sweet dreams

i’ve been asked many times who was my favorite artist to photograph, and the obvious answer is of course david bowie, because, well, david bowie. but in truth, annie lennox was my favorite, for many reasons. she was shy, serene and beautiful, endlessly interesting, and with a completely different look every time i worked with her.

only once was she anything less than gracious, and that’s a little story. dave and annie had apparently requested me to shoot a magazine cover in april 1985 (possibly for ‘no.1’ magazine), and i arrived at the bar at the churchill hotel around lunchtime, with my then-girlfriend rebecca assisting, as she often did. we set up our lights at the bar, and asked for annie, but for once, something wasn’t quite right. annie was a little grumpy, and the session was flat. i gave her assistant a plaintive look, and she quietly explained that annie had been doing press interviews all morning, and hadn’t eaten. “annie”, i said, “why don’t you take a break and have a sandwich, and i’ll take some photos of dave”.

a little while later a radiant ms lennox returned, resumed her pose at the bar and, it seemed, gazed deep into the depths of my soul. the result was the most transcendent image of my career. and all it took was a sandwich.