Icon Photographer John Rowlands

John Rowlands began his career at only 13 years old. In 1960, Brenda Lee performed in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada, and young John attended the show wielding his father’s camera. He not only captured the concert, but was able to meet his idol—he got an autograph, her address, and even a kiss goodnight! He found his calling as a music photographer and never looked back.

Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, John was hired by tour managers, promoters, and record companies, and toured across North America with rock royalty like the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. His photos have appeared in just about every major publication in the world, including Time, News World, Life, and Rolling Stone.

John remains busy digitizing the photographic archive of nearly 2.5 million images he’s captured across the last five+ decades. He is also transitioning from the life of a photographer to the life of a storyteller with a touring exhibition titled “Rock ’n’ Roll Memories or The Night Brenda Lee Changed my Life.”