Born April 3, 1942, in Indio, California, Herb Greene grew up on his father's pear orchard in Medford, Oregon. His father traveled the West Coast selling fruit. His mother, a homemaker, could draw well, and influenced him to pursue the arts. When the family moved to Yuba City, California, Greene took a drawing class at Yuba City High School. He struggled, so when a teacher suggested photography instead, Greene enrolled in a class and bought his first camera, a 1959 Icon Contaflex. He graduated from high school in 1960. In 1961, Greene took photography classes at City College of San Francisco and later enrolled at San Francisco State University, where he majored in anthropology and communications.
Career
1960s San Francisco
In 1961, Greene took photography classes at City College of San Francisco and later enrolled at San Francisco State University, where he majored in anthropology and communications. After moving into an apartment near the Haight-Ashbury district, he met Jerry Garcia at a bluegrass café called the Fox and Hound. The two became friends and Greene booked his first job, a portrait session with Garcia's band, The Warlocks. Herb Greene was part of the 1960s San Francisco art scene and a friend of many of psychedelic rock musicians of the era. His photographs are a noted record of the era and were used as cover art for several recordings including Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow album, and the Grateful Dead'sIn the Dark and Dylan & the Dead.
Hieroglyphic wall
The iconic wall of hieroglyphics used as a background for the Surrealistic Pillow cover photography along with many other famous photos of San Francisco musicians in the late 1960s was in Greene's dining room. As he removed wallpaper from the room, Greene found the phrase "Happy New Year" written on the wall. Before he had a chance to paint over it, his roommate drew the hieroglyphics which originally upset him but went on to be synonymous with the image of San Francisco psychedelic music. In a 2004 Rolling Stone interview, Grace Slick, of the Jefferson Airplane, remembered Greene's dining room photo sessions: “Everybody used to go over there in front of Herbie’s wall.”
1970s
Greene worked as a fashion and music photographer throughout the 1970s. He photographed Carlos Santana, The Pointer Sisters, Sly Stone, Dr. Hook and Chicago. In 1974, he earned a Grammy Award nomination for art direction on That's a Plenty, The Pointer Sisters’ studio album.
1980s
Greene's work with the Grateful Dead took off again in the 1980s. He shot several sessions with them, including cover art for the albumIn the Dark and Dylan & the Dead, the band's compilation with folk singerBob Dylan. By the 1990s, Greene's portfolio had cemented his reputation as the unofficial photographer of the Grateful Dead. His portraits of the band and their 1960s contemporaries appeared in several magazines, including Rolling Stone, Relix, Newsweek and others. He also published several books of his work, including The Book of the Dead: Celebrating 25 Years with the Grateful Dead, Sunshine Daydreams and Dead Days: A Grateful Dead Illustrated History. After Garcia's death in August 1995, Greene went on to photograph the Grateful Dead's surviving members and their bands, including The Dead, Bob Weir and RatDog, and Further.
2000s
In 1999, Greene moved to Maynard, Massachusetts in the western suburbs of Boston. He no longer photographs musicians.
