Career
Early in his life Stevens worked as a coffee house manager in New York City and took publicity photos of musicians playing the Playhouse Cafe. He was encouraged to pursue photography as a career by rock photographer Jim Marshall. Stevens did not have any formal training in photography and served for a time as the road manager for The Lovin" Spoonful.
He realized he "had an eye" for photography.
Some of Stevens" photos have been considered iconic. Stevens was Wings" official tour photographer.
In January 1978 Stevens photographed the Sex Pistols on their only American tour. When the group broke up in San Francisco, Stevens helped lead singer Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) fly to New York City, where Rotten stayed in the photographer"s New York apartment before returning to London.
Musician Peter Gabriel also visited the apartment.
Stevens photographed Gabriel covered with soap suds in his bathtub. In 2011, Stevens told an entertainment publication that he sees himself as a chronicler of history. In 2015, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth said that Stevens "was really the bridge between New York and London..He was really significant in the whole history that was developing in new music at that time.."
Stevens lives in Exeter, New Hampshire.
