In Their Own Words: Kevin Mazur On Scalping Zeppelin Tix, Getting Busted By Prince’s Security, Taking Eternal Photos

Kevin Mazur is a world-renowned photographer who’s shot thousands of live performances by the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Rolling Stones and far far beyond. He co-founded WireImage and currently works with Getty Images.

Courtesy Kevin Mazur – When We Were Kids:
Kevin Mazur (left) with Bono in 1987 after the filming of “Rattle and Hum” in Arizona.

I was born in Brooklyn. My father and mother’s family were all from there. My first exposure to photography was like anybody else’s. It was a high school class. I got my first camera as a gift. I was a life guard so I started taking pictures of the beach and sunsets.  My dad said I was always destined to be a music photographer. You couldn’t even see the walls in my room because I had posters and photos everywhere. I ripped up every Creem, Hit Parader and Rolling Stone and put it on my wall. Back in the ‘70s they used to have these big posters of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones and Elton John folded up inside that were like four feet by five feet.

We always had music playing in the house. Wherever we went, out on the boat or in the back yard my dad had his transistor radio and was playing music. I was always exposed to music. Then when I went to my first live show which was Led Zeppelin in ‘77 at Madison Square Garden, they did five nights that changed everything. 

You had to mail away to get tickets because they were trying to prevent ticket scalpers. I was lucky enough to get tickets. I took the train with friends where we met other friends. And I asked, “Where are your seats?” And they’re like, “Oh we don’t have tickets, we’re scalping.” I asked, “What’s scalping?” So my friend explained it to me. 

So we went to the show, we’re up in the nose bleed section and riding back on the train everybody’s saying I’m going again tomorrow. I asked, “You got tickets? You’re going again tomorrow?” They responded “No, we’re going to scalp.” I said, “I’m going to scalp too,” so me and my friend ended up scalping a pair on the train. Our other friends still needed a pair so when we got to the Garden, this guy had four seats that were even better. I turned to my friend and said, “I got cash on me, why don’t we buy these four seats together (which were right off the floor) and you’ll sell the two tickets we bought on the train.” 

We ended up selling the tickets we bought on the train for more money. I was like, “This is amazing!” So then I got hooked on scalping. Then we went a third time and ended up scalping tickets on the floor for Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, those were my bands when I was a kid.

Kevin Mazur / WireImage – This Band Could Be Your Life:
Led Zeppelin figure prominently in Kevin Mazur’s career. Here, Jimmy Page performs at Live Aid at JFK Stadium on July 13, 1985, in Philadelphia where Mazur was able to score a coveted all-access pass.

Back then we were just partying and having a good time. We would be in the front trying to make contact with the bands to get guitar picks or drumsticks. We were always hustling.

I started bringing my camera to shows to take photos of my favorite bands. 

At the Talking Heads show at Forest Hills, I snuck backstage. I see this guy drop some papers and I go over and I start helping him. We start talking and he said, “I work for ASCAP.” I didn’t know what ASCAP was so he explained they collect royalties for the artist. And he said, “I hire photographers, I’d like to hire you to do a job next week for me.” I said, “Sure, what is it?” He says, “Oh it’s a luncheon for Paul McCartney.” I said, Wait a minute. You mean Paul McCartney, the Beatle Paul McCartney?” He replies, “Yeah, Paul McCartney.” That was my first paid job in the business. 

So then I started working for ASCAP. I never assisted any big-name photographers. I learned all on my own. With my work, everything was word of mouth. Ken Sunshine, who was the head of communications at ASCAP, started hiring me all the time for all their events. It was great because not only was it rock and roll, but I got to see all sorts of famous composers like Leonard Cohen because they did everything. 

I would’ve never gone to the Philharmonic if it wasn’t for them. They exposed me to so many different cultures and music. I got this beautiful picture of Miles Davis when we went down to this little seedy jazz club and it was packed. Ken had us at a table right in front of Miles Davis and Bill Cosby was sitting next to us. I was shooting in the hardest shooting situation for a concert photographer because there was hardly any light and it was red light. Back in the day you had to shoot slide film and if your exposures weren’t right on, you got nothing. It’s so much easier today with digital photography.

This is when everything started happening for me. I was getting more regular work in the music industry and had all these pictures and wasn’t doing anything with them. So I called Annie Leibovitz’s studio to get some advice. It was a total fluke, but she just happened to pick up the phone. I think she was waiting for a phone call and she just said hello. I was freaked out, I was so nervous and fumbling my words and all I remember was her just rattling off these photo agencies and the one that stuck in my head was Retna. 

So I called the photography agency Retna and met with them. I brought in all my pictures and he says, “Wow you got a lot of great pictures of Billy Joel and we just had a request for Billy Joel. Can we take these pictures and send them out?”  I said, “Sure.” They call me up a week later and said oh pick up People magazine they’re running one of your pictures of Billy Joel. Then that was it. All I wanted to do was get published. There’s nothing more gratifying if you’re taking pictures than to pick up a magazine and see your picture with your name on it. 

