Herbert "Herbie" Wheeler Worthington lll (May 25, 1944 – November 2013), was an influential rock and roll photographer until his death at 69, in 2013. There was no HWW "Senior", or HWW "Junior". Herbie added the III himself. He was best known as the photographer for

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

and

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...

(including the covers for her first two albums, '' Bella Donna'' and '' The Wild Heart''). It was his photograph that was run on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac ''Rumours'' album and was instrumental in creating the iconic imagery (like the crystal ball) that is still associated with Fleetwood Mac today. He photographed over 40 covers for several bands and artists, including Buddy Miles,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Jesse Cutler Jesse may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible. * Jesse (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' (a ...

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

and

Lita Ford Lita Rossana Ford (born 19 September 1958) is an English-born American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band the Runaways in the late 1970s, before embarking on a successful glam metal solo ...

, among many others, in his 30+ years as a rock music photographer.

Career

Worthington grew up in South Los Angeles, and in the 1960s he started associating with the music scene. Later, in the early 1970s, while living with his friend Buddy Miles, a friend gave him a camera and Worthington's brother helped show him how to use it. Living and working with Buddy Miles, Worthington got to know other musicians, such as

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

, Sly Stone and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

. Hendrix became a very close friend, and Worthington would end up traveling with Hendrix on several shows in 1969. While living with Buddy Miles, Worthington notes it was

Ron Raffaelli Ron Raffaelli (September 20, 1943 – November 7, 2016) was an American photographer known for his documenting rock music icons in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Jimi Hendrix, for whom Raffaelli acted as official photographer in 1968. Raffaelli is ...

, personal photographer of Jimi Hendrix, who taught him about photography. Worthington became well known for his photography as he became even more involved in the entertainment industry.

Final years and death

Worthington had an antique store, "House of Worthington," in Los Angeles, on La Brea, selling gothic furniture and antiques. In 2007, Worthington had a website "Herbert W. Worthington", in which he sold Stevie Nicks posters, calendars, prints and T-shirts. Some of the last projects Worthington contributed to were, photographs to

Ken Caillat Kenneth Douglas Caillat ( ) is an American record producer. He is best known for engineering the Fleetwood Mac albums '' Rumours'', ''Tusk'', ''Mirage'', ''Live'', and '' The Chain Box Set''. Life and career Caillat was the president of 5.1 Ent ...

's book, "Making Rumours",

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

's '' Sound City'' documentary, The long-awaited WB's 'Rumours' CD/LP/DVD Reissue and

's album '' Say You Will'', and the

documentary ''Destiny Rules''. Worthington lived his last years in Pasadena, and kept a relatively low profile. Herbert W. Worthington died from heart disease in November 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Herbert American photographers 1944 births 2013 deaths People from South Los Angeles