John Kosh

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 The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.[1]

John Kosh
Birth nameJohn Kosh
Also known asKosh
Occupation(s)Art Director / Album Cover Designer / Graphic Artist / Documentary Producer
Years active1965 – present
Associated actsThe Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, Lewis Black, Electric Light Orchestra
WebsiteKosh Design

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.[2] 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 campaign for John Lennon and Yoko Ono and created the famous Abbey Road 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 Club, 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, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg, Carole King, Randy Newman, Pointer Sisters, T.Rex, Richard Pryor, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt, Electric Light Orchestra, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Spinal Tap and James Taylor. Kosh has garnered seven Grammy nominations and won three for his work with Linda Ronstadt.

He served as faculty member of Otis/Parsons Institute of Art and on the Board of Governors of the National Recording Academy. From approximately 1988-1993, Kosh was partner in the Los Angeles Design Studio, Kosh Brooks Design, with fellow Art Director Larry Brooks. Kosh's client roster has included Capitol Records, Columbia-TriStar, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Classics, Fox Television, The Gurin Company, CNN, MCA, MGM, the NFL (he designed the Super Bowl XXI logo), Sony Records and Warner Bros. Records. In 2009, the British Post Office (Royal Mail) issued commemorative stamps recognising the Beatles and their album covers. Two of them were Kosh's: Abbey Road and Let It Be.

Personal life

John Kosh currently lives and works in Los Angeles and has one child, John Kosh Jr. (born in London 24 May 1971) who currently lives in Pullman, Washington.[3]

Works

A display of his more prominent graphics was exhibited at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Awards

Kosh is a seven-time Grammy nominee, and has won three of the awards:

Journey to the Ten Worlds

In 1995 Kosh and actor Susan Shearer formed Ten Worlds Entertainment. They directed the opening and closing sequences for the Emmy winning documentaries "When The Lion Roars—The MGM Story" and "In Search of Dr. Seuss" for Turner along with the 1992 through 1998 Billboard Awards telecasts for Fox TV. As production designers on the Showtime six-hour documentary, "Sex and the Silver Screen" with Raquel Welch, Kosh and Shearer recreated the look, lighting and film techniques of the 1960s back through the 1920s and teens. Ten Worlds was responsible for the title, set and production design for the CBS special "60 Years of Life Magazine" hosted by Candice Bergen. Ten Worlds also produced the elegant show logos and graphics for a series of TCM documentaries on glamorous film stars such as Louise Brooks, Rita Hayworth and Clara Bow. They designed the Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary Show, "Glorious Technicolor", hosted by Angela Lansbury, for TNT and the New Year's special, "Life Remembers for CBS". Ten Worlds achieved critical acclaim for their work on "The Last Days of Kennedy and King" for TBS and the ten-hour documentary "100 Years −100 Movies" for the America Film Institute and CBS. The Ten Worlds team designed "California Connected", a dynamic, weekly news program for PBS stations throughout California and "The Barrymores", a 90-minute special for A&E along with "Masters of Production" for PBS, chronicling the great Hollywood movie production designers.

In 2005, Kosh led Ten Worlds Entertainment into its evolution – becoming Ten Worlds Productions, Inc. Under its new name, it produced and directed a pilot for The History Channel, "Declassified: The Rise and Fall of the Wall", which sheds new light on the Berlin Wall. This pilot soon became a 13-part documentary series. The subjects of these documentaries focus on such figures as John Lennon, Fidel Castro, the Tet Offensive, Charles Lindbergh, Joseph Stalin and World War I.

Kosh and Ten Worlds Productions, Inc. are presently developing a rock doc feature on Apple Records and 2 animated series; one with comedian Lewis Black, and the other with Tea and Cheese from the UK.[7]

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References
  1. Kosh - Art For Art's Sake by Jefferson Laufer for Rock Bands of LA, 11 June 2012
  2. Westways Magazine, June 2012
  3. Kosh, John (5 May 2020). "YMCA of the Palouse Board of Trustees". YMCA of the Palouse.
  4. 1985 - 28th Annual Grammy Awards
  5. 1982 - 25th Annual Grammy Awards
  6. 1977 - 20th Annual Grammy Awards
  7. About Us - Ten Worlds Productions, Inc.
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