- Kosh (art director)
Kosh (born John Kosh) is an art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in
London ,England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for theRoyal Ballet and theRoyal Opera House . He was the creative director ofThe Beatles ' 1969 album "Abbey Road".History
As art director of "
Art & Artists Magazine ", he metThe Beatles towards the end of the 1960s and was hired as Creative Director forApple Records , where he was responsible for design, promotion and publicity. During this period he designed albums for a clientele that covered numerous British rock bands includingThe Rolling Stones . In 1969 Kosh handled the "War Is Over" campaign forJohn Lennon andYoko Ono and created the famous "Abbey Road" and "Who’s Next?" album covers. During this period Kosh became well known in the Londonavant-garde art scene for designing and producing exhibitions, posters and books.In 1973 after garnering several awards with the London Design & Art Directors Club, he was elected to the British D&AD Jury before moving to
Los Angeles . Once in Los Angeles he continued designing for various famous musicians including:Jimmy Buffett ,The Eagles ,Ringo Starr ,Linda Ronstadt ,Rod Stewart , andSpinal Tap . His work with Linda Ronstadt garned him his threeGrammy Awards.He served as faculty member of Otis/Parsons Institute of Art and on the Board of Governors of the National Recording Academy. Kosh’s client roster has included
Capitol Records ,Columbia-TriStar , Walt Disney Studios,Walt Disney Classics,Fox Television , The Gurin Company,CNN , MCA,MGM , theNFL (he designed theSuper Bowl XXI logo),Sony Records andWarner Bros. Records.Works
A display of his more prominent graphics was exhibited at the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum inCleveland, Ohio .
*The Beatles
**1969 "Abbey Road", #1 (Designer)
**1970 "Let It Be", #1 (Designer)
*Ringo Starr
**1970 "Beaucoups of Blues ", US #65 (Design and Art Direction)
**1976 "Ringo's Rotogravure "
**1977 "Ringo the 4th ", US #162
**1978 "Bad Boy ", US #129
**1981 "Stop and Smell the Roses ", US #98
*Humble Pie
**1972 "Smokin'", US #6 (Designer)
**1973 "Eat It", US #13 (Designer) [ [http://www.fye.com/Eat-It-Front-Page_stcVVproductId2385135VVcatId455366VVviewprod.htm FYE: Eat It Humble Pie / CD / 1973 ] ]
*The Who
**1971 "Who's Next " (Designer)
*Rolling Stones
**"Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! " (Designer)
**"Through The Past, Darkly" (Designer)
*Stone the Crows
**1972 "Ontinuous Performance "
*Bad Company
**"Run With the Pack "
*Jimmy Buffett
**1977 "Son of a Son of a Sailor "
**1989 "Off To See The Lizard"
**2002 "Far Side Of The World"
**2005 "Live In Fenway Park"
*The Eagles
**1976 "Hotel California " #1 US (16x Platinum), #2 UK
***voted No.6 in theRolling Stone Magazine 100 Best Album Covers of all Time
**1979 "The Long Run " #1 US (7x Platinum), #4 UK
**1980 "Eagles Live " #6 US (7x Platinum), #24 UK
*Electric Light Orchestra
**Designed the bands logo and these album covers
**1976 "A New World Record " #5 US (Platinum), #6 UK
**1977 "Out of the Blue" #4 US (Platinum), #4 UK
*Randy Newman
**1995 "Faust"
*Pointer Sisters
**1981 "Black & White" (Pointer Sisters ), #12 US, #21 UK
**1982 "So Excited", #59 US
*Linda Ronstadt
**1975 "Prisoner in Disguise "
**1976 "Hasten Down the Wind "
**1977 "Simple Dreams "– nominated for aGrammy
**1978 "Living in the USA "
**1983 "Get Closer " – Grammy; design Kosh andRon Larson
**1986 "Lush Life " – Grammy; design Kosh and Ron Larson
**1987 "Trio (album) " (withDolly Parton andEmmylou Harris ), art direction by Kosh and Ron Larson
**1987 "Canciones de Mi Padre "**2002 "
The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt "
*The Steve Miller Band
**1986 "Living in the 20th Century "
*Spinal Tap
**1992 "Break Like the Wind "
**Designed withLarry Brooks
*Rod Stewart
**1975 "Atlantic Crossing ", UK #1, US #9
**1976 "A Night on the Town", UK #1, US #2
**1977 "Foot Loose & Fancy Free ", UK #3, US #2
**1983 "Body Wishes", UK #5, US #139
*James Taylor
**1977 "JT"
**1979 "Flag"
**1981 "Dad Loves His Work "
*10,000 Maniacs
**1986 "In My Tribe "
*T-Rex
**1973 "Tanx", US #3
**1974 "Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow", US #12
**1975 "Bolan's Zip Gun"
*W.A.S.P.
