Horst Fascher

Who is Horst Fascher?

Horst Fascher is a previous German nightclub bouncer, and a friend of The Beatles during their days playing in Hamburg, Germany.

A onetime professional boxer whose career was cut short, Fascher found work in clubs along the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. When the Beatles made their first trip to Germany in August 1960, Fascher befriended the young group, who played at the Indra Club and the Kaiserkeller.

As they rose through the ranks of bands playing the Reeperbahn, Fascher usually managed to be working at the same clubs, and for the same boss, as the Beatles. They visited him at home, and he in turn kept troublemakers away from the band. The only favour Fascher asked was to be able to sing with them occasionally onstage, which was granted; Eddie Cochran's music was a common choice.

The Beatles did not want to make their last Hamburg visit, at the end of 1962, preferring to stay in England to promote their new single, "Love Me Do", but were persuaded by manager Brian Epstein, via Horst Fascher, who recalled later "I had to give him thirty marks under the table to make him do it." Nonetheless, the band had a holiday residency at the Star-Club, through the New Year.