The Top Ten Club was a music club in Hamburg's St. Pauli district at Reeperbahn 136, which opened on 31 October 1960 and kept its name until 1994.
In 1961, the Beatles performed 92 times at the Top Ten Club.
History
At the beginning of the 20th century, Reeperbahn 136 was the location of the Grand Hippodrom and Café of Carl Richter Later it was called Hippodrom and belonged, together with the bar, to Herbert Eckhorn. In 1960, the heir to the hippodrome, Peter Eckhorn (* 12 February 1939 in Hamburg; † 19 May 1979), decided to close the hippodrome, rebuild it and reopen it with a new name as a music club. The Top Ten Club was opened on 31 October 1960 by Peter Eckhorn and his manager Horst Fascher. After disagreements, Peter Eckhorn separated from Horst Fascher shortly afterwards. Fascher then worked as a waiter in a restaurant in the Große Freiheit, where he persuaded Manfred Weissleder to turn the former Stern cinema into a music club, the Star-Club, becoming his manager.
The Beatles
The Beatles, who, until 31 December 1960, were under contract with Bruno Koschmider, the owner of Kaiserkeller, often visited Top Ten Club, where Tony Sheridan performed with his Jets. They also played together occasionally, which Bruno Koschmider found out about. On November 21, 1960 George Harrison was deported to England by the police, because at the age of 17 he was too young to work in a nightclub after midnight. It is assumed that it was Bruno Koschmider who tipped off the police because he was annoyed that the Beatles were unfaithful to him and wanted to switch to the Top Ten Club. So, Harrison had to go back to Liverpool.
On 29 November 1960, Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested for attempted arson. They were said to have set fire to a condom when they packed their personal belongings in Bruno Koschmider's Bambi cinema, were they slept, to bring them to the Top Ten Club. Best and McCartney spent three hours in the Davidwache Police Station, and were deported on 1 December 1960. Lennon on 10 December and Sutcliffe in February 1961, also returned to Liverpool.
The Beatles appeared back at the Top Ten Club with Tony Sheridan from 1 April 1 to 1 July 1961. The Beatles and Tony Sheridan performed continuously for 92 nights in the Top Ten Club. It should have been exactly 503 hours on stage. They played seven hours a night, eight hours at weekends. There was a fifteen-minute pause after each hour. Each member of The Beatles were to be paid 35 deutschmarks.
documented the Beatles' visit to the Top Ten Club in 1961. The reportage did not appear in Quick until 1966. photographed the Beatles by chance when he commissioned a trade union newspaper in Ten Club Top. Some of the photos were sold, in mid-seventies, for 30,000 pounds to Paul McCartney.