LOS ANGLES (CelebrityAccess) — Michael Andrew Ochs, the noted photo archivist best known for his extensive collection of images—including many important photos from the early days of rock and roll—has died. He was 82.
Ochs died at his home in Los Angeles on July 23rd after a battle with multiple health conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and COPD, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Described as “America’s preeminent rock ‘n’ roll photo archivist,” Ochs began his career as a photographer for Columbia Records before going on to lead the publicity departments at labels such as Columbia and ABC Records.
While collecting rock photos began as a hobby for Ochs, he began to take it more seriously after he was paid $1,000 by Dick Clark for the use of some of his images in a television special.
In 1984, Ochs published Rock Archives: A Photographic Journey Through the First Two Decades of Rock & Roll, creating an archive of important moments in the history of early rock music, which The New York Times praised as “an amazingly comprehensive photograph collection.”
Ochs also hosted a radio show on KCRW and taught a History of Rock and Roll class at UCLA. He also did a stint as manager for his brother, the folk singer and political activist Phil Ochs.
In 2007, he sold his archive to Getty Images for an undisclosed sum.
