The identity of 30 album cover stars revealed
Featuring Van Halen, Rush, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Black Sabbath
From Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ to Black Sabbath’s ‘Black Sabbath’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Houses of the Holy’, many seminal rock albums are adorned with artwork of people who have quickly become synonymous with the music.
Also featuring records by Rush, Van Halen, The Smashing Pumpkins, U2, The Rolling Stones, Mott The Hoople, Supertramp, Scorpions, Faith No More, UFO, Roger Waters and Rage Against The Machine, Planet Rock presents the stories behind the stars of 30 famous rock and metal album covers from over the decades.
The people on the sleeves include an enigmatic figure whose identity was unknown for 50 years, an Andy Warhol superstar, an adult actress, a 19th Century thatcher, a World War I fighter pilot, a daredevil stuntman and one childhood star who went on to threaten a band with legal action…
The cover stars of 30 famous rock and metal albums:
Led Zeppelin – ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ (1971)
On the 52nd anniversary of the release of 'Led Zeppelin IV' on 8th November 2023, it was revealed that the man on the cover was a 19th Century thatcher from Wiltshire called Lot Long. Robert Plant bought the framed colourised photo that adorns the cover of 'Led Zeppelin IV' at an antique shop in Reading, Berkshire, however for over half a century the man's identity remained a mystery. In 2023, Brian Edwards, from the University of the West of England (UWE), discovered the original image in a late Victorian photograph album called 'Reminiscences of a visit to Shaftesbury. Whitsuntide 1892. A present to Auntie from Ernest' by photographer Ernest Farmer. The man in the photo was a thatcher called Lot Long who was born in the market town of Mere, Wiltshire in 1823 and died in 1893. At the time the photograph was taken, Lot was a widower living in a small cottage in Shaftesbury Road, Mere. Brian Edwards said: "Led Zeppelin created the soundtrack that has accompanied me since my teenage years, so I really hope the discovery of this Victorian photograph pleases and entertains Robert, Jimmy, and John Paul."
Lot Long
The photograph of Lot Long is going on display at an Ernest Farmer exhibition called A Photographic Journey through Victorian Wessex that runs at Wiltshire Museum from 6th April to 15th September 2024. "Through the exhibition, we will show how Farmer captured the spirit of people, villages and landscapes of Wiltshire and Dorset that were so much of a contrast to his life in London," says David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum. "It is fascinating to see how this theme of rural and urban contrasts was developed by Led Zeppelin and became the focus for this iconic album cover 70 years later."
Supertramp – Breakfast In America (1979)
The highly comic sleeve for Supertramp's sixth album was designed by Mike Doud and Mick Haggerty, and it resembles the view Manhattan through a plane window. Hilariously, actress Kate Murtagh, dressed as a waitress named "Libby" from a diner, plays the part of The Statue of Liberty, while the buildings in the background features various items of breakfast food, packing, cutlery and condiments.
Kate Murtagh
Los Angeles actress Kate Murtagh in 2014. She sadly died in September 2017 at the age of 96.
Rage Against The Machine – ‘Rage Against The Machine’ (1992)
In keeping with the abrasive and politically-charged music, the hard-hitting cover to Rage Against The Machine's debut album features Malcolm Browne's famous photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, in Saigon in 1963. The monk was protesting President Ngo Dinh Diem's administration for oppressing the Buddhist religion. The photograph drew international attention and persuaded U.S. President John F. Kennedy to withdraw support for Diem's government.
Thich Quang Duc
John F Kennedy said of the Thich Quang Duc photograph: "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph of the 65-year-old monk's death. Pictured is The Venerable Thich Quang Duc Monument in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Van Halen - '5150' (1986)
Van Halen's seventh album '5150' is adorned with an image of the Greek titan Atlas holding a metallic sphere emblazoned with the Van Halen logo. Atlas was played by competitive bodybuilder and host of the ESPN television show BodyShaping, Rick Valente.
Rick Valente
Bodybuilder and Van Halen cover star Rick Valente working out in 2023.
UFO - 'Force It' (1975)
When UFO released their fourth album 'Force It' in 1975, the identity of the semi-nude couple getting amorous in a bathtub remained a mystery. It was later revealed that the models were Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, who founded the music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle in 1976.
Genesis P-Orridge & Cosey Fanni Tutti
Throbbing Gristle's Genesis P-Orridge (Neil Andrew Megson) and Cosey Fanni Tutti (Christine Carol Newby) standing in a backyard in Hackney, London in 1978.
