Lost photographs of musical legends including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are to go on show for the first time.
Curators Iconic Images discovered forgotten gems in the archives of celebrity photographer Terry O’Neill, 79, who rose to fame covering the music scene in the 1960s and went on to become official photographer for the James Bond franchise and obtain commissions to photograph The Queen and Nelson Mandela.
Behind the scenes shots of The Beatles filming footage in London for record A Hard Day’s Night in 1964, their meeting with then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson and pictures of The Rolling Stones posing in Leicester Square the same year will be among those shown in a new exhibition of the photographer’s work at art fair, Photo London, under the title ‘Rock and Roll London’.
The Rolling Stones during a rehearsal for ABC’s ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ TV pop music show, 1964 (Terry O’Neill / Iconic Images)
Other photos include Marianne Faithfull in London in the 1960s and Honor Blackman in Bond movie Goldfinger.
O’Neill, 79, said: “It is stuff we discovered from my archives over the years, and we dug it all out and we sorted out all the vintage for a little show as part of my exhibition.
“I’ve never done an exhibition of vintage prints before – I hadn’t looked at them all for ages.”
The Beatles with Prime Minister Harold Wilson in London, 1964 (Terry O’Neill / Iconic Images)
The photographer, who will also give a talk on making a career in photography at the event with fellow industry veteran, Canadian Douglas Kirkland, 83, said his own stellar career had been an accident.
“I was really a jazz drummer and I got forced into being a photographer, so I wasn’t really in love with photography when I was doing all these shots of The Beatles and Stones and all these people and I was just intent on getting to America and playing in New York. I was never really interested in photography – how I have got where I got I have no idea.”
More than 100 galleries from 18 countries will exhibit at the fair, in its fourth year, with work from prominent past and current photographers including Guy Bourdain, Cornelia Parker and Edward Burtynsky, who won the event’s 2018 Master of Photography award.
Photo London is running at Somerset House until Sunday
Martin A Nethercutt is a writer, singer, producer and loves music.
Creative Director at McCartney Studios
Editor-in-Chief at McCartney Times
Creator-in-Chief at Geist Musik
President (title) at McCartney Multimedia, Inc.
Went to Albert-Schweitzer-Schule Kassel
Lives in Playa del Rey
From Kassel, Germany
Married to Ruth McCartney
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