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David Costa | |
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![]() 2016 photo by Judith Costa | |
Background information | |
Birth name | David Costa |
Born | Westminster, London, England | 18 November 1947
Genres | Folk rock |
Occupation(s) | Graphic Designer, Art Director, Musician |
Years active | 1969–present |
Labels | CBS, Rocket, Sony |
David Costa (born 18 November 1947) is an English graphic designer, art director and musician. [1] Notable design collaborations include those for Queen, Elton John, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Genesis, The Rolling Stones and Phil Collins.
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(April 2022) |
Costa was born in London, England. His grandfather was a songwriter and pianist with the Savoy Orpheans. His father was the singer and radio presenter Sam Costa. He attended Merchant Taylors' public school, pursuing Fine Arts at the University of East Anglia in 1966.
In early 1969 he left university and brought together Barry Clarke, Bias Boshell, Unwin Brown and Celia Humphris to form the folk-rock band Trees, subsequently recording two albums: The Garden of Jane Delawney and On the Shore . In 1971 he left Trees to pursue freelance graphic design, eventually with Dick James Music in 1972, leading to a sequence of album sleeves for Elton John, [2] [3] [4] [5] and subsequently as art director in the UK offices of Rocket Records. During this period, Costa and guitarist Barry Clarke went on to write, record and produce the band Casablanca and subsequent eponymous album [6] in 1973.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s freelance design projects included work with ex-Beatles press officer Derek Taylor to instigate the "Brighton Pier" label for Warner Bros. Records UK. From 1977 through 1979 Costa ran his studio Jubilee Graphics from the previous offices of the Rocket Record Company in Wardour Street, London. Over the ensuing decade he worked as a freelance designer/art director on the re-launched Tatler magazine with Tina Brown; redesign and art direction on the relaunched The Field magazine; early visual proposals for Today , Eddie Shah's publication that pioneered the use of computer systems with photo-typesetting and full-colour offset printing, and, the redesign and frequent illustration of covers for Encounter magazine.
Year | Album | Artist | Label |
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1969 | The Garden of Jane Delawney | Trees | CBS Records, 2007 Sony Rewind, Sunbeam Records |
1970 | On the Shore | Trees | CBS Records, 2007 Sony Rewind, Sunbeam Records |
1973 | Casablanca | Casablanca | Rocket |
Year | Title | Author/Artist | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | Blinds & Shutters | Michael Cooper | Genesis Publications [10] |
1991 | 24 Nights | Eric Clapton/Peter Blake | Genesis Publications [11] |
1994 | Liverpool Days | Astrid Kirchherr/Max Scheler | Genesis Publications [12] |
1994 | Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book | Brian Froud/Terry Jones | Pavilion Books [13] |
1995 | Mason's Yard to Primrose Hill | Gered Mankowitz | Genesis Publications [14] |
1995 | Sometime in New York City | Bob Gruen | Genesis Publications [15] |
1996 | Strange Stains and Mysterious Smells | Brian Froud/Terry Jones | Pavilion Books/Simon & Schuster [16] |
1996 | Stuart: The Life and Art of Stuart Sutcliffe | Stuart Sutcliffe | Genesis Publications [17] |
1997 | Raga Mala | Ravi Shankar | Genesis Publications [18] |
1998 | Eye-Contact | Gered Mankowitz | Genesis Publications [19] |
1998 | Wyman Shoots Chagall | Bill Wyman | Genesis Publications [20] |
1998 | The Rolling Stones: A Life on the Road | Philip Dodd/The Rolling Stones | Virgin Books [21] |
1999 | Hamburg Days | Astrid Kirchherr/Klaus Voormann | Genesis Publications [22] |
1999 | The Vogue Book of Blondes | Kathy Phillips | Pavilion Books [23] |
2000 | The Beatles Anthology | The Beatles | Cassell/Chronicle Books [24] |
2001 | The Book of Rock | Philip Dodd | Pavilion Books [25] |
2002 | Shooting Sex: The Definitive Guide to Undressing Beautiful Strangers | Bob Carlos Clarke | Bob Carlos Clarke [26] |
2002 | Martin Guitar Masterpieces | Martin Guitars/Dick Boak | Bulfinch Press [27] |
2003 | Punk: A Life Apart | Stephen Colegrave/Chris Sullivan | Cassell/Chronicle Books [28] |
2005 | Drawing Blood Forty Five Years of Scarfe Uncensored | Gerald Scarfe | Little, Brown Book Group [29] |
2006 | Will The Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America | Country Music Hall of Fame | DK Publishing [30] |
2007 | Genesis: Chapter & Verse | Genesis | Weidenfeld & Nicolson [31] |
2009 | Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World | Mike Evans, Paul Kingsbury, Museum at Bethel Woods | Sterling [32] |
2011 | No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan | Robert Shelton | Backbeat Books [33] |
2013 | Starting at Zero | Alan Douglas/Peter Neal | Bloomsbury Publishing [34] |
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