Storm Thorgerson
February 28, 1944 – April 18, 2013
Storm Thorgerson was a renowned graphic artist whose catalog includes some of rock music’s most famous album covers. Born in Middlesex, England, Thorgerson went to high school with Syd Barrett and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame. He eventually joined a graphic arts collective called Hipgnosis which created many popular album cover designs until closing shop in 1983. He then went on to form his own design house, Storm Studios. Arguably, Thorgerson’s most famous cover is the one he designed for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Often surreal in nature, his canon of work includes the covers of most of the Pink Floyd albums; the Cult‘s Electric; Led Zeppelin‘s Presence and In Through the Out Door; Peter Gabriel‘s three self-titled albums; as well as visually stunning covers for Muse, Phish, Megadeth, Catherine Wheel, Black Sabbath, the Cranberries, Genesis, Alan Parsons and many more. Thorgerson also directed popular videos by the likes of Bruce Dickinson, Nik Kershaw, Paul Young, David Gilmour, and of course, Pink Floyd. He suffered a stroke in 2003 but recovered and went back to work. Sometime later, he was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died from it on April 18, 2013. Storm Thorgerson was 69 when he passed away.
Thanks to Bruce Kilgour at Slipped Disc Entertainment for the assist.
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R.I.P.