Ethan Russell - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ethan Allen Russell is a photographer, author and video director, mostly of musicians. He is known as "the only rock photographer to have shot album covers for The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

and The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

Family and early life

The son of Charles Howland Russell and Alice Allen Russell, he is the great grandson of suffragist Florence Jaffray Harriman

Florence Jaffray Harriman

Florence Jaffray "Daisy" Harriman was an American socialite, suffragist, social reformer, organizer, and diplomat...

and the great grandson of Episcopal bishop Henry Codman Potter

Henry Codman Potter

Henry Codman Potter was a bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. He was the seventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.-Life:...

. He has four siblings. His brother Jeremy Borden Russell

Jeremy Russell

Jeremy Russell , also known as Jerry Russell, was a co-founder, with Eric Albronda, of US rock band Blue Cheer. Russell and Albronda were music aficionados who organized the band and provided initial financing....

(1944–2005) was founder and financier of the rock band Blue Cheer

Blue Cheer

Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009...

. Other siblings are Linda Russell Matson, (1947-) and Adam Henry Russell (1955–2009). His godfather is Cole Porter

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

.

His family moved to Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

in 1950, then in 1952 to San Francisco. Russell attended high school at The Cate School outside Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, then the University of California, Davis

University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

, where he majored in English and Art. He was first introduced and became interested in photography at Davis, but did not work professionally until 1968 when he traveled to England.

Career

The Philadelphia Inquirer described Russell when he was beginning his career: "In 1968, Ethan Russell, a lanky Californian fresh out of college, was living in a London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

flat, psychedelic posters

Psychedelic art

Psychedelic art is any kind of visual artwork inspired by psychedelic experiences induced by drugs such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. The word "psychedelic" "mind manifesting". By that definition all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic"...

on the wall, battered purple Beatle boots

Beatle boots

Beatle boots are a style of boot that have been worn since the 1960s. The boots are tight-fitting, Cuban-heeled, ankle-high boots with a sharp pointed toe, made popular by the English rock group The Beatles, for whom they were originally made. The style can feature either zipped or elastic sides...

thrown in a corner, a Nikon

Nikon

, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...

camera on the table."
He had moved to London with aspirations of becoming a writer, working (and photographing) in a home for autistic children part time.

He was introduced to Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

that year. The Sunday Times described the results of that meeting: "Russell, a scruffy 23-year-old Californian, hit it off with the singer, and from 1968 to ’72 was the Rolling Stones’ main photographer. One of his early sessions featured Brian Jones

Brian Jones

Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....

at his home, Cotchford Farm in Sussex, previously owned by A. A. Milne

A. A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...

. Russell’s pictures of Jones, draped around a statue of Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, appearing in his popular books of poetry and stories about Winnie-the-Pooh. He has subsequently appeared in Disney cartoons....

and provocatively waving a gun, encapsulate the troubled nature of the doomed guitarist, who was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool six months later. But it’s Russell’s photographs of the band on their 1969 US tour – most unseen until now – that provide the most compelling insight."

Music critic Joel Selvin

Joel Selvin

Joel Selvin is a San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written books covering various aspects of pop music and has interviewed a large number of musical artists...

wrote about the moment in time when Russell connected with the Rolling Stones: "Russell caught the Rolling Stones at a historic juncture. He took some of the last photos ever taken of Brian Jones, before the founding member was fired from the band. He photographed the Stones' free concert in Hyde Park

Hyde Park, London

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...

that served as Jones' memorial after he was found drowned in his swimming pool."

A photo he took was used on the cover of the 1969 album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)
Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)
Through the Past, Darkly is The Rolling Stones' second official compilation album, released in 1969 shortly following Brian Jones's departure from the group and subsequent death. The album was released by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records/ABKCO Records in the United States.In...

, which was dedicated to Brian Jones.

1969 Rolling Stones American Tour

Russell was hired as the photographer for The Rolling Stones American Tour 1969

The Rolling Stones American Tour 1969

The Rolling Stones' 1969 Tour of the United States took place in November 1969. Rock critic Robert Christgau called it "history's first mythic rock and roll tour", while rock critic Dave Marsh would write that the tour was "part of rock and roll legend" and one of the "benchmarks of an...

, and was part of the band's small entourage. The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle

thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

described his role: "Russell was one of only 16 people on the tour, including the band. With unprecedented access to the Rolling Stones, he captured photos that have become classics."

Joel Selvin observed: "Russell joined a touring party of 16 for the Stones' tour of the United States in 1969, which ended with the disastrous free concert at Altamont Speedway. It was really the first big-time rock tour ever and the world in transition he captured disappeared almost immediately.

His photography was used to illustrate the cover of Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert, which was recorded during the 1969 tour.