Van Halen - 'Van Halen III' (1998)
The man on the sleeve to Van Halen's eleventh album 'Van Halen III' is American carnival and vaudeville performer Frank 'Cannonball' Richards. Richards' act involved taking blows to the stomach, including punches heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, people jumping on his belly, being struck by a sledgehammer and being fired at by a cannon.
Frank ‘Cannonball’ Richards
Here's Frank 'Cannonball' Richards in action in the 1930s stock video that Van Halen lifted their album cover from. Richards died aged 81 in 1969.
Nirvana – 'Nevermind' (1991)
Arguably one of the most famous babies in the world, Spencer Elden was just four months old in 1991 when his parents' friend, photographer Kirk Weddle, shot an image of him submerged in a swimming pool seemingly chasing a dollar bill on a fishhook. Spencer's parents were paid $7,500 for the shoot with Elden's father helping out with the lighting. In 2016, Spencer marked the 25th anniversary of 'Nevermind' by recreating the cover at Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena, California with photographer John Chapple. He'd previously recreated it in 2008 aged 17. "It's strange that I did this for five minutes when I was four months old and it became this really iconic image," Spencer said in 2016. "It's cool but weird to be part of something so important that I don't even remember."
Spencer Elden
Here's Spencer Elden in 2016 during an interview with journalist and photographer John Chapple clutching a copy of 'Nevermind' on its 25th anniversary. Spencer now works as an artist and he bears a striking resemblance to a certain late frontman from a 1990s grunge band. In August 2021, Spencer Elden launched legal action against Nirvana accusing them of child sexual exploitation and violating federal child pornography statutes. After multiple rounds of his lawsuit being dismissed, Nirvana's representatives insisted "This case must end."
Alice In Chains – ‘Dirt’ (1992)
For almost two decades it was assumed that the woman buried in sand on the eerie sleeve to Alice In Chain's second studio album 'Dirt' was the late-great Layne Staley's then girlfriend Demri Parrott. However, photographer Rocky Schenck revealed in a 2011 interview with Revolver Magazine it was in fact model and actress Mariah O'Brien. "Everyone always asks if that is Demri Parrott on the "Dirt" Cover," Schenck said. "I think Demri's name might have been mentioned as a possible model once or twice, but it was never a serious consideration."
Mariah O’Brien
Mariah O'Brien pictured at the 2016 Monster Mania Con in New Jersey. After anonymously appearing on the sleeve to 'Dirt', O'Brien starred in movies including Gas, Food Lodging, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Being John Malkovich, and TV shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and The Nanny. She now works as an interior designer in Los Angeles and owns the company Mariah O'Brien Interiors.
Mariah O’Brien
Just a few months before the release of 'Dirt', Mariah O'Brien appeared on the slightly risqué sleeve to Spinal Tap's glam rock 1992 single 'Bitch School.'
Led Zeppelin – 'Houses of the Holy' (1973)
The otherworldly cover image that adorns Led Zeppelin's fifth studio album 'Houses of the Holy' is a collage of several photographs taken at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis fame. The two children on the cover were siblings Stefan and Samantha Gates who were aged five and seven respectively at the time, and the gruelling shoot took 10 days. The now 53-year-old Stefan Gates is a television presenter and food writer who is perhaps best known for his documentary series Cooking in the Danger Zone. Amazingly, Stefan only listened to 'Houses of the Holy' for the very first time on a boombox at Giant's Causeway in 2010 for a BBC show called Stefan Gates' Cover Story. Stefan also told a BBC Four documentary that he believed there was something slightly 'sinister' about the sleeve, however his sister Samantha disagreed.
Stefan Gates
Houses of the Holy cover star Stefan Gates today hosting his GastronautTV show on YouTube.
The Smashing Pumpkins – 'Siamese Dream' (1993)
The two young girls on the cover of The Smashing Pumpkins are called Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts. When the classic Smashing Pumpkins line-up reformed for a tour in 2018, Billy Corgan shared a photo of Laenger and Roberts as adults recreating the iconic artwork. He wrote: "On such a special day in SP history, I want to take a moment to thank Ali and LySandra, who you might know were the little girls that I stood by and watched have their picture taken some 23 years ago (on what was a perfect LA afternoon). Never realizing that this moment in time would forever tie us, and go on to become such an iconic image in rock history. What's amazing is their chemistry with one another still leaps through the camera to this day and yet if memory serves they'd never met before that Siamese shoot. Which tells me their coming together, and the beauty that Melodie's shot captures, of youth and innocence, was meant to be SP's own, personal lucky star. So thank you thank you thank you Ali and LySandra, we adore you, and having you be a part of today's launch brings tears to my eyes. For life goes fast, and I can still see you in my mind's eye wearing crisp white dresses in a stranger's backyard, looking like little Mother Mary's, smiling and laughing into the sun."
Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts
The adult Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts were also used in the promotional poster and video for The Smashing Pumpkins' classic line-up reunion tour in 2018. Laenger now works as a nurse and Roberts works in IT.
Rush – ‘Hemispheres’ (1978)
Designer Hugh Syme started work on the surrealist painting that adorns 'Hemispheres' before Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson had played him a note of music. The naked Dionysus-like man on the right standing on the gargantuan human brain was an unnamed dancer from the Toronto Ballet School, while the man in the bowler hat – inspired by René Magritte's famous 1964 painting 'The Son of Man' – is Syme's close friend Bobby King who soon became a semi-permanent fixture on Rush sleeves appearing on 1981 live album 'Exit... Stage Left' and 1981's 'Moving Pictures.' "I made good use of his good will … and his cheap modelling fees," Syme joked to Ultimate Classic Rock.
Bobby King as Starman
Together with featuring on three album sleeves, Bobby King is the "bare-assed" male (Syme's words, not ours) on Syme's iconic Rush "starman" logo. The image first appeared on the inside gatefold sleeve to Rush's 1976 album '2112' and has been a mainstay of merchandise ever since. The late-great Neil Peart said of the logo: "All (the naked man) means is the abstract man against the masses. The red star symbolizes any collectivist mentality."
Rush – ‘Permanent Waves’ (1980)
The apocalyptic scene that forms the backdrop of the cover to Rush's seventh album 'Permanent Waves' was taken by the late photographer Flip Schulke of the Galveston Seawall in Texas during Hurricane Carla on in 1961. Somewhat juxtaposing this is the woman in 1950s attire in the foreground who is smiling and unaffected by the horrific devastation behind her. The woman in question is Canadian model Paula Turnbull – who was very famous in Europe at the time - and the photo was taken by British photographer Fin Costello. Hugh Syme, who created the collage art sleeve, can be seen waving in the background of the 'Permanent Waves' cover too.
Paula Turnbull
Here's a Fin Costello photo of Paula Turnbull at the photoshoot for 'Permanent Waves' in Quebec, Canada in October 1979. Rush's seventh album, which boasted their huge single 'The Spirit of Radio', was released three months after the shoot.
Rush - ‘Exit... Stage Left’ (1981)
The gatefold sleeve to Rush's seminal live album 'Exit... Stage Left' unites four characters from previous Rush record sleeves – the "grotesque puppet" from 1977's 'A Farewell to Kings', Bobby King and the naked man from 'Hemispheres', and, most notably, Paula Turnbull from 'Permanent Waves'. Canadian photographer Deborah Samuel who worked on the artwork with Hugh Syme said: "Paula Turnbull was living in Paris and a top model there. We had to bring her to Toronto from Paris for 1 night to shoot this cover. ... I contacted the vintage clothing store where I had rented her costume before and they still had the original sweater and the skirt in their inventory, which was a miracle really."
Pink Floyd – ‘Wish You Were Here’ (1975)
The two businessmen shaking hands on the iconic artwork to Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' were stuntmen Ronnie Rondell and Danny Rogers. The photograph was taken by Aubrey "Po" Powell of Hipgnosis at The Burbank Studios in California. Decades before the advent of CGI, one of the stuntmen had to be set on fire wearing a flame-retardant suit and Rondell drew the proverbial short straw. Aubrey Powell told Rolling Stone in 2017: "(Rondell) agreed to be set on fire a number of times... As you can imagine, it's a very unpleasant experience being set on fire, and it's very dangerous because you're standing still. Normally, with a fire shot, somebody's moving. They're running away from your face. But we were lucky that afternoon. There was no wind. I shot it 14 times. On the 15th time, a gust of wind caught up and blew the fire straight into his face. Immediately, his team jumped on him, sprayed him with extinguishing foam and saved his life. He just got up from that and said, 'That's it. I'm never doing this again.' But I had it in the can."
Ronnie Rondell
Pictured is legendary stuntman Ronnie Rondell at the Taurus World Stunt Awards in California in 2005. Also an actor and director, Rondell's career has spanned more than half-a-century and he has worked on over 100 movies including Spartacus, Predator 2, Diamonds Are Forever, Lethal Weapon, Tango & Cash, Demolition Man, The Crow and Speed to name but a few.
