Joel Brodsky
b.1939 - d.2007
Joel Brodsky was born on October 7th, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York and died on March 1, 2007 in Stamford, Connecticut. He was not only a legendary rock and celebrity photography of Hall of Fame stature, he was a terrific person with a great sense of humor and tons of stories! We will miss him.
Joel developed an interest in photography in his teenage years. Having graduated from Syracuse University and served in the US Army, he set up his own studio in New York in 1966. As a favor to one of his wife's friends, he shot the cover for Bout Changes and Things, the second album folk singer Eric Andersen issued on Vanguard, and subsequently photographed many of the artists signed to the label such as Country Joe & the Fish, Otis Spann, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. He is best known for his famous photographs of the "Young Lion" shoot with Jim Morrison, one of which would later grace the cover of the 1985 Best of The Doors album release. The session from which this photograph of Jim Morrison was produced was taken in Joel's studio and is the most widely used image of the Doors collection. It is certainly one of the most recognized iconic shots of the whole era.
Other famous photographs by Brodsky include cover images for Tom Waits' Small Change, Isaac Hayes' Black Moses and KISS's self-titled debut LP, along with scores of covers for some of music's top recording artists.
Joel Brodsky had a stellar career and has left behind a legacy of some the most important photographs in music history. Some of the many other artists he worked with include Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Van Morrison, the Stooges, the MC5, Booker T & the MG's, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Funkadelic, and the Ohio Players.