R.I.P Zacron (Led Zeppelin III Cover Designer)

British Artist "Zacron"

Sad news to report today, noted artist Zacron (real name Richard Drew) has passed away at the age of 69. The Led Zeppelin III cover designer had been battling colon cancer and actually passed on in January of this year, but it has only just now been reported.

Zacron attending Kingston Art College in the 1960's alongside luminary classmates Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Zacron's speciality was in rotating art, so when in 1969 Page contacted him to design the album art for Led Zeppelin's new album, he proposed a revolutionary design for a rotating pin-wheel that exposed different pieces of art with every turn.
Initially, Page was thrilled with the results and called Zacron to voice that sentiment. However, later in an interview with Guitar World in 1998, he offered a slightly less than stellar critique: " I thought it looked very teeny-bopperish. But we were on top of a deadline, so of course there was no way to make any radical changes to it. There were some silly bits—little chunks of corn and nonsense like that." Despite Jimmy's latter day misgivings about Zacron's effort, in 2007, the Daily Mail voted the album, "The Greatest Rock Album of All Time"

Zacron was an immense public advocate of artistic freedom and a notable financial contributor to the Great Almond Street Hospital in London for terminally ill children, organised by Light and Sound at Abbey Road Studios.