Star Man

Terry O’Neill’s new book Every Picture Tells A Story showcases many of his most famous portraits and the stories behind them. He spoke to Steve Fairclough about his stellar career

If you named a major celebrity from the early 1960s onwards – from the worlds of music, cinema, sport, politics, fashion or royalty – the chances are that Terry O’Neill will have photographed them. For the first time a compendium of his most striking imagery has been brought together in one volume – Every Picture Tells A Story – that gives a unique insight into his creative process and the personalities of the superstars he shot. O’Neill recently took time out to talk to Amateur Photographer about some of the photographs in what he describes as ‘a book of all my best pictures, telling the full story of how they were done – the whole shebang behind them all’.

Elton John

Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, October 1975

‘There are only a few people I’d call a genius. Frank Sinatra was a genius and Bowie certainly was. Elton John, in my opinion, will be regarded in the same breath as Beethoven. He is an incredible showman but as a composer, songwriter, singer and piano player his music will live on for hundreds of years. Arguably his most famous concert was his two-day performance at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles in 1975. More than 100,000 people were there and I was the official photographer. I ran around like crazy for those two days trying to get every imaginable shot and angle, and Elton was on true form. People forget how big he was in 1975 – he was having number one hits, number-one albums and selling out stadiums. All the times I worked with Elton are some of the most memorable moments of my career. To have that sort of close relationship between photographer and subject… it just doesn’t happen now. Everything is too controlled. Back then we were all just working hard and tried to have a bit of fun when we could.’

Brigitte Bardot