Steve Parke
Prince’s Former Art Director
Biography of Steve Parke
Steve Parke is an award-winning illustrator, designer, and photographer. He worked for Prince for 13 years as his in-house art director at Paisley Park—doing everything from designing album covers and hand painting guitars to enlisting every spare pair of hands to melt candles for an impromptu music video. He's also worked with David Bowie, Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Marcus Miller, and the Grateful Dead, and has long collaborated with Sheila E., The Family/deluxe, Victor Wooten, and Stanley Clarke, among others, both as a photographer and a designer of numerous album covers, promotional materials, and merchandise.
Parke started working with Prince in 1988, after a mutual friend showed Prince some of Steve’s photorealistic paintings. He designed everything from album covers and merchandise to sets for Prince’s tours and videos. Somewhere in all of this, he became Paisley Park’s official art director. He began photographing Prince at the request of the star himself, and continued to do so for the next several years. The images in this book are the arresting result of this collaboration.
Learn more at Steve Parke’s official website.
