Leee Black Childers was an American photographer, writer and rock music manager, who "recorded the legacy of a theatrical cross over between rock music and gay culture".
Background
He was born Lee Black Childers in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and started to spell his name with three rather than two "e"s as a child. He grew up in Kentucky and attended Kentucky Southern College near Louisville before moving to San Francisco, and, in 1968, to New York City.
Career
He started taking photographs of drag queens, and was encouraged by Andy Warhol to work as a photographer, gaining a reputation for his portraits of the artists, musicians and others who passed through the Factory in New New York In the early 1970s, he managed Warhol"s stage production, Pork, directed by Tony Ingrassia at the Roundhouse in London. He was assistant to Warhol at the Factory between 1982-1984, and took photographs of visiting celebrities, counter-cultural figures and musicians, particularly of punk rock and new wave music stars, such as Debbie Harry, Wayne County and The Sex Pistols.
He worked as a tour manager for David Bowie, Iggy People’s, Johnny Thunders and others
In 2012 he published Drag Queens, Rent Boys, Pick Pockets, Junkies, Rockstars and Punks, a collection of some of his photographs and their background which was the subject of an exhibition in London in 2011, and Los Angeles in March 2014. In 2016, Childers 2010 interview was featured in Danny Says appearing alongside Danny Fields, Iggy People’s & Alice Cooper.
Childers died in Los Angeles, California on April 6, 2014 at the age of 68 from undisclosed causes.