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John Kosh | |
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| Birth name | John Kosh |
| Also known as | Kosh |
| Born | London, England |
| Occupation | Art Director / Album Cover Designer / Graphic Artist / Documentary Producer |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Website | www |
John Kosh, known simply asKosh, is an English art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in London, England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for theRoyal Ballet and theRoyal Opera House. He was thecreative director ofApple Corps forThe Beatles and was art director and album cover designer forAbbey Road andLet It Be, as well as other Apple artists.[1]
As art director ofArt & Artists Magazine, he metthe Beatles towards the end of the 1960s and was hired as Creative Director forApple Records, where he was responsible for design, promotion and publicity.[2] During this period he designed albums for a clientele that covered numerous British rock bands includingthe Rolling Stones. In 1969 Kosh handled the "War Is Over (if you want it)” campaign forJohn Lennon andYoko Ono and created theAbbey Road,Let It Be andWho's Next album covers. During this period Kosh became well known in the Londonavant-garde art scene for designing and producing exhibitions, posters and books.
In 1973 after garnering several awards with the London Design & Art Directors Association he was elected to the British D&AD Jury before moving to Los Angeles. Once in L.A. he continued designing for various famous artists including:Jon Lord,Kim Carnes,Bonnie Raitt,Rod Stewart,Donovan,Jimmy Buffett,Bob Dylan,the Eagles,The Moody Blues,Dan Fogelberg,Carole King,Randy Newman,Pointer Sisters,T.Rex,Richard Pryor,Ringo Starr,Linda Ronstadt,Electric Light Orchestra,Bob Seger,Spinal Tap,W.A.S.P.James Taylor,Marvin Gaye, andIke and Tina Turner. Kosh has garnered seven Grammy nominations and won three for his work with Linda Ronstadt. He is the only Art Director to have worked withThe Beatles,The Rolling Stones andThe Who.
He served as faculty member ofOtis/Parsons Institute of Art and on the Board of Governors of the National Recording Academy. From approximately 1988 to 1993, Kosh was partner in the Los Angeles design studio Kosh Brooks Design, with fellow Art Director Larry Brooks. Kosh's client roster has includedCapitol Records,Columbia-TriStar,Walt Disney Studios,Walt Disney Classics,Fox Television, The Gurin Company,CNN,MCA,MGM, theNFL (he designed theSuper Bowl XXI logo),Sony Records andWarner Bros. Records. In 2009, the British Post Office (Royal Mail) issued commemorative stamps recognising the Beatles and their album covers. Two of them were Kosh's:Abbey Road andLet It Be.
John Kosh currently lives and works in Los Angeles with partner, wardrobe stylist and writer, Genevieve Schorr. He has one son, John Kosh Jr. (born in London ) in 1971.
A display of his more prominent graphics was exhibited at theRock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum inCleveland, Ohio.
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Kosh is a seven-timeGrammy nominee, and has won three of the awards:
In 1995 Kosh and actor Susan Shearer formedTen Worlds Entertainment. They directed the opening and closing sequences for the Emmy winning documentaries "When The Lion Roars—TheMGM Story" and "In Search ofDr. Seuss" forTurner along with the 1992 through 1998Billboard Awards telecasts forFox TV. As production designers on theShowtime six-hour documentary, "Sex and the Silver Screen" withRaquel Welch, Kosh and Shearer recreated the look, lighting and film techniques of the 1960s back through the 1920s and teens. Ten Worlds was responsible for the title, set and production design for theCBS special "60 Years of Life Magazine" hosted byCandice Bergen. Ten Worlds also produced the elegant show logos and graphics for a series ofTCM documentaries on glamorous film stars such asLouise Brooks,Rita Hayworth andClara Bow. They designed theWarner Bros. 75th Anniversary Show, "Glorious Technicolor", hosted byAngela Lansbury, forTNT and the New Year's special, "Life Remembers forCBS". Ten Worlds achieved critical acclaim for their work on "The Last Days of Kennedy and King" forTBS and the ten-hour documentary "100 Years −100 Movies" for the America Film Institute andCBS. The Ten Worlds team designed "California Connected", a dynamic, weekly news program forPBS stations throughout California and "The Barrymores", a 90-minute special forA&E along with "Masters of Production" forPBS, chronicling the great Hollywood movie production designers.
In 2005, Kosh led Ten Worlds Entertainment into its evolution – becoming Ten Worlds Productions, Inc. Under its new name, it produced and directed a pilot forThe History Channel, "Declassified: The Rise and Fall of the Wall", which sheds new light on theBerlin Wall. This pilot soon became a 13-part documentary series. The subjects of these documentaries focus on such figures asJohn Lennon,Fidel Castro, theTet Offensive,Charles Lindbergh,Joseph Stalin andWorld War I.
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