Steve Hiett

A pioneering English fashion photographer and graphic designer, Steve Hiett's transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue. With a magnetic personality that seamlessly connected him with some of the '60s most illustrious figures, Hiett made his stage debut as fill-in guitarist for The Pretty Things before forming The Pyramid, a psych-pop band that cut two of his originals for Deram in 1966. A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett eventually shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots. Assuming he was travelling there to check exhibition proofs, Hiett unexpectedly recorded his opus Down On The Road By The Beach with Moonriders and Elliott Randell in Tokyo in 1982. Unavailable outside of Japan for 36 years, the desert island disc finally saw an international reissue via Be With Records and Efficient Space in 2019, issued alongside Girls In The Grass - a collection of previously unheard balearic soul instrumentals that were crafted with fellow art director Simon Kentish. After a valiant fight with cancer, Hiett sadly passed away a month before both releases, never witnessing the worldwide audience that was waiting to hail his guitar-led panoramas and dexterous celestial blues.