Legendary Rock Photographer Jim Marshall Dies

A mainstay of San Francisco-area music and film coverage, photographer Jim Marshall died in his sleep at 74, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It did not detail a cause of death.

“Mr. Marshall's unparalleled access, technical talent and musical passion merged to create hundreds of album and magazine covers, turning him into a household name among the biggest names in rock 'n' roll,” the Chronicle reported. “As the chief photographer at Woodstock, he captured The Who greeting the sunrise. When the Beatles played their final concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966, Mr. Marshall was the only shooter invited backstage. He photographed the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles and Thelonious Monk.”

“He started very early, before most of us knew what contemporary music was about, and he spanned into the great cultural upheaval of the '60s,” Ken Light, director of the Center for Photography at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, told the paper.

A gallery of his work can be seen at the Chronicle Web site HERE.