June 1, 2020
Terry Quirk, the artist best known for
painting the iconic psychedelic cover for The Zombies’ 1968 album Odessey and
Oracle, passed away suddenly early this morning at his home in Salisbury,
England.
Terence “Terry” Quirk was born June 22, 1941
in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England.
His association with The Zombies began long before the band’s formation,
meeting future singer Colin Blunstone and bassist Chris White in the local
grammar school. Quirk and White went on
to attend art school together, and they shared a North London flat with
keyboardist Rod Argent in 1967 when Argent and White were writing the songs
that would become “Odessey and Oracle”.
The musicians asked Quirk to design their album cover, and brought the
artist into their recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios for inspiration.
As Quirk explained in his biography, “I can
remember sitting on some stairs, and it was around half past one in the
morning, and they were thinking of titles. I had a pad and a pencil, and they
were having a discussion, and out came the word ‘odyssey,’ and I just wrote it
in this floral writing. And then out of it came ‘oracle,’ and I wrote that
down. When the guys came back from a break, I showed it to them and said, ‘How
about this?’ And they said, ‘Perfect, absolutely perfect – color it in, put
some figures in. You know what the songs are about.’ And that was it.”
Quirk’s now infamous misspelling of ‘odyssey’
in the album title - an error that went unnoticed until after the record had
gone to print - is as much a part of Rock legend as the artwork and songs
themselves. Released by a CBS Records
subsidiary in 1968, The Zombies Odessey and Oracle was initially considered a
commercial failure, but a year later spawned the world-wide hit “Time of the
Season” and went on to be named in Top All-Time Album lists from the likes of Rolling Stone and Mojo Magazines. Quirk’s
friendship and association with The Zombies continued over the next 5 decades,
most recently painting the covers for the band’s 2015 album “till Got That
Hunger (The End Records/BMG) and tabletop book “The Odessey: The Zombies in
Words and Images” (BMG Books/Reel Art Press).
A prolific and irrepressible creative force,
Quirk wrote and illustrated children’s novels, penned books of poetry, and
staged musical productions for local schools.
At the time of his death, he was collaborating with Chris White on a
musical about The Zombies. Quirk’s
artwork has been featured in exhibitions at The O2 Arena and Victoria &
Albert Museum in London, and his original cover paintings for Odessey and
Oracle and Still Got That Hunger are currently on display at The Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
Terry is survived by his wife Erica, their 5 children
and 7 grandchildren.
Quotes:
Chris
White of The Zombies
‘My oldest friend, artist and and co-writer,
Terry Quirk, died this morning. A great loss to myself and all his friends. His
creativity and laughter will be sorely missed. My thoughts are with his
family.’
Rod Argent of The Zombies
“Chris White phoned me this morning with the incredibly
sad news that his lifetime best friend Terry Quirk had died suddenly a few
hours earlier.
I’d
known Terry since the earliest days of The Zombies; from 1962. He, along with
Chris, was my flatmate when I first moved away from home in the sixties. He was
then, as he remained all his life, the loveliest man, hugely talented and
unremittingly enthusiastic, with a terrific and never- ending capacity for
work. Terry was honestly one of that rare breed that cast a pool of sunshine
wherever he went. He’ll be so missed.”
Karen Herman, Vice President &
Chief Curator, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
“Terry
Quirk’s iconic cover art for 1967’s Odessey
& Oracle added a visual style that matched the Zombies’ unique sound.
We’re thrilled to have the original artwork on display as one of the highlights
of the 2019 inductees exhibit. Museum visitors have been astounded by both its
intricate beauty and its presentation of a bold new aesthetic.”
Website:
No comments:
Post a Comment