Herb “Herbie” Greene (born April 3, 1942) is an American photographer best known for his portraits of the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
,
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
,
Grace Slick
Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, s ...
,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
,
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...
,
The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...
,
Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...
, and
Sly Stone, published by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', record labels, and books.
Early life and education
Born April 3, 1942, in
Indio, California
Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...
, Herb Greene grew up on his father's pear orchard in
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824 and a metropolitan area population of 223,259, making the Me ...
. His father traveled the West Coast selling fruit. His mother, a homemaker, could draw well, and influenced him to pursue the arts. When the family moved to
Yuba City, California
Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical ...
, Greene took a drawing class at
Yuba City High School
Yuba City High School is a public secondary school in Yuba City, California. It had roughly 3,000 students before River Valley High School opened in 2005. The school colors are brown and gold. Its mascot is the "Honker", a nickname for Canada ...
. He struggled, so when a teacher suggested photography instead, Greene enrolled in a class and bought his first camera, a 1959 Icon Contaflex. He graduated from high school in 1960. In 1961, Greene took photography classes at
City College of San Francisco
City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a State school#United States, public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local ...
and later enrolled at
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...
, where he majored in anthropology and communications.
Career
1960s San Francisco
In 1961, Greene took photography classes at City College of San Francisco and later enrolled at
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...
, where he majored in anthropology and communications. After moving into an apartment near the
Haight-Ashbury district, he met
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
at a bluegrass café called the Fox and Hound. The two became friends and Greene booked his first job, a portrait session with Garcia's band, The Warlocks (later the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
).
Herb Greene was part of the 1960s San Francisco art scene and a friend of many of
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
musicians of the era. His photographs are a noted record of the era and were used as cover art for several recordings including
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
's ''
Surrealistic Pillow
''Surrealistic Pillow'' is the second album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released by RCA Victor on February 1, 1967. It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at numbe ...
'' album, and the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
's ''
In the Dark'' and ''
Dylan & the Dead''.
Hieroglyphic wall
The iconic wall of
hieroglyphics
Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...
used as a background for the ''Surrealistic Pillow'' cover photography along with many other famous photos of San Francisco musicians in the late 1960s was in Greene's dining room. As he removed wallpaper from the room, Greene found the phrase "Happy New Year" written on the wall. Before he had a chance to paint over it, his roommate drew the hieroglyphics which originally upset him but went on to be synonymous with the image of San Francisco psychedelic music.
[McNally, Dennis. ''A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead''. New York: Broadway (2002) 166 Hardcover. ] In a 2004 ''Rolling Stone'' interview, Grace Slick, of the
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...
, remembered Greene's dining room photo sessions: “Everybody used to go over there in front of Herbie’s wall.”
[Wenner, Jann S. "The Fifty Greatest Portraits & the Stories Behind Them," ''Rolling Stone'', issue #958, 2004, p. 102.]
1970s
Greene worked as a fashion and music photographer throughout the 1970s. He photographed
Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...
,
The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...
,
Sly Stone,
Dr. Hook
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook in 1975) is an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. The band had commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles "Sylvia's Mother", " The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" (both 1972) ...
and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. In 1974, he earned a Grammy Award nomination for art direction on ''
That's a Plenty
"That's a Plenty" is a 1914 ragtime piano composition by Lew Pollack. Lyrics by Ray Gilbert (born 1912) were added decades later. Several popular vocal versions have been recorded, but it is more often performed as an instrumental.
The compositi ...
'', The Pointer Sisters’ studio album.
1980s
Greene's work with the Grateful Dead took off again in the 1980s. He shot several sessions with them, including cover art for the album ''
In the Dark'' (1987) and ''
Dylan & the Dead'' (1989), the band's compilation with folk singer
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. By the 1990s, Greene's portfolio had cemented his reputation as the unofficial photographer of the Grateful Dead. His portraits of the band and their 1960s contemporaries appeared in several magazines, including ''Rolling Stone'', ''Relix'', ''Newsweek'' and others. He also published several books of his work, including ''The Book of the Dead: Celebrating 25 Years with the Grateful Dead'' (1990), ''Sunshine Daydreams'' (1991) and ''Dead Days: A Grateful Dead Illustrated History'' (1996). After Garcia's death in August 1995, Greene went on to photograph the Grateful Dead's surviving members and their bands, including The Dead, Bob Weir and RatDog, and Further (featuring Bob Weir and Phil Lesh).
2000s
In 1999, Greene moved to
Maynard, Massachusetts in the western suburbs of Boston.
He no longer photographs musicians.
Legacy
Many of his images are on display at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
in Cleveland, Ohio.
References
Books by Greene
* Greene, Herb. ''The Book of the Dead: Celebrating 25 Years With the Grateful Dead'', Delta Publishing, 1990.
* Greene, Herb. ''Sunshine Daydreams'', Chronicle Books, 1991.
* Greene, Herb. ''Dead Days: A Grateful Dead Illustrated History'', Acid Test Publishing, 1996.
External links
*
Herb Greeneat
Museum of Contemporary Photography
The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) was founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago as the successor to the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography. The museum houses a permanent collection as well as the Midwest Photographers Project ...
at
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...
Guide to the Herb Greene Photographsat
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Herb
1942 births
Living people
People from Indio, California
City College of San Francisco alumni
San Francisco State University alumni
American portrait photographers
Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area