Donna Summer at a Los Angeles shoot for SOUL Newspaper, 1977 © 2018 Bruce W. Talamon
As staff photographer at SOUL Newspaper during the 1970s, Los Angeles native Bruce W. Talamon knew the score: “always respect the artist and don’t fuck up the vibe. Always be on top of your game, and take any chance you can”. These lessons served him well documenting artists such as the Jackson Five, Parliament-Funkadelic, Donna Summer, James Brown, and Marvin Gaye; the legendary soul, funk, and R&B acts of the 1970s that turned pop music into an unforgettable trip on the Soul Train.
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Every Saturday morning, kids and teens across the United States tuned into Don Cornelius’ dance extravaganza. In the decade before video killed the radio star, the sound of Black America hit the high bar as artists like Al Green, Bootsy Collins, and Rick James burned up the stage. After they turned off the TV they hungered for more; more photos and stories about their heroes. So, they read SOUL.
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Talamon jumped on the scene, quite literally, when he walked on stage at Wattstax to photograph Isaac Hayes in 1972 – unaccredited. The young photographer had picked up a camera the year before, and decided to forgo his studies as a law student for something entirely different – something no one in the mainstream media was covering in any depth. It is fortunate that he did; as without Talamon, there would be no photograph of Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire walking with a white umbrella towards the Great Pyramids of Giza.
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Now, in his new book published by Taschen and titled Bruce W. Talamon. Soul. R&B. Funk. Photographs 1972–1982, the artist takes us back to this pivotal era in history, when glamour, grandeur, and grooves reigned supreme.
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Read the Full Story at AnOther Man
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Bootsy’s Rubber Band at a Burbank portrait session, California, 1977 © 2018 Bruce W. Talamon
Chaka Khan at The Roxy, 1977 © 2018 Bruce W. Talamon