Lynn Goldsmith


Lynn Goldsmith is an American recording artist, a film director, a celebrity portrait photographer, and one of the first female rock and roll photographers. Lynn's photographs have appeared on the covers and in publications in many countries for the past 50 years. She has done over 100 album covers. In addition to her editorial work, Goldsmith has also focused on fine art photography with conceptual images. Her photographs are in the collections of The Smithsonian among other museums and her 3D videos created in 1982 are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Early life

Goldsmith was born in Detroit, Michigan. Her mother was an interior decorator and her father was an engineer. Her older sister, Ellen Nieves, is a painter living in upstate New York. Goldsmith lived in Detroit until high school when she moved to Florida. She graduated from Miami Beach High School and then attended the University of Michigan where she graduated in three years with 2 degrees in English and Psychology. She was magna cum laude. She was the youngest woman director ever accepted into the Director's Guild of America as a director. She has numerous awards for her photography from the Lucien Clergue to The World Press. Though she has had multiple careers, ranging from co-manager of Grand Funk Railroad to Island Record's recording artist Will Powers, she is most widely known for her portraits of rock and roll's biggest icons. She chronicled Bruce Springsteen's rise, the Rolling Stones' stadium tours, and Michael Jackson's ascent. Cultural heroes like Bob Dylan and Patti Smith became frequent subjects for her lens.

Career

After college, Goldsmith worked for Elektra Records. In 1971, she met Joshua White and worked with him as a director for Joshua TV, the first company to do video magnification for rock groups entertaining at large venues. That same year, Goldsmith became the youngest member ever to be inducted into the Directors Guild of America. In 1972, Goldsmith directed ABC's In Concert, the first rock show on network television. After directing a documentary piece on Grand Funk Railroad for ABC, Goldsmith made a film on Grand Funk called "We're an American Band" in 1973. This led to her becoming the band's co-manager.
In the mid-seventies, she left managing and directing to focus on her photography. Goldsmith started the first photo agency that represented images of famous people in the entertainment field. The company, LGI, grew over the next 20 years to represent over 300 photographers worldwide.
During that time, Goldsmith also wrote songs and performed as Will Powers, and was signed to Island Records. In 1997, Goldsmith sold LGI to Corbis so she could concentrate more fully on her fine art photography and work with the Will Powers Institute.

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