Gary Burden (May 23, 1933 – March 7, 2018) was an American artist specializing in the field of

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

s. He is considered one of the pioneers of the concept of album cover art.

Early life

Gary Burden was born on May 23, 1933, in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

, Ohio, the son of Lowell and Agatha Burden, and grew up mainly in south Florida. At the age of 16, he joined the Marine Corps. He studied architectural design at UC Berkeley.

Career

In the 1960s and 1970s, he designed covers for many rock stars, such as

Mama Cass Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles * Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places * Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlem ...

, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Joni Mitchell,

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

and Jackson Browne. He created album covers for

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...

for 35 years. His works were nominated for four

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

, and, at the

52nd Annual Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares P ...

in 2010, he won the award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Packaging for the Neil Young ''

The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972 ''Neil Young Archives Vol. 1: 1963–1972'' is the first in a planned series of box sets of archival material by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. It was released on June 2, 2009, in three different formats - a set of 10 Blu-ray discs in or ...

''. Burden collaborated with photographer

Henry Diltz Henry Stanford Diltz (born September 6, 1938, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American folk musician and photographer who has been active since the 1960s. Career Among the bands Diltz played with was the Modern Folk Quartet. While a member o ...

. In 2000 they made a documentary ''California Rock: Under the Covers'', depicting their album cover works and participation in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

rock scene.

Personal life

He was married to Annie Burden, who is one of the "Ladies of the Canyon" in the Joni Mitchell song. He was married to

Jenice Heo Jenice Heo is an American artist and art director. In 2010, she won the 52nd Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for the Neil Young Archives Volume 1. She was nominated in the same category in 2015 for the vinyl box set ...

References

External links

Gary Burden's personal website
1933 births 2018 deaths Album-cover and concert-poster artists Place of birth missing People from Cleveland {{US-artist-stub