I grew up with a transistor radio glued to the side of my head, listening to rock and roll on Cleveland Top 40 radio stations. The Beatles were responsible for this love and obsession with rock music. When John, Paul, George and Ringo hit the shores of the U.S., my life was changed and my career path was chosen. At ten years old, I’d already plucked my parents’ Kodak twin-lens reflex camera out of the front closet and was busy photographing the family dog, next-door neighbors, communions and birthday parties. Now that I had rock and roll to focus on, for some reason I knew that photography would be my free pass to getting closer to the music I loved and the musicians I idolized.

At age 12, I was hanging out at WKYC Radio, in the DJ’s lounge, answering fan mail for discjockeys Jerry G. and Big Jack Armstrong. They would reward me with boxes of 45’s. What a cool deal. When rock stars came by to appear on their TV or radio shows, I was right there with my camera. My first published rock and roll photo was a shot of Sonny and Cher, taken in 1966, as they answered phone calls in the studios of WKYC Radio. The shot was published in Teen Screen Magazine when I was 13. I was a writer and photographer for my high school and college newspapers, and always pushed to cover music instead of (to me) less interesting news stories. Who wouldn’t prefer to interview Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart about their new single campaigning to lower the voting age to 18, instead of reporting about the high school candy bar drive to raise money for a new drinking fountain?

Before my first year was up at Cuyahoga Community College, I filled two pages of music features in the paper each week, was directly hooked into the music scene, and was busy interviewing and photographing virtually any musician who passed through town. Heaven!

I had gigs with local entertainment rags, which led to my photos and stories being published in national music publications (such as Creem and Trouser Press). On my first trip to England in 1977, friend and mentor Alex Harvey (of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band) introduced me to the top British rock photogs, and they helped me find an agent for my photography work. At the age of 23, I was one of a small group of photographers on the planet who made their living capturing rock and roll on film.

Now, over 25 years later, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is hosting a show of some of my favorite photographs.....a career retrospective, though I’m not finished shooting yet. Here they are... Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen at the top of their game....the way we, as fans, want to remember them. Which is the point of sharing this work with you. I’m a rock fan. Just like you. I succeed as an artist when my photos capture the energy and spirit of rock and roll in a sixtieth of a second moment. If rock and roll is the soundtrack of your life.....these are the visuals.