London (AFP)
"Smart", "loving", "great photos": tributes from the music world flocked Saturday after the death at 81 years of the German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who had become famous in the early 1960s thanks to his pictures of the Beatles in their early days.
She died Wednesday in Hamburg, a few days before her 82nd birthday, according to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who greeted Friday on Twitter "an intelligent, inspiring, innovative and loving friend".
His death was the result of a serious illness, said his entourage quoted on Saturday in several German media, including the weekly Die Zeit and the public television NDR. "What she gave to the Beatles was immeasurable," added Mark Lewisohn.
Then 22 years old, she had met the English group still in its beginnings in 1960 during a tour in Hamburg, and had become friends with them, at a time when the "boys in the wind" did not weren't international stars yet.
The group still had five members at that time, in addition to John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, also Pete Best and bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, who fell in love with Astrid Kirchherr and stayed in Hamburg later, before dying suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1962.
"God bless Astrid, a beautiful person who took great photos," said Beatles drummer Ringo Starr on Twitter.
In 1960, the photographer took many pictures of the group at their beginnings, with a look alternating rebellious and romantic posture, which then passed to posterity. Astrid Kirchherr then lived essentially for their reproduction rights, according to the German channel NDR.
The photographer subsequently stayed in touch with the Beatles, notably with George Harrison. Her son Dhani Harrison, himself a musician, posted a photo of the two of them on Twitter with a caption saying "Dearest Astrid, I really wish I had spent more time with you in this life". "You have always been so kind and loving to me," he added, "God bless you."
Astrid Kirchherr is also said to have been behind the famous Beatles bowl cutter in the early 1960s. She first practiced it on one of her German graphic designer's friends before the English group became infatuated with it. , says NDR.
She had also worked as a stylist and interior designer, and had opened a photography store. According to the Guardian, the photographer had married and divorced twice, but had no children.
© 2020 AFP