Joe Stevens

Joe Stevens (born July 25, 1938, in New York City) is an American photographer. He is known for his images of 1970s and 1980s rock musicians and bands such as David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash. In the 1960s, he managed the Playhouse, a Greenwich Village coffee house, where he began taking pictures of musicians who performed at the coffee house. While working there, he was encouraged by photographer Jim Marshall. His 1965 image of Johnny Cash and guitarist Luther Perkins backstage at Carnegie Hall appeared in the 2019 public television series Country Music. Stevens does not have formal training in photography, but worked in the music business as road manager for Miriam Makeba and The Lovin' Spoonful. After encountering Marshall again at Woodstock, he decided he "had an eye" for photography and would make it his career.