Les Stuart Quartet - A History of the Beatles

The Les Stuart Quartet would end up indirectly being key to the Beatles development. The group had no base player or drummer, and they all kept pestering everyone they knew to get a base or a drum kit but nobody would bite. But then Stuart Sutcliffe got half a painting in an exhibition put on by John Moors, who was a big patron of the arts in Liverpool. He brought it at the end of the exhibition's run for £90, about £2,000 in today's money. And so Stuart's friends gave him a choice: either buy a base ora drum kit, either would be fine - he chose the base. George and Ken were willing to play