PHOTO: Artist Updates ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ Artwork With Recent Celebrity Deaths
Tom Petty, Chuck Berry, Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, Fats Domino, Glen Campbell and more are now part of the artwork for the Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, courtesy of British artist Chris Barker.
Last year Barker created an updated version of the iconic album cover to include recent celebrity deaths, including David Bowie, Prince and others. This year Barker has done the same, grafting a variety of celebrities — including actors Mary Tyler Moore, Martin Landau, Jerry Lewis, Harry Dean Stanton, Adam West, John Hurt, Roger Moore, Robert Guillaume and Erin Moran, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and more — into a new version of the iconic album cover.
Barker tells Billboard that he “never intended to do another ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ montage…It would be pointless to try and replicate it,” but the attention last year’s re-imagining received and the thought that he could tell “another story” with this year’s departures inspired him to do another one.
Barker tweeted out the new image this week at @christhebarker.
Seems as good a time as any to post this. #sgtpepper2017 pic.twitter.com/piWGmUiZwk
— christhebarker (@christhebarker) November 6, 2017
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
