Celebrity photographer Philip Townsend got up close to the excitement of the era, and took many iconic images of the Sixties. He captured the very first picture of the Rolling Stones ever taken, shortly after they formed in 1962, when they were broke, hungry and seeking a record deal. He bought them barbecued chicken, apparently. Townsend recalled: “I stuck them in the middle of Ifield road with a no parking sign. It was the first picture that had ever been taken of them together.”
The snapper then ferried the band around in his Ford Capri Mark I, “which was quite difficult because it was only a four seater”, and photographed them around London.
A chance meeting in Monte Carlo with Andrew Loog Oldham, the band’s first manager, led the photographer to land the first ever snaps of the rockers. Recalling his encounter with the teenage Loog Oldham, Townsend said: “He told me ‘I'm going to back to England, I'm going to find a rock and roll band and I'm going to turn them into the greatest rock and roll band in the world.
“We asked what they were called. He said: ‘I don’t know yet, I haven’t found them. But when I go back to England I'm going to find them - and you can photograph them if you like.’”
Sure enough, he came up trumps with the Rolling Stones, five fresh faced lads breaking into the music scene.
(Archive - Rolling Stones by Philip Townsend, via Mirror)
The snapper then ferried the band around in his Ford Capri Mark I, “which was quite difficult because it was only a four seater”, and photographed them around London.
A chance meeting in Monte Carlo with Andrew Loog Oldham, the band’s first manager, led the photographer to land the first ever snaps of the rockers. Recalling his encounter with the teenage Loog Oldham, Townsend said: “He told me ‘I'm going to back to England, I'm going to find a rock and roll band and I'm going to turn them into the greatest rock and roll band in the world.
“We asked what they were called. He said: ‘I don’t know yet, I haven’t found them. But when I go back to England I'm going to find them - and you can photograph them if you like.’”
Sure enough, he came up trumps with the Rolling Stones, five fresh faced lads breaking into the music scene.
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| The first photograph ever taken of the Rolling Stones in 1962 |
(Archive - Rolling Stones by Philip Townsend, via Mirror)
"The first photograph ever taken of the Rolling Stones in 1962" More like early 1963 as Charlie Watts only joined the band in January 1963.
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