Mott The Hoople – ‘Hoople’ (1974)
Designed by Roslav Szaybo, the cover to Mott The Hoople's eponymous seventh album 'Hoople' features a stylised portrait of actor and model Kari-Ann Muller with members of the band in her hair. Muller had a short acting career in the 1960s and 1970s and landed parts in the Joan Collins movie The Bitch and George Lazenby's only Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She eventually gave up her acting and modelling career and trained to be a yoga teacher. However, she has retained her connections to the rock world as she has been married to Chris Jagger, the younger brother of Mick Jagger, for several decades.
Kari-Ann Muller
Two years prior to 'Hoople', Kari-Ann Muller famously appeared on the sleeve to Roxy Music's self-titled debut album. Singer Bryan Ferry personally selected Muller for the shoot, and years later she told Q Magazine she got paid a "meagre" amount for the shoot. "Bryan saw me doing a fashion show and decided he wanted to use me, and I thought it would be fun," she explained. "I got a meagre £20 (around £286 in today's money), as Roxy were unknown at the time, and had no money. Ironic, isn't it, that it would be voted the best record cover of the decade? It always seems to be flashing up on TV for some reason. But it was great watching them being turned from boys next door into superstars." Roxy Music would later draft in big name stars including Jerry Hall, Marilyn Cole and Amanda Lear for their album sleeves.
Kari-Ann Muller
Model Kari-Ann Muller, later a cover star of 'Hoople' and 'Roxy Music', at a London photoshoot in 1971.
Led Zeppelin – ‘Led Zeppelin II’ (1969)
The front cover of 'Led Zeppelin II' is based on a photo of Baron Manfred von Richthofen and his 'Flying Circus' Jagdstaffel 11 Division during World War I in 1917. Nicknamed The Red Baron and widely considered the ace-of-aces of the war, von Richthofen shot down more than 80 aircraft before he himself died when he suffered the same fate near Vaux-sur-Somme, France aged 25 in 1918. The album cover design was created by David Juniper, who airbrushed John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham's faces onto members of von Richthofen's squadron from a 1969 press photo of the band. Other faces featured on the cover include Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant, tour manager Richard Cole, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Andy Warhol's friend Mary Woronov and jazz legend Miles Davis.
Baron Manfred von Richthofen and his Flying Circus
The original photo of Baron Manfred von Richthofen (pictured sitting in the cockpit of his Albatros fighter) and his 'Flying Circus' Jagdstaffel 11 Division. Interestingly, Baron Manfred von Richthofen doesn't feature on Juniper's 'Led Zeppelin II' cover at all as the cockpit, where he's sitting in the original photograph, is obscured by plumes of smoke emanating from the silhouette of the Zeppelin airship.
Rage Against the Machine – ‘Evil Empire’ (1996)
Created by late pop artist Mel Ramos, the painting of the boy with a slightly sinister glare on Rage Against The Machine's 'Evil Empire' is based on the 1940s fictional comic book boy hero Crimebuster - the character's 'c' emblem was switched for 'e' (evil). The artwork was actually a tweaked version of an earlier painting Ramos had created of a young boy called Ari Meisel. Now an author and a business entrepreneur, Meisel explained Kerrang in 2020: "I didn't model nor meet the band. My father was and is an art dealer and he represented the painter, Mel Ramos. Mel painted the original painting of me, entitled CrimeBusters, as a birthday present for me when I turned 11. The group saw the painting in a book of Mel's and liked it, then adapted it for their album cover."
Ari Meisel
'Evil Empire' cover star Ari Miesel speaking at Startup Battlefield in New York in 2017 to promote his company Leverage. Asked by Kerrang whether he ever got recognised from the 'Evil Empire' sleeve, Meisel said: "When I had hair, I was recognised a lot. There were people wearing shirts of it, there was a billboard of it in Times Square. It was surreal."
Blink-182 – ‘Enema of the State’ (1999)
The woman wearing a nurse's outfit and rubber gloves on the cover to Blink-182's blockbuster 1999 album was adult movie star Janine Lindemulder. The pop punk trio claimed they were unaware Lindemulder was a porn star until producer Jerry Finn told them and apparently only picked her for the sleeve when their label sent them some images of potential cover stars. Lindemulder later reprised the nurse role for the 'What's My Age Again?' and 'Man Overboard' videos. Photographer David Goldman said of the concept behind the sleeve: "Up until the very last minute, the album was going to be called Turn Your Head and Cough. And that's why I came up with the idea of the glove. Obviously, an enema is not really a glove type of thing. I thought it was a good visual."
