Tony Wright – Artwork Album Covers

by Nov 13, 2017Art, Articles

Original portrait of Bob Marley used for the artwork of Marley's LP Natty Dread

Info

Format: Hand painted portrait of Bob Marley

Artist: Tony Wright (born 23 October 1949, in London)

A British artist who has created many eye-catching artwork for a whole heap of albums. He started in 1971 with Traffic’s “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and his artwork graced the covers of many great names in music including The Meters, Marianne Faithful, Steve Winwood, The B-52’s,  Black Uhuru, and Sly & Robbie to name a few.

Website: Tony Wright Art

TONY WRIGHT

Tony Wright was responsible for hand painting Max Romeo’s  “War Ina Babylon” album artwork, Lee Perry’s seminal Dub album “Super Ape”, Bob Marley’s “Natty Dread”, I jahman Levi’s “Haile I Hymn”, Junior Murvin’s Black Ark album “Police And Thieves”, Black Uhuru’s “Sensimilla”, Sly & Robbie’s “Rhythm Killers” and many more famous covers!

Tony Wright (born 23 October 1949, in London) not only created album covers for reggae albums but also for  pop and rock albums such as Traffic’s “The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys” and others including Bob Dylan’s “Saved”, John Martyn’s “One World”, Chic’s “Take It  Off” and Marianne Faithful’s “A Child’s Adventure”. His artwork for Traffic’s 1971 album “The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys” and Steve Winwood’s 1980 “Arc Of A Diver” were listed amongst Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Album Covers. “The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys” cover is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Artwork for Junior Murvin's "Police And Thieves"
Artwork for Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon"
Artwork for Rico Rodriguez 1978 album

THIRD WORLD

The Third World covers produced over a period of 4 years are in the style of Haitian art; they tell a story. The first, a woman on a donkey. The second, a man making pottery. The third the man, woman and children come together in the single sleeve, ‘Now that we found Love’ . In the fourth the family leave Babylon on a journey to Zion-the promised land. The fifth, ‘The Story has been told’, the family arrive on the other shore to be greeted by Third World playing. The children, like the children of Israel cross over into the promised land, but the parents like Moses, can not. The donkey has become a magical figure, the spirit guide, disguised in the first picture as a beast of burden.

Artwork for Third World - S/T
Artwork for Third World - 96 Degrees In The Shades
Artwork for Third World - Now That We Found Love (Single)
Artwork for Third World - Journey To Addis
Artwork for Third World - The Story's Been Told