John Pasche (born 24 April 1945) is a British art designer, best known for designing the Rolling Stones'

tongue and lips logo The tongue and lips logo or alternatively the lips and tongue logo, also known as the Hot Lips logo, or the Rolling Stones Records logo, or simply the Rolling Stones logo, is a logo designed by the English art designer John Pasche for the rock b ...

. Pasche completed his BA degree in graphic design from the

Brighton College of Art Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

between 1963 and 1967. He completed his MA at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1967 to 1970.

Professional career

The Rolling Stones' head office contacted the Royal College of Art in 1970 looking to commission a poster for

The Rolling Stones European Tour 1970 The Rolling Stones' 1970 European Tour was a concert tour of Continental Europe that took place during the late summer and early autumn 1970. History This was the Stones' first tour in Europe since 1967, and became part of a pattern (not alwa ...

; the college recommended Pasche. Pasche designed the "Tongue and Lip Design" logo in 1970, for which he was paid just £50 and a further £200 in 1972. Pasche sold his copyright of the logo to the Rolling Stones via its commercial arm (Musidor BV) for £26,000 in 1984. In 2008 the original artwork of the logo was sold in the US to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

for $92,500, about £71,000 in 2020. The design was revised by Craig Braun while he was designing the album package and was originally reproduced on the U.S. inner sleeve and cover of ''

Sticky Fingers ''Sticky Fingers'' is the 9th British and 11th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The Stones released it on 23 April 1971 on their new, and own label Rolling Stones Records. They had been contracted by Decc ...

'' album released in April, 1971. In August 2008, the design was voted the greatest band logo of all time in an online poll conducted by '' Gigwise''. Pasche worked with the Rolling Stones from 1970 until 1974 while he was Junior Art Director at Benton & Bowles advertising agency. Between 1974 and 1977 he founded and managed Gull Graphics. Pasche later worked with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origin ...

and Dr. Feelgood. He also created the

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

–inspired band logo of

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success i ...

that first appeared on their album ''

Godbluff ''Godbluff'' is the fifth album released by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was the first album after the band reformed in 1975 and was recorded after a European tour. As the first self-produced album by the band, it f ...

''. He was art director at United Artists Music Division from 1978 until 1981. From 1981 to 1991 he was Creative Director of Chrysalis Records and he was Creative Director at the

South Bank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

from 1994 until 2005.

Notes

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasche, John 1945 births Living people Alumni of the University of Brighton Alumni of the Royal College of Art English graphic designers Film poster artists Southbank Centre