Janine Lindemulder
Blink-182 'Enema of the State' cover star Janine Lindemulder in 2017.
Hole – ‘Live Through This’ (1994)
The prom queen on the sleeve to Hole's 1994 album 'Live Through This' is Hawaiian fashion model Leilani Bishop. The image was shot by photographer Ellen von Unwerth and it depicts Bishop dressed up as a beauty pageant complete with a tiara and a bouquet of flowers, with mascara running down her face. Courtney Love stated in 2009: "I wanted to capture the look on a woman's face as she's being crowned... this sort of ecstatic, blue eyeliner running, kind of 'I am, I am—I won! I have haemorrhoid cream under my eyes and adhesive tape on my butt… but I won Miss Congeniality!'
Leilani Bishop
Now aged 47, Leilani Bishop has enjoyed a highly successful modelling career working with the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Balenciaga, Esprit, and Victoria's Secret, and in 2000 she had an acting role in the comedy satire film The Intern. Speaking to Kerrang!, Bishop said of the Hole shoot: "I was a Nirvana fan and had at that point only heard a couple of (Hole) songs, but was thrilled to be a part of the project, knowing who (Courtney Love) was and what she was capable of… I actually have never met the band. Courtney was supposed to come by the shoot that day, but her girlfriend had a baby and even though she and I have friends in common still have not crossed paths, which I kind of love. The alter ego that is still somewhere out there…"
Roger Waters – ‘The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking’ (1984)
The somewhat risqué cover to Roger Waters' debut solo album 'The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking' features a naked woman (except for the stiletto heels and backpack) hitching a lift. Illustrator Gerald Scarfe, who famously worked on Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' album, created the graphics for the sleeve. The woman who modelled is Bristol-born glamour model, producer, adult model and pornographic actress Linzi Drew.
Linzi Drew
Linzi Drew pictured in London in February 2023 aged 64.
Ratt - 'Out of the Cellar' (1984)
The model on the front of Ratt's debut album 'Out of the Cellar' is model Tawny Kitaen, who was the girlfriend of Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby at the time. Kitaen went on to achieve global fame in the MTV era as the star of the Whitesnake videos, 'Still of the Night', 'Is This Love', 'Here I Go Again' and 'The Deeper the Love.'
Tawny Kitaen
Tawny Kitaen has numerous acting credits on the big screen and television. In her personal life, she married Whitesnake lynchpin David Coverdale in 1989 but they separated two years later. Sadly she passed away aged just 59 in May 2021.
Scorpions – ‘Blackout’ (1982)
Scorpions' eighth studio album 'Blackout' is adorned with a visually striking self-portrait created by Austrian-Irish hyperrealist artist Gottfried Helnwein.
Gottfried Helnwein
Gottfried Helnwein pictured in 1995. The esteemed 75-year-old artist's work often deals with themes of psychological and sociological anxiety, history and politics. Alongside Scorpions, he has also worked with The Rolling Stones and Rammstein.
Faith No More - 'Album of the Year' (1997)
Faith No More's boldly titled sixth studio effort 'Album of the Year' came with a photo of Czechoslovakia president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk on the sleeve. The image depicts Masaryk accepting flowers from the public while leaning out of a train window.
Tomas Garrigue Masaryk
Tomas Garrigue Masaryk served as the first President of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1935 and he's widely regarded as the founding father of Czechoslovakia. He died aged 87 in 1937.
Faith No More – ‘Who Cares a Lot? - The Greatest Hits’ (1998)
The United Kingdom, European, Argentine, and Oceanian releases of Faith No More's 1998 compilation album 'Who Cares a Lot? - The Greatest Hits' featured none other than comedy legend Benny Hill on the sleeve.
Benny Hill
Embracing slapstick and double entendre on his long-running TV series The Benny Hill Show, Benny Hill was one of the most popular faces on British television. He died aged 68 in 1992.
The Rolling Stones – ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)
In keeping with the highly suggestive album title, The Rolling Stones' 1971 album 'Sticky Fingers' is adorned with a controversial close-up image of the bulging crotch of an anonymous male figure. The idea for the album sleeves was conceived by legendary artist Andy Warhol, however there was an air of mystery about the identity of the model with some speculating that it could be fashion designer Jed Johnson or even Mick Jagger. However, actor and Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro claims that it was himself. Commenting on the origins of the image, Dallesandro told biographer Michael Ferguson: "It was just out of a collection of junk photos that Andy pulled from. He didn't pull it out for the design or anything, it was just the first one he got that he felt was the right shape to fit what he wanted to use for the fly."
