Kevin Cummins (born 14 July 1953 Manchester, England) is a British rock music photographer best known for photographs of rock bands and musicians including Mick Jagger, Ian Curtis, Morrissey, Courtney Love, Patti Smith, and David Bowie.
Born within crying distance of Maine Road in Withington Hospital on 14 July 1953. His first game at Maine Road was a 3-1 victory over Leicester on 19 August 1961. Since then he has followed City over land and sea (and Stretford) for over 40 years. The rest of his time is spent earning a living as one of the world’s most venerated music and portrait photographers.
After studying photography for four years in Salford, Kevin embarked on a career that was to encompass a wide range of photographic work.The burgeoning punk scene in Manchester dominated his early work and he quickly became one of the premier documentary photographers of the era.
He then started working with Manchester’s prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre and was soon in demand by major theatre companies across the UK, most notably: The Royal Opera House, The Royal Northern Ballet, The Liverpool Playhouse and The Oxford Playhouse. Kevin was instrumental in establishing City Life, Manchester’s ’what’s on’ guide and was a founding contributor to The Face, the influential style magazine where he won an award for Magazine Cover of the Year.
Since moving to London in 1987, Kevin has contributed to many major UK publications, including: The Observer, Esquire, Maxim, Elle, Vogue, Mojo, FourFourTwo, Sleaze Nation and The Big Issue. He spent 10 years as the chief photographer for New Musical Express – the world’s biggest selling rock weekly – where his award-winning pictures were a major contributing factor in the rise of the Madchester and Cool Britannia scenes. His work can be seen gracing many record sleeves and book jackets and he regularly contributes to publications in Europe and Japan.
