David Daltrey

A love of rock & roll led David Daltry to become a highly respected music journalist. A former editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, for whom he wrote cover stories on Little Richard, James Brown, and Elvis Presley, Daltry went on to pen biographies of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Marianne Faithful, the Grateful Dead, Sid Vicious, and Meat Loaf. His first novel, Been Here and Gone, which tells of the struggles of a fictional blues musician, was published in 2000. A native of London who grew up in British Columbia, Daltry studied simultaneously at Columbia University and an art school in New York. Attracting attention with his candid photographs of the Yardbirds, the Animals, the Rolling Stones, and the Dave Clark Five, he moved onto to rock journalism after convincing Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner to hire him to write for the publication shortly after its debut in 1967. Daltry briefly returned to photography when he came close to being busted (for drug possession) and returned to England. While there, he shot photographs of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Steve Winwood which were published in Rolling Stone. Daltry reached his apex in the late '60s, when he and Rolling Stone contributor Jonathan Cott collaborated on the authorized book Get Back, a scholarly study of the Beatles' January 1969 recording sessions. The following year, he received a Columbia School of Journalism award for an article with convicted serial murderer Charlie Manson, written with Rolling Stone editor David Felton. With his reputation established, Daltry left magazine writing in 1971 to concentrate on writing books. His subsequent publications include The Rolling Stones: An Authorized Biography in 1972, Rock 100, written with Lenny Kaye, in 1977, Mr. Mojo Risin': Jim Morrison, The Last Holy Fool in 1991, Faithful: The Autobiography Of Marianne Faithful in 1994, Living with the Dead, written with Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully, in 1996, El Sid in 1997, and To Hell and Back: The Meat Loaf Biography in 1999. ~ Craig Harris