John Kosh

From Wikipedia:

John Kosh, known simply as Kosh, 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 the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera House. He was the creative director of Apple Corps for The Beatles and was art director and album cover designer for Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as other Apple artists.

History

As art director of Art & Artists Magazine, he met the Beatles towards the end of the 1960s and was hired as Creative Director for Apple Records, where he was responsible for design, promotion and publicity. During this period he designed albums for a clientele that covered numerous British rock bands including the Rolling Stones. In 1969 Kosh handled the “War Is Over (if you want it)” campaign for John Lennon and Yoko Ono and created the Abbey Road, Let It Be and Who’s Next album covers. During this period Kosh became well known in the London avant-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, and Ike 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 with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who. […]

Sometime in 1969, John Kosh received an unexpected phone call from someone claiming to be John Lennon, requesting a meeting — at a hospital, of all places. The call was genuine.

I had to go and ask for ‘Mr. Winston,’ which was John Lennon’s middle name. I went up in the elevator, I pressed the doorbell. The door opened, and it was John Lennon! He said, ‘Come on in.’ He got me a space at Apple to look after the various artists they had at the time–it was Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston, Jackie Lomax, James Taylor. All of a sudden I found myself thrusted into this mad house of creativity, great fun, and hard work.

John Kosh – Apple’s Creative Director – From Forbes, September 24, 2019

[John Lennon and I] hit it off immediately and we had a lot of fun, and I suddenly found myself working at Apple. I wasn’t exactly staff, but I had an office. I started out on the ground floor in Ron Kass’s old office until Lennon kicked us out because he wanted the office, then I ended up on the second floor with Derek Taylor. They didn’t have an art studio; we just had an office. I used to do the design work at night, come in at lunch and get stoned and then go home again. I was just hanging out, I actually did the work at home.”

John Kosh – From “Those Were The Days 2.0: The Beatles And Apple” by Stefan Granados, 2021

According to Kenneth Womack’s “Living the Beatles Legend: The untold story of Mal Evans” and a 2021 interview he conducted with John Kosh, Kosh was already at Apple by April 1969, and even attended “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” session:

John and Paul took a stab at the song at EMI Studios on April 14. John Kosh was there, having recently been appointed Apple’s creative director. Kosh had heard stories of “gloom and doom” about the Beatles’ relationships, only to discover that John and Paul—two men who were supposedly not even speaking to each other — “were having great fun making truly joyous music.”

From “Living the Beatles Legend: The untold story of Mal Evans” by Kenneth Womack, 2023

John Kosh initially began working on the design for the “Get Back” album and accompanying book, envisioning a predominantly dark cover — a deliberate contrast to the previous White Album. This suggests that, by the summer of 1969, the original concept for “Get Back” cover — which featured a photograph of The Beatles taken in May 1969, recreating the cover of the “Please Please Me” LP — had been set aside in favor of a new visual approach. However, Kosh’s attention was soon redirected, as he was quickly asked to focus on the artwork for a different project, “Abbey Road.”

At the time they were working on an album called “Get Back.” So therefore, we should have a Black Album. But in the middle of all of this, they put that on hold and “Abbey Road” came in.”

John Kosh – From Forbes, September 24, 2019

How did your first album cover, Abbey Road,come about?

Serendipity. [Photographer] Iain Macmillan — we lost him, too — it was really a publicity photograph. It was a desperate time for EMI. “Let It Be” was supposed to come out… and was put back. “Abbey Road,” all of a sudden, was slotted in and they wanted an album cover on Wednesday — and it’s Tuesday. Iain Macmillan had his light box, and we had the loop and transparencies and we just chose one. Then I had to go, I had to really rush.

The point was, I had no clue what I was doing at the time.

But somehow or other the printer, which was Garrodd & Lofthouse — which George Harrison called “Garage and Shithouse” — [laughs] really helped me put this thing together. I worked for the opera, I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. Talk about dumped into the deep end.

John Kosh – From Rock Cellar Magazine – Cross the Road with Beatles Art Director Kosh (Interview), April 17, 2013

All these phenomenal “Paul- is-dead” rumors started after the album was released.

Yeah, Paul with his bare feet — totally serendipity… Lenny was wearing a white suit… The “28IF”license plate… Murray the K, who claimed to be the “Fifth Beatle,” they were all propagating this stuff. And it was my job not to confirm or deny Paul’s death.

[Whispers] “It looks like Paul to me” — that’s all we were allowed to say. And that was Derek Taylor — another one who’s left us — but nonetheless he was a great publicist, the publicist in the sky… It grew. And Derek, who was brilliant as a promotional artist, said: “Let it roll. Don’t deny it!” It sold 26 million albums.

John Kosh – From Rock Cellar Magazine – Cross the Road with Beatles Art Director Kosh (Interview), April 17, 2013

Recording sessions John Kosh participated in