George Underwood (born 5 February 1947) is a British artist and musician. He is best known for designing

album covers An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of and 78 ...

for numerous bands in the 1970s and his collaborations with long-term friend, singer-songwriter

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Early life and career

George Underwood was born on 5 February 1947, in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

.https://cattogallery.co.uk/images/Artists/George-Underwood/Catalogues/Catto-Gallery-George-Underwood-Catalogue.pdf He attended Bromley Technical High School where he developed an interest in music alongside classmates

and

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

. Underwood and Bowie's band, George and the Dragons was short-lived due to Underwood punching Bowie in the left eye and accidentally scratching the pupil with his fingernail, during a fight over a girl, leaving Bowie with faulty

depth perception Depth perception is the ability to perceive distance to objects in the world using the visual system and visual perception. It is a major factor in perceiving the world in three dimensions. Depth sensation is the corresponding term for non-hum ...

and

anisocoria Anisocoria is a condition characterized by an unequal size of the eyes' pupils. Affecting up to 20% of the population, anisocoria is often entirely harmless, but can be a sign of more serious medical problems. Causes Anisocoria is a common cond ...

(a permanently dilated pupil). The injury did not affect their friendship in the end, and Underwood went on to record one album with Bowie (in their band The King Bees) as well as a solo record under the name Calvin James. After deciding that the music business was not for him, Underwood returned to art studies, joining Beckenham School of Art in 1963 which became Ravensbourne College of Art in 1964.{ref name="cato"/> He worked in design studios as an illustrator. Initially, he specialised in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

book covers, but as many of his colleagues were in the music business, they began asking him to do various art works for them. This led to him becoming a freelance artist. Underwood established himself as a leading art

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

doing

for such artists as T. Rex (''

Futuristic Dragon ''Futuristic Dragon'' is the eleventh studio album by English rock band T. Rex, released worldwide on 30 January 1976 by EMI Records bar North America. The album was preceded by two successful singles that went into the UK chart, "New York City ...

'', '' My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows''),

The Fixx The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the top 20 of the ''Billboard'' ...

('' Phantoms'', ''

Reach the Beach ''Reach the Beach'' is the second studio album by the English new wave band the Fixx, released in May 1983 by MCA Records. It was the group's most successful studio album, reaching No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' albums chart and eventually selling ...

'', ''

Beautiful Friction ''Beautiful Friction'' is the tenth studio album by British New Wave band the Fixx, released on 17 July 2012. It marks the return of longtime bassist Dan K. Brown. Track listing All songs written by Cy Curnin, Adam Woods, Jamie West-Oram, Ruper ...

'' and '' Calm Animals''),

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than List of best-selling si ...

('' Shine On Brightly''), Mott the Hoople (''

All the Young Dudes "All the Young Dudes" is a song written by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by the English rock band Mott the Hoople in 1972 by Columbia Records. Bowie produced the song, which he had given t ...

'') and David Bowie (''

Hunky Dory ''Hunky Dory'' is the fourth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released in the United Kingdom on 17December 1971 through RCA Records. Following a break from touring and recording, Bowie settled down to write new songs, composi ...

'' and ''

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was ...

''). During this period, he produced hundreds of book covers, LP and CD covers, advertisements, portraits and drawings. He appears in the 2012 documentary ''David Bowie & the Story of Ziggy Stardust'' (

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

References

External links

* 1947 births Living people People from Bromley 20th-century English painters English male painters British illustrators British album-cover and concert-poster artists British fantasy artists British horror artists British science fiction artists 20th-century English male artists {{England-painter-stub