On Saturday I had the absolute privilege to view the entire photographic archive of Virginia Turbett’s work with Simple Minds. It really was wonderful. I spent approximately three hours, on and off, perusing endless contact sheets of wonderful images of the band, and individual members. Many photos of Jim Kerr. A whole sheet of images of Mick MacNeil. And some fabulous pictures of Charlie Burchill playing the saxophone. These were just the tip of the iceberg.
Some of Virginia’s photos you would have seen. Many have been used in official releases. They appear in the New Gold Dream box set (released back in 2016), just as one example, as well as books…they can be viewed on Getty Images, etc. But…Virginia is NOT ALWAYS given credit for her work, and certainly not always paid.
Many of her images you will NOT have seen.
I would love to have my own personal archive of Virginia’s work. There are so many wonderful photos she has taken of Simple Minds. Iconic photos! And so, over the next, maybe….year to 18 months, I would like to build up my own collection of her wonderful body of work.
Virginia’s main body of work capturing Simple Minds took place between 1980 to 1984. A mixture of promotional photoshoots, pictorial documentation of record deals, sound checks, gigs. So many wonderful things to see.
And if you are anywhere near as big a fan as I am of SM *and* Virginia, you will definitely want to own some of her wonderful images yourself.
With Virginia’s kind permission, here are just three examples of prints available to buy. The first is a new favourite. I always assumed the guys did their own makeup…but as we can see by the image, Jim has been “worked on” by an actual makeup artist. That was one revelation for me on Saturday!
The second print was also a revelation insomuch as I never knew the person next to Jim is Ronnie Gurr!
The third is another photo in the set (the day Simple Minds sign to Virgin Records) that I really love that I had never seen before, of Jim and Ronnie again. It’s absolute horseplay…and will also be one of the next prints I get.
If you are interested in enquiring about purchasing prints from Virginia, please click on the image of Jim to be taken to her website (viewable at: virginiaturbett.com). You really will NOT be disappointed!
