Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann was born on 29 April 1938 and is a German artist, musician, and record producer.
41 Facts About Klaus Voormann
2.
Klaus Voormann lived in the band's London flat with George Harrison and Ringo Starr after John Lennon and Paul McCartney moved out to live with their respective partners.
3.
Klaus Voormann designed the cover of their 1966 album Revolver, for which he won a Grammy Award.
4.
Klaus Voormann designed the graphics for the sheet music of songs from Revolver.
5.
In 2009, Klaus Voormann released his debut solo album A Sideman's Journey, which featured the two surviving Beatles, McCartney and Starr, performing as "Klaus Voormann and Friends".
6.
Klaus Voormann has designed artwork for many bands, including the Beatles, The Dirty Knobs, Harry Nilsson, the Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet and Turbonegro.
7.
Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann was born in Berlin, Germany, and raised in the suburbs of north Berlin.
8.
Klaus Voormann's father was a physician and Klaus was one of six brothers.
9.
The Klaus Voormann family were interested in art, classical music and books, with a feeling for history and tradition.
10.
Klaus Voormann's parents decided that instead of studying music, it would be best for Klaus to study commercial art in Berlin at the Meisterschule fur Grafik und Buchgewerbe.
11.
Klaus Voormann later moved to Hamburg to study at the Meisterschule fur Gestaltung.
12.
However, before finishing his education in the graphic arts, Klaus Voormann started work as a commercial artist graphic designer and illustrator, spending eight months in Dusseldorf working for magazines.
13.
One day, after an argument with her and Jurgen Vollmer, Klaus Voormann wandered down the Reeperbahn, in the St Pauli district of Hamburg, and heard music coming from the Kaiserkeller club.
14.
Klaus Voormann walked in on a performance by Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
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Klaus Voormann had never heard rock 'n' roll before, having previously only listened to traditional jazz, Nat King Cole, and The Platters.
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Klaus Voormann invited Kirchherr and Vollmer to watch the performances the next day.
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Klaus Voormann later wrote that he could hardly take his eyes off them, and had wanted to talk to them during the next break, but they had already left the club.
18.
Klaus Voormann was in a relationship with Kirchherr at the time, and lived just around the corner from her parents' upper-class home in the Altona district of Hamburg.
19.
Klaus Voormann lived with Harrison and Ringo Starr for a time, before finding work as a commercial artist and renting an apartment of his own.
20.
In 1965, Klaus Voormann returned to London and was asked by Lennon to design the sleeve for the album Revolver.
21.
Klaus Voormann had a style of "scrapbook collage" art in mind.
22.
Klaus Voormann later designed the cover art for Harrison's 1988 single "When We Was Fab", which included the image of Harrison from the cover of Revolver along with an updated drawing in the same style.
23.
Around the same time, Klaus Voormann was hired to design the cover for Bee Gees 1st, which featured all five group members standing above a colourful, psychedelic collage painted by Klaus Voormann.
24.
In 1973, Klaus Voormann created the album sleeve and booklet artwork for Starr's album Ringo, on which he played bass.
25.
In 1966, Klaus Voormann became a member of Manfred Mann, having turned down offers by the Hollies and the Moody Blues, although Klaus Voormann did substitute for Eric Haydock on a couple of television performances by the Hollies.
26.
Klaus Voormann was a member of Yoko Ono and Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, with Ono, Alan White and Eric Clapton, playing on their album Live Peace in Toronto 1969, recorded in Toronto on 13 September that year, prior to the break-up of the Beatles.
27.
Klaus Voormann played bass at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows, at which Starr appeared, in August 1971.
28.
Klaus Voormann played in Harrison's band at The Concert for Bangladesh, held at New York's Madison Square Garden in August 1971.
29.
In 1979, Klaus Voormann moved back to Germany; he had a cameo as Von Schnitzel the Conductor in the 1980 film adaptation of Popeye.
30.
Klaus Voormann went on to produce three studio albums and a live album by the German band Trio, as well as their worldwide hit single "Da Da Da".
31.
Klaus Voormann retired from the music business in 1989, deciding to spend more time with his family.
32.
Klaus Voormann lives at Lake Starnberg, near Munich with his second wife Christina and their two children, born in 1989 and 1991.
33.
In 1995, Klaus Voormann was asked by Apple Records to design the covers for The Beatles Anthology albums.
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Klaus Voormann painted the covers along with his friend, fellow artist Alfons Kiefer.
35.
In 2000, Klaus Voormann designed the cover for Me Rio, the debut album of Enja Records recording artist Azhar Kamal, which was influenced by his design for Revolver.
36.
On 29 November 2002 Klaus Voormann played bass on the song "All Things Must Pass" at the Concert for George, held at London's Royal Albert Hall.
37.
On 7 July 2009, Klaus Voormann released his first solo album, A Sideman's Journey.
38.
In 2014, Klaus Voormann designed the cover to the album Music Life by Japanese rock band Glay; the image depicting the face of each member of the band is strongly reminiscent of the cover to The Beatles' Revolver.
39.
In 2016, Klaus Voormann created a graphic novel based on his experiences recording Revolver, calling it Revolver 50.
40.
Klaus Voormann made a surreal pencil drawing of Mad magazine mascot Alfred E Neuman for the publication's December 2017 issue.
41.
In 2020, Klaus Voormann did the cover art for Wreckless Abandon, an album by Mike Campbell's band The Dirty Knobs.