The Beatles’ photographer Fiona Adams has died aged 84

She was best known for the 'Twist & Shout' shots.

Fiona Adams, the photographer behind some of the most recognisable snaps of The Beatles, has died at the age of 84.

Adams, who became of the band’s most frequently used photographers, is best known for the memorable shot of the Fab Four jumping off a Brick Wall on London’s Euston Road.

It famously adorned the cover of 1963’s ‘Twist And Shout’ – the group’s first UK EP.

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As The Guardian recalls, the shoot for Boyfriend Magazine took place on one of London’s surviving bombsites at the time – with Adams commanding the band to jump as high as they could.

Fiona Adams frequently worked with the band (Picture: Getty)

“I didn’t even think to check whether it was safe or not,” she previously told friend Lynne Ashton.

“I struggled down into the crater with my heavy camera case. There was a pile of fallen bricks and detritus at the bottom. The boys did their bit and stood patiently – beautifully silhouetted against the sky and the buildings. I set up my camera and shouted: ‘One, two, three – jump!’ And they jumped – twice. Cuban heels and all.”

Adams, who graduated from the Ealing College of Art and Technology in 1952, also went on to photograph some of the 60s’ other defining icons too – including Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.


In 2009 the National Portrait Gallery featured her 60s work, in their exhibition Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed. She was hailed as “an unsung heroine of the decade now retired and living in the Channel Islands”.

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Her death follows that of fellow Beatles collaborator Astrid Kirchherr earlier this year.

Kirchherr was renowned for taking the first ever photograph of The Beatles in her hometown of Hamburg, when they were an unknown five-piece.

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