Gered W. Mankowitz was born as the first of four sons on 3 August 1946 in London, England, to the English writer
Wolf Mankowitz and Ann Margaret Seligman. After attending multiple schools throughout his education, Mankowitz dropped out of school at 15 years of age, without any proper qualifications. However, his natural photography gifts were discovered on a school trip to the
Netherlands by the photographer Tom Blau. Blau offered Mankowitz an apprenticeship, and after a few months on the job, he had worked in all the departments, and began taking assignments. In 1962, Mankowitz began taking photos professionally in
Barbados, and when he returned to London, he worked briefly in fashion, but quickly realized that that style of photography was not for him. In 1963, he broke into the music photography industry, and felt at home being able to work with artists his own age. Early that year, Mankowitz opened his own studio. After a few months, Mankowitz began working with
Marianne Faithfull and
The Rolling Stones, and was asked to go on tour with
The Rolling Stones. After his stint on tour, he had the opportunity to work with
Jimi Hendrix,
Free,
Traffic,
The Yardbirds,
The Small Faces,
Soft Machine,
Slade,
Gary Glitter,
Suzi Quatro,
Sweet,
Elton John, [Elkie Brooks Robert Palmer ]
Kate Bush,
Eurythmics,
ABC, and
Duran Duran. In 1982, Mankowitz was featured in an exhibition at London's Photographer's Gallery, and had his work viewed by over 16,000 people. This exhibition then toured the U.K. for 2 years. For the next 22 years, Mankowitz was based in his North London Studio, mainly working in the advertising industry, and contributing to major publications. He continues to work in the music industry, regularly works for newspapers and magazines, and his work is shown and sold in galleries throughout the world. ==Influence and contributions==