A Chilly Autumn Morning in Late 1963
Standing before Terry O'Neill's famous photograph of The Rolling Stones on Denmark Street, you are looking at a moment from the band's early years, before they became international music icons.
Fans browsing the archives at Iconic Images Gallery often ask: when was the Rolling Stones photograph taken?
The photograph dates to 1963, although the exact day and season are not firmly established in the sources available.
At the time, The Rolling Stones were an emerging British band. They had released their first single, a cover of Chuck Berry's Come On, in June 1963 and were building a following through live performances, including at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond.
Terry O'Neill was also at the beginning of his celebrated career. Born in 1938, he had photographed The Beatles in the yard at Abbey Road Studios earlier that year, in one of his first major newspaper assignments.
The Stones' manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, subsequently contacted O'Neill to photograph the band. O'Neill took the group to Denmark Street, then known as Tin Pan Alley because of its connections to London's music industry, and captured a series of photographs that helped establish the band's early image.
One of the pictures was published in the Daily Sketch.
The photographs preserve a glimpse of The Rolling Stones before their rise to global fame, capturing the attitude and youthful energy that would become central to their public image.
To explore original darkroom prints and other photographs from this period, visit Iconic Images Gallery or browse the collection at iconicimagesgallery.com.