Kevin Cummins (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Kevin Cummins is a British photographer, perhaps most famous for his photographs of rock bands and musicians. He has photographed a large number of legendary musicians throughout his career, including Mick Jagger
, Ian Curtis
, Morrissey, Courtney Love
, Patti Smith
, and David Bowie
.
, including 10 years as their chief photographer. He has photographed all the major musicians including Joy Division
, Manic Street Preachers
, The Clash
, Sex Pistols
, R.E.M.
, U2
, Patti Smith
, Marc Bolan
, David Bowie
, Mick Jagger
, The Smiths
, Roisin Murphy
, Oasis
, Foo Fighters
, Courtney Love
, Michael Hutchence
, The Stone Roses
and Buzzcocks
. His images have been seen a contributing factor in the rise of the Madchester
and Cool Britannia
scenes.
Cummins 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.
Cummins’s photographs have been used extensively in cinema and TV documentaries including Grant Gee
's Joy Division
and John Dower's Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop
.
In November 2009, Kevin was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Music Photography award by the music industry website: Record of the Day.
He worked extensively for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester when it opened in the late 1970s through to mid-1980s. He shoots regularly for the National Theatre
in London, most recently Harper Regan and Mrs Affleck.
A life long Manchester City supporter, Cummins documented City's final season at Maine Road
in the book We're Not Really Here.
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....
, Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer and lyricist, famous for leading the post-punk band Joy Division. Joy Division released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up, Closer, in 1980...
, Morrissey, Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
.
Career
Cummins studied photography in Salford. He started photographing rock bands in the mid 1970s in Manchester. Cummins had a 25-year association with the NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, including 10 years as their chief photographer. He has photographed all the major musicians including Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
, The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, 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....
, The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, Roisin Murphy
Róisín Murphy
Róisín Marie Murphy is an Irish singer-songwriter and record producer, known for her electronic style.Murphy first came to note as part of the electronic music duo Moloko. Her partner in the band was then-boyfriend Mark Brydon. After the two ended their romantic relationship, Murphy released her...
, Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
, Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
, Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
, Michael Hutchence
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
, The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
and Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks
Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...
. His images have been seen a contributing factor in the rise of the Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
and Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s and later became closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
scenes.
Cummins was instrumental in establishing City Life, Manchester's what’s on guide and was a founding contributor to The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
, the influential style magazine where he won an award for Magazine Cover of the Year.
Cummins’s photographs have been used extensively in cinema and TV documentaries including Grant Gee
Grant Gee
Grant Gee is a film director and cinematographer currently living in Brighton. He was born in Plymouth and studied Geography at St Catherine's College, Oxford....
's Joy Division
Joy Division (2007 film)
Joy Division is a 2007 British documentary film on the British post-punk band Joy Division, directed by Grant Gee.The film assembles TV clips, newsreel, pictures of modern Manchester and Manchester in the late 1970s, and interviews...
and John Dower's Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop
Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop
Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop is a 2003 documentary film written and directed by John Dower. The documentary is a study of popular culture in the United Kingdom during the mid to late 1990s...
.
In November 2009, Kevin was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Music Photography award by the music industry website: Record of the Day.
He worked extensively for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester when it opened in the late 1970s through to mid-1980s. He shoots regularly for the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London, most recently Harper Regan and Mrs Affleck.
A life long Manchester City supporter, Cummins documented City's final season at Maine Road
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...
in the book We're Not Really Here.
Exhibitions
- 1981 Stage Struck – Royal ExchangeRoyal Exchange, ManchesterThe Royal Exchange is a grade II listed Victorian building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street...
, Manchester - 1983 Rock Stars – The Orchard, DartfordDartfordDartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....
, Kent - 1983 Access all Areas – Royal Exchange, Manchester
- 1985 Silent Faces – OldhamOldhamOldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
City Art Gallery - 1986 Minor Characters – The Scott Gallery, LancasterLancaster, LancashireLancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
- 1986 Cummins 10 – The CornerhouseCornerhouseCornerhouse is a centre for cinema and the contemporary visual arts located very close to Oxford Road Station, on Oxford Street in Manchester, England...
, Manchester (Part of the Festival of the Tenth SummerFestival of the Tenth SummerThe Festival of the Tenth Summer was a music and art festival that took place in Manchester in July 1986. The festival was organised by Factory Records to 'celebrate Manchester' specifically with reference to the first performance by the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester on 4...
) - 1986–96 The Way We Were – WiganWiganWigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
Heritage Centre - 1987 Salfordians – Viewpoint Gallery, Salford
- 1994 Salfordians – Salford City Art Gallery
- 2002 The Smiths and Beyond – Proud Central, LondonLondonLondon 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...
- 2003 We're Not Really Here – Richard Goodall GalleryRichard Goodall GalleryThe Richard Goodall Gallery is a contemporary fine art, photography and rock poster gallery based in Manchester, United Kingdom. They have been in existence since 2000. In 2007 a second location was added on High Street in Manchester focused on contemporary fine art, with the original location on...
, Manchester - 2006 Arca: Joy Division – Paul Stolper Gallery, London
- 2007 Score – Proud Gallery at Austin Reed, London
- 2009 “The Crucial 30: Post Punk Liverpool” by Kevin Cummins at The Hard Day’s Night Hotel Gallery, Liverpool
- 2009 MANCHESTER: Looking for the Light Through the Pouring Rain. Photographs by Kevin Cummins - Richard Goodall GalleryRichard Goodall GalleryThe Richard Goodall Gallery is a contemporary fine art, photography and rock poster gallery based in Manchester, United Kingdom. They have been in existence since 2000. In 2007 a second location was added on High Street in Manchester focused on contemporary fine art, with the original location on...
, Manchester - 2010 MANCHESTER: SO MUCH TO ANSWER FOR … KEVIN CUMMINS at Spazio Gerra, Reggio Emilia, Italy
- 2011 Exemplar: Joy Division at Proud Gallery, London
Work
- 1999 The National Portrait Gallery chose three of Cummins' photographs for their Icon's of Pop exhibition.
- 2005 British pop artist Peter BlakePeter BlakePeter Blake may refer to:*Peter Blake , British pop artist*Peter Blake , New Zealand yachtsman*Peter Blake Scottish-born actor...
produced a screen print based on one of Kevin’s Joy Division prints.