Singer - Rock & Roll

Copyright 2017 by Larry Singer.

All rights reserved.

All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.

Published by:

Amherst Media, Inc., PO Box 538, Buffalo, NY 14213

www.AmherstMedia.com

Publisher: Craig Alesse

Senior Editor/Production Manager: Michelle Perkins

Editors: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt, Beth Alesse

Acquisitions Editor: Harvey Goldstein

Associate Publisher: Katie Kiss

Editorial Assistance from: Rebecca Rudell, Jen Sexton

Business Manager: Adam Richards

ISBN-13: 978-1-68203-293-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939276

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher.

Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the authors experience and opinions. The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book.

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Table of Contents

Contents

In 1971, Larry Singer began his photography career in South Florida; just two years later, he joined the photography staff at Circus magazine. Soon, his images of Rod Stewart and Alice Cooper became nationally distributed posters. More recently, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame selected his iconic picture of guitarist Eddie Van Halen in full flight for their billboards and as the cover image for their visitor planning guide. His images have also appeared in music documentaries, including VHIs Behind the Music: Alice Cooper and the Quiet Riot documentary Well Now That Youre Here, Theres No Way Out. He has won numerous awards from the National Press Photography Association, the Virginia Press Association, the South Carolina Press Association, and the Arkansas News Publishers Association.

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I attended my first rock & roll concert when I was a senior in high school. The headline group was the Dave Clark Five. Decades later, I can only remember bits and pieces of the show. At that time, I was blissfully unaware of how to use a camera more complicated than an Instamatic. Ironically, I never once considered capturing that concert on film.

Less than a month after graduation, I enlisted in the United States Air Force. Four years later, I came out knowing how to use a camerabut I never dreamed of being paid to take pictures of some of the most popular rock bands on earth. It all just kind of happened around me while I ran film through my cameras to prove I was really standing two feet away from Deep Purple performing Smoke on the Water.

With very little conscious effort or planning on my part, my career shooting rock stars began at a grungy amusement park called Pirates World, located about 20 minutes north of Miami. At the time, I was a journalism student working as an unpaid intern for a small weekly newspaper. One afternoon, the papers editor assigned me to interview and photograph the rock groups who performed on weekends at Pirates World.

Pirates World was exactly the type of anything-but-sterile, old-time amusement park that inspired Walt Disney to create spotless, family-friendly attractions. At the time, it was also a magical space where the greatest legends in rock came to play their music to appreciative fans.

Crowds of music lovers showed up every weekend because Pirates World heavily promoted Friday and Saturday evenings as date nights. This meant a concert was included free with the purchase of two general admission tickets to the park. While it was only able to safely contain approximately 8,000 music fans, the Pirates Worlds arenawith its concrete floor, flimsy canvas roof, and limited metal bleacher seating around its perimeterconsistently attracted monster rock & roll bands during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

I never dreamed of being paid to take pictures of some of the most popular rock bands on earth.

At Pirates World, the unrestricted power to meet, photograph, and interview both legendary and soon-to-be-legendary musicians was handed to me by a charismatic and charming character named Buddy Clark. Buddy, the concert promoter for Pirates World, was a master in the art of bartering and verbal persuasion. He practiced these skills with the precision of a brain surgeon. Using only a telephone and vague promises, Buddy would convince the no-nonsense managers of the most popular rock groups on earth to come down to South Florida and perform twice for little more than an all-expenses-paid weekend of fun, food, and friendly females.

Rock & roll stories so bizarre that, had they not happened to me, I would never have believed they were true.

At my first meeting with Buddy, in his office behind the Pirates World stage, I humbly requested permission to interview and photograph his musical guests for my column. To my surprise, he enthusiastically agreed and we worked out a deal wherein I would be granted unlimited access to the Pirates World concert arena or backstage. In return, Buddy would get a free copy of any of my pictures he desired. Although I did not realize it at the time, with only a verbal agreement and a handshake, a freshman at Broward Community College (in Davie, Florida, where the horses outnumbered the people) instantly gained unrestricted access to rock & roll musicians who would one day be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The pictures in this book were all taken in the twelve years from the first concert I shot at Pirates World in 1971 to capturing Journeys Steve Perry in 1983. During those years, there were four concerts that changed my life and career. These concerts were also the settings for rock & roll stories so bizarre that, had they not happened to me, I would never have believed they were true. They are just proof that I was very lucky and I was really there.

I want to start by telling you those stories. So, before we begin this trip back in time, please bring your seats to an upright position, fasten your seat belts, and check your side air bags. You are about to get up close and personal with the musical magicians who gave us the golden age of rock & roll.

The first musician I interviewed for my column was Alvin Lee, the vocalist and lead guitarist for Ten Years After (see ). Although my editor had planned on me asking knowledgeable and probing questions revealing the inner secrets of an almost-famous British rock band, I wasnt anywhere near properly prepared. I knew absolutely nothing about Ten Years Afterexcept that they were featured in the movie