So the two of them sort of married together from the outset, and that allowed Michael to hang out with them day to day, in different situations. And of course Michael had a great interest in music. Keith had a great interest in photography and was very interested to know about the process of developing and printing and all of that. A friend introduced him to Keith Richards, and they became very close friends from the beginning. How did your father get involved with the band? We called Adam this week to ask about the story behind the shoot.
It was curated by Cooper’s son Adam, a filmmaker in his own right, and by Peter Blachley, co-owner of the Morrison Hotel Gallery. The 20-photo exhibit, “Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Making of an Album Cover,” runs from September 8 through September 20, and features many never-before-seen images and behind-the-scenes photos from the innovative shoot. Pepper’s cover, his work with the Stones, from both the studio and the road, is his main legacy. Throughout the ’60s and early ’70s, Cooper photographed a number of rock bands, artists, and writers, including Eric Clapton and Allen Ginsberg, but aside from the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band three months earlier. The man behind the camera that weekend was Michael Cooper, who had also shot the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. September 14 marks 50 years since they clustered into a New York studio and posed for the cover shot. This week the Morrison Hotel Gallery in Soho is opening a photography exhibit commemorating Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Rolling Stones’ 1967 foray into psychedelia. From left: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and Brian Jones.