MR. FASCHER was born poor in 1936 in Hamburg. His mother was a cleaning lady, his father a seaman who fought in World War II and was held as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union until 1951. Luckily for Mr. Fascher, when his promising boxing career came to an end, Hamburg was well on the way to restoring itself as a lively, sinful port, a place where British and American troops provided an audience for the new music clubs springing up on the seedy edge of town, amid the strip clubs and brothels. Mr. Fascher used to get the latest records from a seaman friend who traveled back and forth from New York to Hamburg. "I started listening to Elvis in 1956 or '57," he said. "I was very up to date."

The music scene was on a street called Grosse Freiheit, or Great Freedom, a place of dissenting churches in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today it is a domain of garishly lighted pornography emporiums and lap-dance joints standing shoulder to shoulder with music clubs, which have been making a comeback. The former Star Club, at 39 Grosse Freiheit, is now a nightclub called Rasputin. After he got out of prison, Mr. Fascher started working in the district, mostly tending bar but also managing bands at a club called the Top Ten, where the Beatles had performed in 1960.

But he had a fight with his boss and was fired. Soon thereafter he persuaded a strip club owner to bankroll his idea for a new music club featuring British bands. That was the fabled Star Club. Mr. Fascher immediately set off to Liverpool to lure the Beatles away from an earlier commitment they had made to play at the Top Ten.

"I knew if I could get the Beatles for opening night, I'd have no trouble selling out the club," he said. At first, the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, said no, a deal is a deal. But Mr. Fascher went out with the Beatles themselves and, apparently, they had a very good time, because the next day Mr. Fascher walked away with a contract for them to perform at the Star Club. "I saw it as part of my assignment to provide the musicians with a good time," he said, stating a sort of general principle that he assiduously applied in Hamburg and that was one reason for his success. The Beatles went to the Star Club a few times, providing Mr. Fascher with some of the stories he recounts in his book, like the time he caught John Lennon in the bathroom with a female fan.

Mr. Fascher ordered Lennon to go onstage right away, naked if necessary, and that's about what he did, causing an uproar when he appeared wearing only his briefs and a toilet seat around his neck.

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