How did Stuart Sutcliffe from the Beatles Die?

Stuart Sutcliffe, often referred to as the "fifth Beatle," died tragically at the young age of 21 on April 10, 1962. While studying in Germany, Sutcliffe began experiencing severe headaches and acute sensitivity to light. According to his girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr, some of the headaches left him temporarily blind. In February 1962, Sutcliffe collapsed during an art class in Hamburg. Kirchherr's mother had German doctors examine him, but they were unable to determine the exact cause of his headaches. They suggested he return to the UK and have himself admitted to a hospital with better facilities; however, after arriving, Sutcliffe was told nothing was wrong and returned to Hamburg. He continued living with the Kirchherrs, but his condition soon worsened. After he collapsed again on 10 April 1962, Kirchherr took him to hospital, riding with him in the ambulance, but he died before they arrived. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage, specifically a ruptured aneurysm resulting in cerebral paralysis due to severe bleeding into the right ventricle of the brain. He was 21 years old.

On 13 April 1962, Kirchherr met the group at Hamburg Airport, telling them Sutcliffe had died a few days earlier. Sutcliffe's mother flew to Hamburg with Beatles manager Brian Epstein and returned to Liverpool with her son's body. Sutcliffe's father did not hear of Stuart's death for three weeks, as he was sailing to South America on a cruise ship, although the family arranged for a padre, a military chaplain, to give him the news as soon as the ship docked in Buenos Aires. After Sutcliffe's death, Kirchherr wrote a letter to his mother, apologizing for being too ill to attend his funeral in Liverpool and saying how much she and Lennon missed him:

Oh, Mum, he (Lennon) is in a terrible mood now, he just can't believe that darling Stuart never comes back. [He's] just crying his eyes out ... John is marvellous to me, he says that he knows Stuart so much and he loves him so much that he can understand me.

The cause of Sutcliffe's aneurysm is unknown, although authors of books on the Beatles have speculated it was caused by an earlier head injury. He may have been either kicked in the head, or thrown head first against a brick wall during an attack outside Lathom Hall after a performance in January 1961. According to booking agent Allan Williams, Lennon and Best went to Sutcliffe's aid, fighting off his attackers before dragging him to safety. Sutcliffe sustained a fractured skull in the fight and Lennon's little finger was broken. Sutcliffe refused medical attention at the time and failed to keep an X-ray appointment at Sefton General Hospital.

Although Lennon did not attend nor send flowers to Sutcliffe's funeral, his second wife, Yoko Ono, recalled that Lennon mentioned Sutcliffe's name often, saying he was "[My] alter ego ... a spirit in his world ... a guiding force".

Sutcliffe is buried in Huyton Parish Church Cemetery (also known as St. Michael's) in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside in North West England