The Beatles and Let It Be

Critic Todd Leopold of CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

Entertainment wrote: "Ethan Russell first met the Beatles in early 1969. Photographs of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones production Rock and Roll Circus

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a film released in 1996 of an 11 December 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull...

attracted the interest of Beatles consigliere Neil Aspinall

Neil Aspinall

Neil Stanley Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....

, who invited Russell to Twickenham Studios, where the group was making Let It Be. Russell's photographs ended up on the cover and gatefold of the LP, the last the Beatles released. . . . Russell's photographs show four men trying to rescue their fading musical marriage."

Russell was among three photographers at the final formal photo session of the Beatles on August 22, 1969. This was held at Tittenhurst Park

Tittenhurst Park

Tittenhurst Park was the home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971, and then the home of Ringo Starr and family until the late-1980s. It is located on a 72-acre estate in London Road, Sunningdale, near Ascot, Berkshire SL5 0PN, England, close to the Surrey...

, a home then owned by John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

and Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

, and later owned by Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

. Other photographers participating were Monte Fresco

Monte Fresco

Monte Fresco was an English photographer noted for humorous photographs of sporting events. He has covered seven World Cups, many European Championships and more than 40 FA Cup Finals, and Wimbledon Championships....

of the Daily Mirror, and Beatles' assistant Mal Evans

Mal Evans

Malcolm Frederick 'Mal' Evans was best known as the road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr....

The Who

Working with The Who

The Who

, Russell did the cover photography for Who's Next
Who's Next
Who's Next is the fifth studio album by English rock band The Who, released in August 1971. The album has origins in a rock opera conceived by Pete Townshend called Lifehouse. The ambitious, complex project did not come to fruition at the time and instead, many of the songs written for the project...

in 1971 and Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who. Released on 19 October 1973 by Track and Polydor in the UK, and Track and MCA in the US, it is a double album, and the group's second rock opera...

in 1973. Pete Townshend

Pete Townshend

Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...

's opinion of Russell's photographs was: "They look ready to put up in the National Gallery

National gallery

The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...

. Ethan is the civilised eye of an uncivilised art-form: rock 'n' roll." Russell received a Grammy nomination for his work on Quadrophenia. One of Russell's photos was used on the cover of the 1988 compilation album, Who's Better, Who's Best
Who's Better, Who's Best
Who's Better, Who's Best is a 1988 compilation album by The Who. A compilation of videos also titled Who's Better, Who's Best was released in 1988 as well.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Pete Townshend, except where noted....

.

Photography of other musicians

His roster of subjects also includes Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

, Phil Everly, Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison

James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...

, Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

, The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....

, Cream

Cream (band)

Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...

, Traffic

Traffic (band)

Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...

, Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

, John Hiatt

John Hiatt

John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...

, Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...

, Audioslave

Audioslave

Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...

, and Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....

.

In 1978 Russell shifted his focus to film and video, becoming "a pioneer in producing music videos", but leaving a cache of iconoclastic still photographs largely unseen for nearly 30 years. He produced and directed films with Leon Redbone

Leon Redbone

Leon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....

, Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones

, Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

, Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...

, Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

, k.d. lang

K.D. Lang

Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...

, Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....

, Hank Williams, Jr.

Hank Williams, Jr.

Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

and Randy Travis

Randy Travis

Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

and John Lennon

John Lennon

and Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

.

In reviewing Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....

's video What We Really Want in 1991, the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

wrote: "Photographer-director Russell has concocted a weird, two-dimensional world of paintings for Cash to step into, singing one of her latest songs of woe and miscommunication. It's a visual effect that's been tried in videos many times before, but never quite to this successfully surreal an effect."

In the 1990s Russell garnered his second Grammy nomination for the video There's A Tear In My Beer with Hank Williams, Jr. Publication of his book Let It Bleed spawned the resurgence of Russell's still photography, beginning with an exhibition directly related to the book that premiered at Digital Domain

Digital Domain

Digital Domain is a visual effects and animation company founded by film director James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross. It is based in Venice, Los Angeles, California...

in Los Angeles in 2005. The exhibition has since traveled to New York, London, Paris, Rotterdam, San Francisco, San Diego and Australia.

Books by Russell

Dear Mr. Fantasy: Diary of a Decade: Our Time and Rock and Roll (1985)

The Christian Science Monitor reviewed this book in 1985: "Every once in a long while, one finds a book that wholly captures the mood and essence of an era. Dear Mr. Fantasy is just such a book. Ethan Russell weaves a tapestry of prose."

Let It Bleed: The Rolling Stones 1969 Tour (2007)

The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle

described Russell's book as "a $650 opus that some have called the definitive Rolling Stones book; he's now released a condensed (and more affordable) version."

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.