The Story of the Sixties

Imagine being a child and having Mick Jagger walk you to the park. Or maybe if you needed a lift, Keith Richards would turn up in his Bentley. It sounds like a bizarre dream – but to Adam Cooper, the son of photographer Michael Cooper, this was his childhood during the 1960s. “I remember when I met my wife, back in 1995, I took her to a Rolling Stones event in London where they were promoting the Voodoo Lounge album,” he says. “Keith turned to her, pointed a finger in my face and said, ‘I used to change his nappies!’”

Surely an exaggeration, but it serves to show just how close Michael and his son were to one of the biggest rock and roll bands on the planet. The Rolling Stones were not the only musicians to both befriend Michael and step in front of his camera either. Out of all the photographs he took during his lifetime, his most recognisable work concerns another big name of the 1960s, shooting the album cover for The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at his central London studio in 1967. A book, Blinds and Shutters, produced with Adam, shows outtakes of the youngster walking onto the set next to Paul McCartney and John Lennon, with all of the cardboard figures behind them.

What was it like to be present at the shoot for one of the most famous album covers of all time? “Well, I don’t really remember,” Adam admits. “I was barely four years old, and as you’ve probably seen in the photos, I was more infatuated with the props they’d set out amongst the flowers at the front – one of which happened to be a shiny trophy, which Paul had brought from his home. There’s the shot where he’s looking at me, and he’s probably thinking, ‘If that kids breaks that trophy… [laughs].’”

There is a first-hand account written by Paul McCartney in the Blinds and Shutters book, next to the photos, that describes how the shoot came together. Each Beatle provided a list of famous figures they would like turned into life-size cardboard cut-outs, which would then form the crowd, gathered around the band in the background. The lists were given to pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, who worked on the overall design, with the set assembled in Michael’s photo studio over several days, and the shoot directed by his close friend, Robert Fraser. The Beatles arrived on the last day to be photographed.

Keith Richards turned to my wife, pointed a finger in my face and said, ‘I used to change his nappies’

But for all of the famous names he was acquainted with, Michael himself was a troubled soul, and took his own life in 1973, aged just 31. The Blinds and Shutters book opens with the letter that Michael left for Adam, explaining why he made the decision, but adding that he loved and believed in his son, and knew he would lead a successful life. “It was very sad, and a combination of many different factors,” Adam explains. “My mother left us when I was very young, and it was my father who raised me. A couple of years before his death, his girlfriend, Ginger, who was like a stepmother to me, committed suicide, and I think he found it all such a struggle. It was very tragic, as he was an incredible talent, and I often wonder what he might be doing if he was still around today.”

Adam went to live with his grandparents from that point on. “I started to have what you might describe as a normal life,” he says. “I went to school on a regular basis, I had friends my own age, and I did all of the usual activities and sports. Until then, I was either travelling with my father, or hanging out in his studio and seeing this constant stream of colourful characters, who were all famous, but to us they were just friends. I remember one time, he worked on a film with [director] Roman Polanski, called What?, starring Marcello Mastroianni, and because of that we spent a year in Italy, first in Rome and then by the coast, which as a young child was just magical.”

Adam had a chance to feel even closer to his father when he turned 18. “That’s the year when I finally inherited his photography collection,” he says. “I remember getting it, this huge cardboard box, and inside – typical Michael, typical bohemian – there was no cataloguing of the negatives, no protection, everything had just been thrown in. A friend of mine let me use his darkroom, and I was able to work my way through it.”

There were countless photos of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, but also other prominent figures, including Marianne Faithful and Eric Clapton, as well as Andy Warhol, David Hockney, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg from the worlds of art and literature. Adam also found various notes and documents. “One was titled, ‘My Plan For My First Book’, and it was called Blinds and Shutters,” he says. “My father saw the name on the side of a van driving through London, and he thought, yes, that’s it. And he described how he wanted it to be – kind of like a kid’s scrapbook, rather than the usual coffee table style, with his photos, and the text written by those featured.

A young Adam Cooper on the set of the album cover shoot for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

All images by Michael Cooper, courtesy of Adam

I was either travelling with my father, or hanging out in his studio and seeing this constant stream of colourful characters

“And it took a few meetings with various publishers, who all loved the collection, but only one, Genesis Publications, which specialised in limited editions, were willing to do it exactly as my father intended. I remember, it took about seven years, tracking people down, getting them to contribute, but finally we got the book together, and the first copies of Blinds and Shutters came out in 1990.”

The book featured around 600 images, with first-hand accounts, notes, anecdotes and mini essays from 93 different contributors. Just 5,000 editions were printed, with Genesis Publications then going back to these people and asking them to sign each copy. Every edition of Blinds and Shutters features at least nine different signatures, with Francis Bacon, Leonard Cohen, George Harrison and Dennis Hopper among them.

Adam explains why the book is getting attention again today, 30 years on. “We did 5,000 copies, but we decided to hold 600 back, planning to make them available at some point in the future,” he says. “With the 30th anniversary of Blinds and Shutters, and the 45th of Genesis Publications – and with the book being such a success for them, earning itself this cult status – now was the perfect time.”

The new editions, with just 600 in total, are quarter-bound in leather, with foil blocking and silk-screened page edging, and an individually placed photograph, inset on the cover. The oversized 368-page book also has a handmade slipcase, with the final price dependent on the signature set within, as many of these names have since passed on.

Of course, Adam has delved into the archives and produced many other books based on his father’s work. “We did one late last year about Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones, as it was the 50th anniversary of his death, and I have galleries around the world helping me put on exhibitions or selling prints of his work,” he says.

What is it that makes his father’s images stand out? “What comes across very strongly is the intimacy,” says Adam. “He was a friend first, a photographer second, and he just used to snap away. The way I remember him, he always had his Nikon over his shoulder, and was ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.”

In terms of who might have been his best friends, talk always comes back to The Rolling Stones – Michael even planned to direct a movie of A Clockwork Orange, the novel by Anthony Burgess, years before Stanley Kubrick successfully brought it to the screen, with Mick Jagger in the lead and the other band members in supporting roles. “He got on with Keith in particular,” says Adam. “My father had an interest in music, and Keith liked photography, so they became great friends. Keith and his then-wife, Anita, even let us stay in their flat for a time. It’s incredible, really.”

Almost as impressive as Michael’s work itself. “I love looking through all the negatives, producing books and hosting exhibitions,” says Adam. “I really believe, and lots of people agree, that his work needs to be up there and be seen.”

Blinds and Shutters is available now, published by Genesis Publications. blindsandshuttersbook.com