Collection: Alan Messer

Alan Messer has been photographing musicians for five decades. His career began at sixteen on December 4th, 1967, working from Dezo Hoffmann's London studio as a freelance and as a staff photographer for the Record Mirror, pop magazine. During the seventies, Alan was the resident Old Grey Whistle Test photographer (BBC TV), toured briefly with Iggy Pop and Deep Purple and photographed many visiting touring American bands and artists, either in his London studio or on the road.

Excited by America and it's music, Alan moved to Nashville in 1978 to open a studio. An amazing opportunity to photograph the country music scene unfolded, as his style of photography attracted musicians, record companies and legendary artists like, Johnny Cash. During the 80's, Alan Messer’s career soared being a prolific primary Nashville photographer, often shooting a session or an album cover every day. Some of those sessions were in his studio or in Austin, Texas with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Nelson or Joe Ely.

He's photographed an endless list of the greats, from John Lennon to David Bowie, Diana Ross to the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley to Johnny Cash and many more. Alan is a relentless photographer, he has hundreds of albums and CD's to his credit and a Grammy for album packaging photography/design. But the best reward is simply, the picture.

Alan is currently working on his archives, documentary and books. Every picture is a story.