Then I kept asking Retna if I could shoot any shows in New York because I wanted to get published. I was low man on the totem pole, like fifth man in line to try and get a photo pass so I’d keep shooting from the audience. And those guys are shooting three songs and I would shoot the whole show. 

It was fun and challenging because back in the day security didn’t care about photographers shooting a whole show from the audience until Van Halen. They were the first ones and didn’t want anybody shooting more than three songs. Then it became a cat and mouse game with shooting from the audience and not getting caught. There were certain bands that didn’t care but there were others that were very controlling. It was so much easier for me hustling and scalping tickets so I could be where I wanted to be to shoot. I had security guys at Nassau Coliseum that I was greasing at the door. I had a guy on the floor I was greasing. I had everything dialed in. 

I started out and still am a huge music fan and there’s nothing to me that’s more fun than being at a live concert and being in the front. It was always one big party with my friends going to shows. We’d all have a good time and I would always bring my camera along. And then when security got crazy you’d ask one of the girls, “Hey can you put this film in your pocketbook or put this lens or this camera body in?” I had a Nikon N2020 camera body it would sit perfect when I wore baggy pants and a big belt buckle and I’d tuck it in there. One of my favorites was a 180mm 2.8 lens. You need a fast aperture lens to shoot low light and it fit perfect in my sock and I’d wear bell bottom pants. And then in my other sock I’d shove film in or have somebody carry film in. Because back in the day it was film, so much easier now with digital. 

Kevin Mazur / WireImage / NPG Records 2011 – Baby I’m a Star:
Prince’s security team once detained Mazur for taking pictures. Here he is seen performing on his “Welcome 2 America” tour at The Forum on April 14, 2011, in Inglewood, Calif.

I got busted once at a Prince concert at Madison Square Garden and they were holding me backstage and the security guys told me to give them all my film. I said, “I’ll give you my film if you bring a cop in here.” So he brought a cop in and the cop told me to give him the film. I said, “No, because I come from a family of cops so I know by law you can’t take my film. You could escort me out of the building but you can’t have my film.” The cop insisted I give it to him. 

I said, “You want to argue about that? Give me your badge number and I’ll report you because I know the law.” I got escorted out. Prince’s bodyguard was freaking out, but I needed that film. Then when I started working and became friendly with Prince, I told him that story. He didn’t even break a smile, he just shook his head.

That Jimmy Page photo. I couldn’t get a photo pass for Live Aid so Ken said, “Hey listen, why don’t you just come down with me, I’m going down there working as a volunteer publicist. Why don’t you come work as a volunteer publicist and bring our cameras, you never know what’ll happen.” So the day before at rehearsals when Mick Jagger and Tina Turner were rehearsing I got my all-access pass from Shelley Lazar. We call her the ticket queen, aka MFTQ, because she handles all the passes. So we got our all-access passes. I said to Ken, “Forget about helping, I’m talking pictures.” Ken said, “Yeah go take pictures, you don’t have to help.”

I went running around taking pictures and I couldn’t get backstage because you needed a sticker on your pass. I said to Ken, “I can’t get backstage, I need a sticker.” He said to go see Shelley, she put a sticker on my pass and boom, I had an all-access pass and to this day I still have that pass. I had an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I had all my passes on display and so many people wanted to buy that pass from me. The numbers went into the thousands, that’s how bad people wanted that pass. Yeah, no I’m not selling, I’m never selling it. That’s a great memory. That’s how I got that picture of Jimmy Page and many more that day. 

With live photography, It’s all about capturing the moment. You have to be on your game. You don’t take that camera off your eye. You keep your eye to the camera and you wait for those moments. The worst is having your camera down and you see Eddie Vedder jump in the air and go, I just fucked up. I missed it.

Danny Clinch is like me, man. We love music and we love photography. He’s my photo brother. If there’s a big music festival, me, Danny and Jeff Kravitz (my other photo brother) are always there and the festival will be well documented. As Bono once said to me, “You’re always invisible until you need to get the shot, then all of sudden, boom, you’re there to get the shot.” So, we’re kind of like flies on the wall. You have to be able to blend in when you want to get those great shots backstage. Live photos people can get; but to get backstage, to get those intimate photos that Danny and I get, that’s a whole different ball game.

I was there for the recording of Love and Theft with Bob Dylan. My photo ended up being the album cover. Bob at one point during the recording said to someone, “Hey man I think you should have Kevin come in and take photos.” And I was hiding behind a road case. I popped out and I said “I’m right here, Bob.” He jumped. I scared the shit out of him.

When you capture a great photo, you’re capturing a still frame of an artist in a moment that can live forever. After we are long gone. I took the last photo og Michael Jackson performing. Everyone know those images. So many times people go, “Oh my God you took that photo? I remember that photo.”  I’ll be long gone, but I know my photos will be here forever. They’ll live for an eternity.