Ken Settle, Detroit rock photographer, dies at 66

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Settle was simply 11 years previous the primary time he photographed Bob Seger.

If they got here by way of city, Ken Settle photographed them.

The Rolling Stones, Soundgarden, U2, Guns N’ Roses, David Bowie, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughn, B.B. King, Kiss, Metallica, the listing goes on. And that is to say nothing of homegrown superstars like Alice Cooper, Madonna and Bob Seger.

For greater than 40 years, Ken Settle was a fixture at native live performance venues of each dimension, from small golf equipment to supersize stadiums. The acclaimed rock photographer died Monday, in response to a submit on his Facebook web page. He was 66.

Settle, identified for his poof of blond hair parted within the center, was born in Trenton and grew up in Westland. He shot Bob Seger when he was simply 11-years-old, when the longhaired rocker was enjoying a softball recreation towards the staffers from WRIF-FM (101.1). He requested Seger if he may take his image and Seger agreed.

Just a few months later, Settle borrowed his father’s digital camera and popped off some photographs of Creedence Clearwater Revival at Cobo Hall, and it was there he was bit by the rock photographer bug.

“I remember walking down the aisle on the main floor of Cobo to get a bit closer to the stage, and I took a handful of fairly blurry, not-so-good photos,” Settle advised WCSX-FM (94.7) in 2023. “But the energy and excitement of live music at Cobo Arena was electric and it was such a thrill to try to capture that — even in my little kid’s way of doing so.”

From there he shot a ton of early Seger exhibits, when Seger and his band have been working their means up the native ladder, and Settle in flip grew to become a staple in picture pits at native live shows from artists of all ranks. His work appeared in Rolling Stone, Creem, Playboy, People, Guitar Player and different publications throughout the globe.

“Ken was one of the best shooters ever,” says Scott Legato, a fellow rock photographer who shared picture pits with Settle over the past 20 years. “He was just a great guy. He had a big heart, and he loved his cats.”

In addition to his cats — he had a number of, and was identified for taking in strays — Settle additionally had an intensive assortment of guitars and amplifiers.

“Ken was awesome. Nice guy, always helpful, always great to be around,” says Chris Schwegler, a fellow photographer who shot live shows with Settle for years and thought of him a superb buddy. He says he would speak to Settle two to a few instances every week, and was simply texting with him the opposite day, serving to him out with a pc drawback.

As a photographer, “Ken knew what looked good for a photo, no matter who the artist was,” says Schwegler. “He knew the shot he wanted to get, and he knew how to get it.”

Diane Dawson Wilks knew Settle from his images of Seger, and he or she says she inspired Settle to put in writing a guide about his experiences as a photographer.

“His photographs were over the top, and he always had such amazing backstories behind them,” Wilks says. “He always remembered every detail, even of what song they were singing when he was shooting them.”

Wilks says she dabbled in pictures herself, “and (Settle) was always so complimentary,” she says. “He’d tell me, ‘Great photo, nice work.’ He was always encouraging.”

Settle’s picture archives are huge, culled from 1000’s of exhibits, from Nirvana to Nicki Minaj, from Janet Jackson to John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen to Lil Wayne. His photographs have been hung in Hard Rock Cafes all over the world, and his photographs have been utilized in episodes of VH1’s “Behind the Music.”

He captured artists on stage from the Nineteen Seventies by way of the 2010s, as pictures went from movie to digital, as artist guidelines went from shoot-the-whole-show to simply the primary three songs. His pictures are a historical past of dwell music in Detroit.

Settle got here up capturing movie and was a maintain out on switching to digital for a very long time, and that self-discipline made him a greater photographer, says Legato.

“He had a good eye. He could anticipate the shot and get the shot,” he says.

Legato helped persuade him to go to digital, he says, however Settle “still had the mindset that he was shooting film.”

Friends say Settle had complained of experiencing capturing ache in latest weeks, however he was hesitant to go to a physician.

He had slowed down from capturing rock live shows after COVID however was nonetheless energetic on social media, and tributes poured into Settle’s Facebook web page following information of his dying.

Steve Galli, a fellow rock photographer who knew Settle because the late Nineteen Seventies, stated Settle was probably the greatest shooters within the enterprise.

“He was known all over. When I started traveling out of state to cover music fests, other photographers would say to me, ‘You’re from Detroit, you must know Ken Settle,'” says Galli. “Photographers from all over the country associated Detroit with Ken Settle.”

When different photographers have been gathered entrance and heart in entrance of the stage at a live performance, “he’d be way over on the side, getting an angle no other photographer was getting,” Galli says.

Galli says he remembers being in picture pits ready for Settle to point out up, questioning if he was going to overlook the present, solely to see him emerge from the backstage space, the place he had been capturing portraits of the artists earlier than the live performance started.

“We were thinking he missed out, when it was us missing out,” he says.

Settle was at all times useful to newcomers, Galli says, and would freely share data and suggestions of the commerce with others.

“He was such a nice person, a really bighearted guy,” says Galli. “Ken was a legend.”

agraham@detroitnews.com