Icon Photographer Steve Emberton

Born in Idaho, Steve Emberton joined the U.S. Air Force at age 17 and found himself stationed in England. Back in the U.S. after completing his tour of duty, he found work as an aircraft engineer but was longing for a change of locale and a change of career. Steve returned to England in the early ’70s and decided to focus on his true passion: photography.

A love of music and a stroke of good fortune led to one of Steve’s images of being published in the Melody Maker—putting him on the path to becoming a professional music photographer. He was soon working for the music paper Record Mirror, as well as shooting for NME, Sounds, and other publications, record companies, and publicists.

For over forty years, Steve’s photos have been published all around the world. Rolling Stone magazine recognized his image of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and girlfriend Nancy Spungen as one of the greatest portraits in rock. Recently, Steve began digitizing his music archive, including many rare images which have never been published—a selection of which are now available for sale as limited-edition prints.