20 × 16 in. (51 × 41 cm) print with 18 × 12 in. (46 × 30 cm) image silver gelatin exhibition print.
Edition of 25. Hand-signed by photographer David Corio.
£155 from every sale of this print is donated to mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness (charity number 271028).
“I arranged to photograph James Brown, or Mister Brown as he insists on being addressed, at mid-day at the Hilton hotel, Shepherd’s Bush, but when I arrived, he was having his hair done. Journalist Stuart Cosgrove and I waited in the lobby for over an hour, but Mister Brown then decided to go shopping. We were unable to see him when he returned as his hair had to be styled again. Stuart and I were then instructed to meet him at the sound-check later that day. We got there to discover that Mister Brown had not done a sound-check in over 30 years!
Finally, we were allowed into his dressing room where he was having his hair done again before the show. He looked rather sweet in red curlers. Stuart got to interview him, but the Godfather of Soul warned me if I got my camera out, both it and I were going straight out of the third-floor window.
I tried to persuade him to do some shots before he went onstage. I told him the photos would only take a minute, and he agreed to do them after the show.
By the time I returned to the dressing room, it was after midnight and Mister Brown’s hair had just been coiffed yet again. He looked at me, then at his watch and said “Go!” He was giving me exactly sixty seconds. 'You keep to your promise, and I’ll keep to mine,' he said.
I did get a couple of good portraits, but I prefer the shot of him jumping on stage. Mister Brown was 53 and no longer performed his celebrated splits, but that night he leapt into the air at the end of every third song. For some reason there were no security guards, so I shot the whole show which lasted well over two hours.” David Corio
Since he was 16 years old, pioneering photographer David Corio has built an unparalleled six-decade music photography archive. Corio has spent almost 50 years in recording studios, backstage dressing rooms and major cultural events, documenting the 20th century’s most groundbreaking musicians.
20 × 16 in. (51 × 41 cm) print with 18 × 12 in. (46 × 30 cm) image silver gelatin exhibition print.
Edition of 25. Hand-signed by photographer David Corio.
£155 from every sale of this print is donated to mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness (charity number 271028).
“I arranged to photograph James Brown, or Mister Brown as he insists on being addressed, at mid-day at the Hilton hotel, Shepherd’s Bush, but when I arrived, he was having his hair done. Journalist Stuart Cosgrove and I waited in the lobby for over an hour, but Mister Brown then decided to go shopping. We were unable to see him when he returned as his hair had to be styled again. Stuart and I were then instructed to meet him at the sound-check later that day. We got there to discover that Mister Brown had not done a sound-check in over 30 years!
Finally, we were allowed into his dressing room where he was having his hair done again before the show. He looked rather sweet in red curlers. Stuart got to interview him, but the Godfather of Soul warned me if I got my camera out, both it and I were going straight out of the third-floor window.
I tried to persuade him to do some shots before he went onstage. I told him the photos would only take a minute, and he agreed to do them after the show.
By the time I returned to the dressing room, it was after midnight and Mister Brown’s hair had just been coiffed yet again. He looked at me, then at his watch and said “Go!” He was giving me exactly sixty seconds. 'You keep to your promise, and I’ll keep to mine,' he said.
I did get a couple of good portraits, but I prefer the shot of him jumping on stage. Mister Brown was 53 and no longer performed his celebrated splits, but that night he leapt into the air at the end of every third song. For some reason there were no security guards, so I shot the whole show which lasted well over two hours.” David Corio
Since he was 16 years old, pioneering photographer David Corio has built an unparalleled six-decade music photography archive. Corio has spent almost 50 years in recording studios, backstage dressing rooms and major cultural events, documenting the 20th century’s most groundbreaking musicians.