Joe Dallesandro
Now in his early seventies, Joe Dallesandro is arguably one of the most famous male sex symbols of American underground films of the 20th century. His lead role as heroin addict Joe Smith in Andy Warhol's 1970 film Trash won critical acclaim and the movie was named Best Film of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine. The line "hey Joe" in Lou Reed's 1972 song 'Walk on the Wild Side' is a reference to Dallesandro. Just over a decade after the release of 'Sticky Fingers', Joe Dallesandro appeared on the cover to The Smiths' 1984 self-titled debut album.
Placebo – ‘Placebo’ (1996)
The boy with his hands on his face and wearing an oversized red jumper on the sleeve to Placebo's self-titled debut album was 12-year-old David Fox. The photo was taken by his cousin Saul Fletcher and Fox said he was irked when he discovered his image was being used. "Within a week it was out in the shops," Fox said. "It was in Virgin, it was in HMV, it was in Tesco, it was all over the place. I was watching EastEnders with my mum and I saw one of the billboards by the Tube station and it had my face on there." Incredibly, in June 2012, Fox threatened Placebo with a lawsuit saying album cover ruined his life. "When I was in school I used to be well known and have loads of mates. We used to play football together and I was really happy. But when the album came out, the friends I did have began to pick on me. I think they might have been jealous. Or they saw a boy pulling a silly face and didn't want to hang out with him anymore because he looks weird."
David Fox
David Fox appeared on an Identity Parade on Never Mind The Buzzcocks in 2013. In case you hadn't guessed, he's second from the right.
U2 – 'Boy' (1980)
The young lad who graced the cover of U2's debut album 'Boy' four decades ago was the then six-year-old Peter Rowen. The younger sibling of Bono's close childhood friend Guggi (who first gave Paul Hewson the nickname 'Bono'), Rowen lived over the street from Bono in Dublin and he still keeps in touch with the frontman and The Edge to this day. Rowen previously appeared on U2's debut EP 'Three' in 1979 and later appeared, aged 8, on the cover of 'War' in 1983. A childhood photo of Rowen was also used on the compilation album 'The Best of 1980–1990' in 1998. The experience of being a U2 cover star clearly had an indelible impact on Rowen as he became a professional photographer as an adult.
Black Sabbath – ‘Black Sabbath’ (1970)
The timeless and highly eerie cover for Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album in 1970 was shot by photographer Keith McMillan at the 15th Century Mapledurham Watermill, located on the banks of the River Thames in Oxfordshire. Of course, central to the eerie 'Black Sabbath' sleeve is the ghostly, enigmatic woman in black, who is seemingly referenced in the opening lines of the title track and opening song on the record: "What is this that stands before me? / Figure in black which points at me." For decades there's been an air of mystery around the woman on the sleeve, however in a February 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, McMillan revealed it was a woman called Louisa Livingstone who was around 18/19 at the time of the shoot. Sourced from a London model agency, McMillan remembered: "She was a fantastic model. She was quite petite, very, very cooperative. I wanted someone petite because it just gave the landscape a bit more grandeur. It made everything else look big." Livingstone told the magazine: "When I saw the cover, I thought it was quite interesting, but I thought, 'Well, that could be anybody,' so it's not like I got any kind of ego buzz out of it. But, yeah, I thought it was a very nice cover."
Van Halen – ‘1984’ (1984)
The young cherub that is smoking a cigarette on the sleeve to Van Halen's blockbuster album '1984' was a three-year-old boy called Carter Helm. Created by graphic artist Margo Nahas, Van Halen originally wanted a cover featuring four women dancing but the idea was abandoned. Instead, Nahas brought her portfolio to the band and they picked the painting of the smoking putto, which was based on a photograph she took of her best friend's toddler Carter Helm holding a candy cigarette. Reflecting on the shoot, Nahas told Cover Our Tracks in 2016: "Carter was happy to see me when I arrived but had a tantrum when I tried to style his hair with Dippity-do to make it a little punkish. My all-knowing, brilliant friend and Carter's mother, Colleen, suggested I 'give him a few more minutes to get comfortable.' And she was right. I gave him an hour, and I got out my candy, which was this bag of candy cigarettes. Then he was just ready for me to do it."
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