Herb Greene, Legendary Photographer of 1960s Rock Icons, Dies
Photographer Herb Greene, who captured iconic images of the rock superstars of the 1960s, has passed away.
Greene — who was famed for his striking portraits of artists such as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin — died at the age of 83.
The photographer passed away at his home in Maynard, Massachusetts, following a long illness. His death was announced by his wife Ilze Greene on Facebook.
Born in 1942, in Indio, California, Greene took up photography in his final year of high school. After high school, he enrolled at San Francisco State University but left before graduating to work as a staff photographer for the upscale department store Joseph Magnin. There, he captured images of the latest fashion trends, including bell bottoms and miniskirts.
However, Greene pursued his passion for music portraiture in his spare time, according to an obituary in The New York Times. Instead of shooting live performances, which he found uninteresting, he invited musicians to studios in San Francisco or even his apartment, where some posed in front of a dining room wall covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics drawn by his roommate.
His portraits became a defining visual record of the 1960s San Francisco rock scene, featuring legendary artists like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin. His work appeared in Rolling Stone and other music magazines, and over time, he photographed icons such as Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, The Pointer Sisters, Carlos Santana, and Sly Stone.
According to The New York Times, one of the most memorable moments during Greene’s career was when The Grateful Dead showed up during his photo shoot with Led Zeppelin in a theater. The situation took an extraordinary turn when The Grateful Dead band member Pigpen pulled a .22-caliber revolver from its holster and began firing into the empty seats.
“It absolutely freaked Zeppelin out,” Mr. Greene reportedly said. “They didn’t pay me. They were just like, ‘Those Westerners and their guns.’”
“This is my best story. The day the Grateful Dead freaked out Led Zeppelin.”
Greene’s work was also featured on album covers. One of his most famous images—a group portrait of Jefferson Airplane—became the cover of their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow, which included the hits “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love.” He later shot the cover for The Pointer Sisters’ 1974 album That’s a Plenty, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Album Cover. Additional album covers included The Grateful Dead’s In the Dark (1987) and Dylan & the Dead (1989), a collaboration between Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead.
Many of Greene’s images are on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and his work is part of the permanent collections of both the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the De Young Museum in San Franciso.
Image credits: Header photo via Fowler-Kennedy Funeral Home (left) and RCA Records (right).
