a Grammy Award for it. He would later design the cover for RINGO, George's single "When We Was Fab" and the Anthology records.

Later, he would show up on numerous ex-Beatle records: as part of the Plastic Ono band on Live Peace in Toronto 1969, on John's Walls and Bridges and appearing on The Concert for Bangla Desh.

Other Beatle-related works are:

- John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

- Imagine

- Ringo

- Instant Karma