Legendary British graphic designer and album artist Storm Thorgerson has sadly passed away on Thursday 18th April, at 69 years of age.
In a statement released by his family, Thorgerson’s passing is described as “peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends.”
The man behind some of the world’s most recognisable album covers, including the psychedelic and tripped stylings of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, was said to have suffered a stroke ten years ago that had since caused his health to slowly deteriorate, eventually contributing to passing on the afternoon of Thursday 18th April.
First rising to fame in the 1960s with the formation of UK design firm Hipgnosis, Thorgerson’s career spanned over 40 years, beginning with artwork for childhood friends, Pink Floyd, as well as Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Phish, Styx, and more recently The Offpsring, Muse, and Biffy Clyro.
Vinyl collections worldwide are ripe with the work of the late Thorgerson, and despite the chance of some people not recognising his name, the seminal artwork he is renowned for will always be something that music lovers will associate with legendary status.
Remember a group of naked figures clambering up a mound of oddly-shape rubble on Led Zeppelin’s House Of The Holy? That was Thogerson. Or even the ginormous disembodied eye staring down the desert on The Cranberries’ Bury The Hatchet? Yep, Thorgerson as well. “We are saddened by the news that long-time Pink Floyd graphic genius, friend and collaborator, Storm Thorgerson, has died. Our thoughts are with his family and many friends.” – Pink Floyd
He is also the man respoinsible for arguably music’s most iconic image, Pink Floyd’s kaleodiscopic rainbow-fronted sleeve for 1973 album, Dark Side Of The Moon, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year. In March, celebrations commemorating the release of the landmark album saw Thorgerson releasing a re-imagined versions of the iconic cover in 14 new prism designs, fitting that his final designs should be for his most famous work.
In a statement released by Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour on his website, the guitarist and singer writes that Thorgerson’s art remains “an inseparable part of our work,” including the burning man handshake of Wish You Were Here, and the photo of the inflatable pig flying over the Battersea Power Station on Animals.
“We first met in our early teens,” writes Gilmour. “We would gather at Sheep’s Green, a spot by the river in Cambridge, and Storm would always be there holding forth, making the most noise, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. Nothing has ever really changed. He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend. I will miss him.”
A statement on the official Pink Floyd website adds “we are saddened by the news that long-time Pink Floyd graphic genius, friend and collaborator, Storm Thorgerson, has died. Our thoughts are with his family and many friends.”
“People pay me for my thoughts and my dreams,” Thorgerson said in an interview with the BBC in 2010, “I think in that sense I’m very fortunate.”
