LONDON • German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, whose striking images of The Beatles in the early 1960s helped turn them into cultural icons, has died at 81 in Hamburg last Wednesday, German media reported last Saturday.

Those close to her told several German media outlets, including the NDR public television, that she had died after a serious illness.

Kirchherr met and befriended The Beatles in 1960 during a tour in Hamburg, before they achieved worldwide fame.

At the time, the group was made up of five members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, as well as bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best, who was later replaced by Ringo Starr.

Sutcliffe fell in love with Kirchherr and stayed on in Hamburg, but he died from a brain haemorrhage at 21 in 1962.

Kirchherr later married and divorced twice, but had no children, The Guardian reported.

She went on to take numerous photos of the group, showing them both as rebels and romantics.

She later lived mainly off the reproduction rights of the pictures, NDR said.

Kirchherr was also said to have worked as a stylist and interior designer and opened a photography shop. She was behind the group's so-called mop-top hairstyles of the early 1960s.

The photographer later kept in touch with The Beatles, Harrison in particular.

Last month saw the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' unofficial break-up, with the so-called "Fab Four" still seen as influential pop music pioneers half a century later.

The band remain the best-selling music artists of all time, with enduring hits from I Want To Hold Your Hand to Hey Jude to Yesterday familiar to at least four generations of fans.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE