Working for almost 60 years, internationally acclaimed English photographer Gered Mankowitz has captured some of the most iconic names in music.
Born in London to Wolf Mankowitz, a leading film writer, playwright and author, the young Mankowitz was encouraged to take up photography by the legendary actor Peter Sellers. Mankowitz’s photographs were then seen by the photographer Tom Blau, who offered him an apprenticeship at his famous photo agency, Camera Press in London.
It was a whirlwind start as a photographer, within months of working Mankowitz had already begun to make a name for himself and was approached to photograph a young Marianne Faithfull in 1964. The photograph, a beautiful image of Faithfull, was ultimately rejected by Decca Records but attracted the attention of her manager who loved the photograph and asked Mankowitz to shoot with his other band: The Rolling Stones. Mankowitz’s 1965 shoot with the Stones was a total success and cemented his illustrious career.
In a landmark moment in 1967, Mankowitz was invited to photograph Jimi Hendrix at the height of his fame, skillfully creating some of the most celebrated images of Hendrix ever made. In this striking session, Mankowitz captures the effortless cool of the most eminent electric guitarist in the history of music.
In the 1970s, Mankowitz photographed key figures in the music industry, including Kate Bush and Elton John, and continued to create star-studded music photographs throughout the 1980s and 90s of figures such as The Eurythmics, ABC, Duran Duran, The Jam, Wham! and Kim Wilde. As a result of these portraits, Mankowitz had a major solo exhibition at London’s famous Photographers’ Gallery in 1982, which toured the UK for two years. It was the first exhibition in the UK to focus entirely on music photography and broke all previous visitor records.
Mankowitz continues to be a regular contributor to various major publications, such as The Sunday Times Magazine and Mojo and works in the music industry to this day, shooting sessions with bands such as Oasis, Snow Patrol and The Verve. In 2016 Mankowitz was awarded the distinction of a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, a prestigious recognition for his illustrious body of work.
