Deadline is reporting that David Edward Byrd, an artist whose swirling, psychedelic, instantly entrancing illustrations gave the rock mecca Fillmore East its signature look and contributed at least two of the greatest, most recognizable posters in modern Broadway history for two beloved productions, Follies and Godspell, died Monday, February 3, at a hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was 83.
His husband, the artist Jolino Beserra, announced on social media. In a recent Facebook post, Beserra described Byrd’s failing health as the poster artist struggled with heart and lung problems, pneumonia and the effects of two bouts with Covid.
Born April 4, 1941, in Tennessee but raised in Miami Beach, Florida, Byrd studied painting and design at Carnegie-Mellon University in the mid-1960s, and from 1970 to 1979 taught at New York’s Pratt Institute.
In 1968, his friend Joshua White – who gave rock shows their distinctive psychedelic aura with his Joshua Light Show – recommended Byrd to rock impressario Bill Graham, whose Fillmore East had just opened and would quickly become an East Village rock mecca. Byrd was hired on the spot as the venue’s exclusive poster and program designer. One of his posters, for a 1968 performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was voted the eighth best rock poster ever by Billboard magazine.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Byrd and the art collective he co-founded, Fantasy Unlimited, created posters for Traffic, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, among many others. He created the posters for The Rolling Stones’ 1969 tour, The Who’s 1971 Metropolitan Opera House performance of Tommy and, in 1978, the four solo album covers by members of KISS, designed to fit together as a mosaic.
In the 1980s, Byrd worked as Art Director for Van Halen and designed posters for Los Angeles theaters including The Mark Taper Forum and The Ahmanson Theatre.
Read more at Deadline.
The post DAVID EDWARD BYRD – Legendary KISS, JIMI HENDRIX, ROLLING STONES Poster Artist And Former VAN HALEN Art Director Dead At 83 appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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His husband, the artist Jolino Beserra, announced on social media. In a recent Facebook post, Beserra described Byrd’s failing health as the poster artist struggled with heart and lung problems, pneumonia and the effects of two bouts with Covid.
Born April 4, 1941, in Tennessee but raised in Miami Beach, Florida, Byrd studied painting and design at Carnegie-Mellon University in the mid-1960s, and from 1970 to 1979 taught at New York’s Pratt Institute.
In 1968, his friend Joshua White – who gave rock shows their distinctive psychedelic aura with his Joshua Light Show – recommended Byrd to rock impressario Bill Graham, whose Fillmore East had just opened and would quickly become an East Village rock mecca. Byrd was hired on the spot as the venue’s exclusive poster and program designer. One of his posters, for a 1968 performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was voted the eighth best rock poster ever by Billboard magazine.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Byrd and the art collective he co-founded, Fantasy Unlimited, created posters for Traffic, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, among many others. He created the posters for The Rolling Stones’ 1969 tour, The Who’s 1971 Metropolitan Opera House performance of Tommy and, in 1978, the four solo album covers by members of KISS, designed to fit together as a mosaic.
In the 1980s, Byrd worked as Art Director for Van Halen and designed posters for Los Angeles theaters including The Mark Taper Forum and The Ahmanson Theatre.
Read more at Deadline.
The post DAVID EDWARD BYRD – Legendary KISS, JIMI HENDRIX, ROLLING STONES Poster Artist And Former VAN HALEN Art Director Dead At 83 appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...
