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#SgtPepperPhotos: A Beatles Fan Is Hunting Down All the Original Photos of People and Images on the Sgt. Pepper’s Cover

The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is often called the single greatest album of all time. From the start, it was a revolutionary and influential work, almost changing the pop and rock music landscapes overnight. It was a critical hit as well as a popular one, rocketing to the top of the charts all over the world when it was released at the start of June 1967.

The album has a widely recognized album cover that depicts several dozen celebrities and other images. It was created by Jann Haworth and Peter Blake, who in 1967 won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts for their work on it. Many people have speculated about the cover’s intended meaning, and asked who is on the front cover of the Sgt. Pepper.

Chris Shaw, a Beatles fan, is trying to hunt down all the original photos used to create the cover. He’s documenting his progress on his Twitter and on a blog.

“Being a bit of a Beatles obsessive, I’m excited about the 50th anniversary rerelease of Sgt. Pepper,” he says. “The legendary album cover is regularly popping up on my news feeds and I became curious as to the origins of the photos used to create the iconic sleeve.”

“My first search was for Olympic swimmer and Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller (the picture behind Ringo and Paul). When I eventually located the source image, with the unexpected chimp and horn, it was so bizarre and out of context it piqued my interest. I’ve now set myself the challenge of hunting down all of the original pictures on the sleeve.”

According to Nigel Hartnup, who worked for Michael Cooper during the Sgt. Pepper photo sessions, most of the cut-outs were sourced from photo libraries such as BBC Radio Times Hulton Picture Library. However, he adds: “Sometimes we had to source directly from friends or family.”

This explains why the few remaining undiscovered images in this project are so difficult to source. Several are artists, so most likely belong to Peter Blake. If anyone has any more information, or can help him locate any of the following please contact Chris: @ChrisShawEditor or via WordPress.


1. Paul McCartney’s dad’s group ‘Jim Mac’s Band’. According to singer, songwriter and actress Kate Robbins (Paul McCartney’s first cousin once removed) this photo is owned in most of the McCartney households. It’s not difficult to spot the similarity to the Sgt. Pepper cover. Jim McCartney is on the front row, third from the right.



2. Yukteswar Giri: Indian guru and inspiration for George Harrison.



3. Aleister Crowley: Occultist and also keen mountaineer (he was part of an expedition to climb K2)! Originally a second photo of Crowley was to feature on the cover of Sgt Pepper, but was removed as it closely resembled McCartney.



4. Mae West: Hollywood actress. Mae initially refused to appear on the cover, stating that she would never be in any Lonely Hearts Club. After some gentle persuasion she eventually agreed. Mae’s final movie, Sextette (1978), features Ringo playing a film director called Laslo Karolny – and includes the Beatles’ song Honey Pie. McCartney later dedicated a verse to her in his song Move Over Busker.



5. Lenny Bruce: Notorious stand up comedian. All four Beatles were said to be fans and there were plans to release Lenny’s material on the short-lived Zapple label. These plans were scuppered after poor sales of the label’s only two releases (George’s Electronic Sound and John’s Life with the Lions). Zapple was shut and the Lenny Bruce albums never appeared.



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This post first appeared on Trendinista, please read the originial post: here

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#SgtPepperPhotos: A Beatles Fan Is Hunting Down All the Original Photos of People and Images on the Sgt. Pepper’s Cover

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