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Obituaries
Jim Marshall dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 25 March 2010
Jim Marshall, a music photographer with over 500 album covers to his name, has died aged 74. Having started photographing musicians while still at school in San Francisco, it was when he moved to New York after a stint in the army that Marshall began to build a reputation as a photographer within the rock community, though much of his iconic work came after he moved back to his home town.
His pictures of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and Jimi Hendrix’s famous guitar burning exploits, and his photos of Woodstock two years later, ensured widespread attention for his work. Meanwhile, his personal friendships with many of the big artists of the era ensured him some uniquely candid shots. Famously, he was the only photographer allowed backstage at what turned out to be The Beatles final ever concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966. Other musicians Marshall photographed over the years included Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Rolling Stones.
He died a day before a planned reception in New York where a new book of his work was due to be launched. Aaron Zych, manager of Morrison Hotel Galleries, which hosted one of Marshall’s last exhibitions, confirmed the photographer’s death yesterday, adding: “Jim’s work is legendary. As far as music photographers, he is the godfather”.
