Just like you and I, rock stars all have parents too. In the deep dusty corners of the Life Magazine archives, these pictures have turned up – famous 70′s rock stars with their parents, taken in their parents’ houses. These pictures are strangely humanizing, showing these rock stars at their parents place. They all seem to have real, honest-to-goodness, “normal” seeming families (well, maybe except for Elton John). What I found most interesting though is the awesome 70′s decor in most of these places. Click on any photo to view in higher resolution and size.
Frank Zappa with his parents Francis and Rosemary in California. Credit: John Olson, Life. By the way, if you already haven’t you have to check this book out. It’s one of the funniest, most entertaining books I’ve read in a long time. It stayed in my bathroom for about 6 months. Nice one matching your shirt to the walls, Frank.
David Crosby with his father Floyd in father’s house in Ojai, California. Credit: John Olson, Life
Grace Slick with her mom Virginia Wing in her mom’s home in Palo Alto, California. Credit: John Olson, Life . That blue chair rocks.
Elton John with his mom Shelia and dad (actually stepfather) Fred Fairebrother hanging out in their London apartment. Credit: John Olson, Life . CHeck out those boots on his mom – nothing more pimpin’ than boots that match your shirt. Looks like Elton got his fashion sense from his mom.
Donovan and his parents in England, also The Jackson Five with their parents in Encino, California. Credit: John Olson, Life
Eric Clapton with his grandmother Rose in the house he bought her in Surrey, England. Credit: John Olson, Life . I’m thinking Eric’s grandma cut up her previous drapes to make his vest. More to come... actually scratch that, here they are: Part 2.
This just made my day. Hilarious.
I love it…nice work…I mention it in my upcoming post on my blog…hope you don’t mind.
Where are Jimmy Page’s parents?
Ermm 540 pixels isn’t considered “high resolution”, but yeah, ok.
I love the color of the walls in the living room of Frank Zappa parents house. I would totally use that today!
Wow I bet it was a real hoot hanging out with Elton John back in the day!
Rock star parents is a very cool post.
My favorite is the photo of Frank Zappa with his parents.
thanks from tony
Great post…would love seeing them enlarged a bit more.
Liveon35mm.com
contemporary live music on glorious B&W film
Elton’s pic ‘splains it all.
Dresses like Mom and stepfather is
Fred Fairybrother??lol
Man, those are incredible pics. The Crosby one is fascinating, you can feel the tension as their world’s are colliding. Conversely, look at the pride on Clapton’s Granny’s face.
I want to see Ozzy Ozborne’s folks!
Clapton was so hot back then. I would have shagged him even in that vest. schwing!
This just made my day. Hilarious..
These are awesome, I’m not sure which is more entertaining, the decor or the people. I know about Moon Unit and Dweezle, but never really thought about Frank Zappa having parents. They must have been pretty amazing. I wonder if they wore brown shoes:)
One thing that I always liked about Frank Zappa was that he kept a plain old record player so he could listen to his albums the way his fans did. Two track mono recordings really id offer great separation.
I remember those rock stars from history class!
A brilliant theme for a photography project! Great, entertaining post.
Great post…would love seeing them enlarged a bit more…
I want to see Ozzy Ozborne’s folks!!
This is Wundermus! Joan Jett? Rod Stewart?
Must. See. Norman… Greenbaum!
Did anyone else notice the work of art hanging on Zappa’s parent’s wall? It’s the cover of Alice Cooper’s first record, Pretties for You.
I remember finding this issue in my great-grandmother’s apartment right about the time I became besotted with Elton John. The shots are like Wallpaper mag before Wallpaper mag existed. Brill.
lol i would love to see marilyn manson at his parents house
OMG, Elton John was cute as a button! What happened to the gorgeous boy from back then?
Wow this is funny
Anne (#21), you do realize that Elton’s the old looking dude seated on his mum’s left (well, actually on her Danish modern table). The cute dude is Elton’s stepdad, Fred Fairebrother. Sadly, mostly to Elton, a post-adolescent Elton has never been cute as a button.
Agree about the colour of Zappa’s living room wall – notice how they kind of carried on painting over the fireplace,leaving enough brick showing – maybe they decided it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Way cool. I love the Zappa family house.
Is it just me or do those interiors look totally cool!? I could even imagine seeing them in Dwell, or Wallpaper, – with the exception of Eric Claptons’ mum’s home. Sorry Eric’s mum
Regarding Clapton and grandmother. Clapton never knew his father. His dad took off as a typical deadbeat father before Eric was born or before those 18 months on this earth that none of us are supposed to be able to remember. At least that’s what I gather from some psychology articles. Evidently Clapton’s mother left him with his good grandma to take care of him or she died before he made it big time, etc. Unlike liar president Obama(who I now regret voting for)who was also brought up by his grandmother, Clapton did good things for us with his music, while sell out “house boy” Obama sold out to the corporations and banks and reneged on all of his promises in his campaign to bring this country back to the social democracy which USA was starting(and stopped by REAGAN, and every president that followed) in the 1970′s. Clapton also came back to help the guys who vaulted him into fame–ginger baker, and jack bruce–after two decades of not talking to them till Cream’s introduction in the rock hall of fame in the 1990′s or early 2000′s, can’t remember. Clapton paid for expensive medical care needed for Ginger Baker maybe 5 or ten years ago. Good bless Clapton for his music. God damn Obama for reneging on his promises and filling his staff with wall street evil bastards. trivia: Clapton’s real last name is Clapp.
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You got this wrong about the Frank Zappa photo. That was HIS living room, not his parents. Honest. I lived there.