In the early 60s, I was a regular at the Crawdaddy Rhythm & Blues club at the Station Hotel Richmond. It was a big part of the music scene at the time and 'The Rolling Stones' played there every weekend. I knew their manager Giorgio Gomelsky, who also ran the club. I had recently left Guildford art school and was keen to establish myself as a freelance photographer. As I was into R&B music, it seemed a good idea to work with the bands who were up and coming at the time. Around this time, 'The Rolling Stones' and Giorgio had parted company, but he had taken on a new group called 'The Yardbirds', who he thought would be as big as the Stones.
Giorgio introduced me to the band and it was decided that I would go on the road with them covering their gigs in halls, pubs and venues around the country, mostly in the North. There wasn't much money around in those days, and I spent a good deal of time travelling around with 'The Yardbirds' in a beaten up old Ford Transit van, keeping musicians hours and sharing cheap digs in Northern cities. I got on really well with the band and had plenty of laughs with them, Eric Clapton was the humorist of the group and spent a lot of time mimicking Arthur Haynes, an outrageous comic who was popular at the time and had us all in stitches.
I took pictures of the band in my flat come studio in Fulham, it was there that Jeff got engaged to his girlfriend. I also did a trip to Granada TV studios with the group when they were doing a live show there. I was a big fan of the music and remember hearing a lot of 'I Wish You would' and 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl', along with lots of R&B favorites of the time. As I had been around the music scene for a while, I met Andrew Loog Oldham, the manager who always seemed to end up with groups that had first been spotted by Giorgio Gomelsky, e.g. 'The Stones' and also 'The Animals', who Andrew asked me to photograph for publicity and record sleeves etc.
My stint at photographing bands didn't last forever, I got sick of managers not paying me and became more involved with the visual art scene, taking photographs of the artists and their work at Signals Kinetic art gallery, where I met and photographed David Medalla, Gustaf Metzger, Takis, Camargo, Soto, Cruz Diez and Yoko Ono and many more artists. Later, I worked on a retainer for 'The Sunday Times' magazine and since have been sole photographer on some 22 books on horticulture and travel work that I am still engaged in.
David Bowie wearing a two piece quilted suit designed by Freddie Burretti for the 1972 Ziggy Stardust tour.
Angus Young, from AC/DC, captured in a small street outside a press meeting in Copenhagen in 1977
Bob Marley relaxing with friends and family after a show in Houston, Texas in 1976
Billy Idol with Ziggy Stardust flash makeup. New Wave just wouldn’t have been New Wave without Billy to pave the way through the 1980’s.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, artist & writer. He has been influential in popular music & culture for more than five decades.
Jimi Hendrix was an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter & arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.
Critics have called The Smiths the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s.
American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis is regarded as one of the most innovative, influential and respected figures in the history of music.
The Rolling Stones have been entertaining audiences for more than 50 years. Our collections share the best images spanning their career
Here are the very latest prints we have added to our collection. We hope you love them as much as we do.
Welcome to our Folk & Country Print Collection - iconic images of the world's greatest artists from the past 50 years
We are delighted to share our brand new collection of Bob Dylan prints by photographer Arthur Rosato taken in 1980 during the 'Gospel Years'
