Larry Singer Collection

The Larry Singer Collection

Larry Singer was a photographer with Circus magazine from 1970 - 1983. Larry enjoyed unprecedented access to Alice during that time, photographing him many times, both on stage and off.

The photo's below appear in his recently published book, Backstage: All Access: Behind-the-scenes iconic images of some of the greatest rock and roll stars of all time.

Check out Larry Singers Photography website, where these and some of his other photographs can be seen or ordered.

"The first time I met Alice, the band had only one hit, 'I'm 18'. I had no idea who or what Alice was, or even what he looked like. The night of the concert, I tried to find the band so that I could do an interview. When I poked my head into the group's dressing room, I caught my first glimpse of Alice in full costume and makeup, and I decided I really didn't want to talk to this guy. So I walked away. But before I could take more than a few steps, I heard Alice yell, 'Hey, come back. I want to talk to you.' I later found out that Alice had once taken pictures for his high school newspaper, and seeing the three cameras around my neck, he wasn't about to let a perfectly good a picture opportunity go to waste. When Alice asked me what kind of photography I did, I just happened to have pictures with me of the Who that I had shot a month earlier. Alice then had the rest of band gather around and check out my work.

"That night, Alice and I began a professional relationship that lasted for years. He was a soft-spoken, brilliant showman who knew the value of happy press photographers.

"My writing partner and I took Alice to Broward Community College for an unusual slide show. Alice had just performed in Miami the previous night, and I had shot his show on slide film. Having no other place to show Alice what I had done, we took him, his manager and two or three band members to the planetarium at BCC to show them my slides. I had cleared this with the astronomy professor, who, during his class, told his students there would be a short break for some music and rock photography. Alice and his entourage then entered the room, walked down to the front row, and for the next 20 minutes watched themselves as they floated through the heavens as if in performance.

"Alice told me that when he first used the snake in his act, she was a little nervous, but still very well behaved. However during a show one night, while Alice was singing, Chiquita coiled herself around his neck and body and, as she stared into his eyes, gave him a very scary hard squeeze. 'She was just telling me what she could do to me if I ever pissed her off,' Alice said. 'And I try really hard not to piss her off.'"

- Larry Singer