George Underwood (born 5 February 1947) is a British artist and musician. He is best known for designing

album covers 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 ...

for numerous bands in the 1970s and his collaborations with long-term friend, singer-songwriter

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Early life and career

George Underwood attended

Bromley Technical High School Ravens Wood School, formerly Bromley Technical High School, located in Keston, London Borough of Bromley, England, is an all-boys school. The sixth form accepts both boys and girls. In 2018 the school had 1,537 pupils. The school is a designate ...

where he developed an interest in music alongside classmates

and Peter Frampton. Underwood's and Bowie's band, George and the Dragons was short-lived due to Underwood punching Bowie in the left eye while wearing a ring on his finger, during a fight over a girl, causing paralysis in Bowie's left pupil and his distinctive mismatched appearance. The injury did not affect their friendship in the end, and Underwood went on to record one album with Bowie (in their band The King Bees) and also a solo record under the name Calvin James. After deciding that the music business was not for him, Underwood returned to art studies and worked in design studios as an illustrator. Initially, he specialized in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, horror and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

book covers, but as many of his colleagues were in the music business, they began asking him to do various art works for them. This led to him becoming a freelance artist. Underwood established himself as a leading art illustrator doing

for such artists as T. Rex (''

Futuristic Dragon ''Futuristic Dragon'' is the eleventh studio album by English rock band T. Rex, released worldwide on 30 January 1976 by EMI Records bar North America. The album was preceded by two successful singles that went into the UK chart, "New York Ci ...

'', '' My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows''),

The Fixx The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot ...

('' Phantoms'', ''

Reach the Beach ''Reach the Beach'' is the second studio album by English new wave band the Fixx, released on 13 May 1983 by MCA Records. It was the group's most successful studio album, reaching No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' albums chart and eventually selling ...

'', Beautiful Friction and ''

Calm Animals ''Calm Animals'' is the fifth studio album by British new wave band the Fixx, released on February 7, 1989. The single "Driven Out" gave them a #1 song on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in early 1989, and reached #55 on the ''Billboard'' Hot ...

''),

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

(''

Shine On Brightly ''Shine On Brightly'' is the second studio album by English rock band Procol Harum, released in 1968 by record labels Regal Zonophone and A&M. It is considered an early example of progressive rock. The album's single, "Quite Rightly So", fail ...

''),

Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but fai ...

(''

All the Young Dudes "All the Young Dudes" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by the English rock band Mott the Hoople in 1972 by Columbia Records. Bowie produced the song, which he had given to ...

'') and David Bowie (''

Hunky Dory ''Hunky Dory'' is the fourth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 17December 1971 through RCA Records. Following the release of his 1970 album, '' The Man Who Sold the World'', Bowie took time off from recording and tourin ...

'' and ''

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was co-pr ...

''). Over this period, he produced hundreds of book covers, LP and CD covers, advertisements, portraits and drawings. He appears in the 2012 documentary ''David Bowie & the Story of Ziggy Stardust'' (

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is b ...

References

External links

* 1947 births Living people People from Bromley 20th-century English painters English male painters British illustrators Album-cover and concert-poster artists Fantasy artists Science fiction artists 20th-century English male artists {{England-painter-stub