**1992 "Crimson Idol"
**1997 "K.F.D"Awards
Kosh is a seven-time
Grammy nominee, and has won three of the awards:
*Grammy Awards of 1986 - John Kosh &Ron Larson (art directors) for "Lush Life " performed byLinda Ronstadt
*Grammy Awards of 1983 - John Kosh &Ron Larson (art directors) for "Get Closer" performed byLinda Ronstadt
*Grammy Awards of 1978 - John Kosh (art director) for "Simple Dreams" performed byLinda Ronstadt Journey to the
Ten Worlds In 1995 Kosh and actor Susan Shearer formed
Ten Worlds Entertainment. They directed the opening and closing sequences for the Emmy winning documentaries "When The Lion Roars—TheMGM Story" and "In Search ofDr. Seuss " for Turner along with the 1992 through 1998Billboard Awards telecasts forFox TV . As production designers on theShowtime six-hour documentary, "Sex and the Silver Screen" withRaquel Welch , Kosh and Shearer recreated the look, lighting and film techniques of the 1960s back through the 1920s and teens.Ten Worlds was responsible for the title, set and production design for theCBS special "60 Years of Life Magazine" hosted byCandice Bergen . Ten Worlds also produced the elegant show logos and graphics for a series ofTCM documentaries on glamourous film stars such asLouise Brooks ,Rita Hayworth andClara Bow . They designed theWarner Bros. 75th Anniversary Show, "Glorious Technicolor", hosted byAngela Lansbury , for TNT and the New Year’s special, "Life Remembers forCBS ".Ten Worlds achieved critical acclaim for their work on "The Last Days of Kennedy and King" for TBS and the ten-hour documentary "100 Years -100 Movies" for the America Film Institute andCBS . TheTen Worlds team designed "California Connected", a dynamic, weekly news program forPBS stations throughout California and "The Barrymores", a 90-minute special for A&E along with "Masters of Production" forPBS , chronicling the greatHollywood movie production designers.In 2005, Kosh led
Ten Worlds Entertainment into its evolution – becomingTen Worlds Productions, Inc. Under its new name, it produced and directed a pilot forThe History Channel , "Declassified : The Rise and Fall of the Wall", which sheds new light on theBerlin Wall . This pilot soon became a series, which Kosh is presently finishing up directing and producing this 13 part documentary series. The subjects of these documentaries focus on such figures asJohn Lennon ,Fidel Castro , theTet Offensive,Charles Lindbergh ,Joseph Stalin andWorld War I .Kosh and
Ten Worlds Productions, Inc. are producing another, currently "classified", pilot for theHistory Channel .References
External links
*imdb name|id=0467014|name=Kosh
* [http://www.tenworlds.com Ten Worlds Productions]
* [http://www.superseventies.com/ac4hotelcalifornia.html The Seventies website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/dsmurashev.geo/discography/a_13.htm Beatles fan site]
* [http://www.rollingstones.com/discog/?view=album&id=15 Rolling Stones]
* [http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/1981/1981grammy.htm Grammy List]
* [http://www.connollyco.com/discography/ringo_starr/fourth.html Ringo Discography]
* [http://www.jpgr.co.uk/sapcor11.html John Lennon Fan site]
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