People - Psychedelic '60s artist Alton Kelley dies

[Euphoric]

Alton Kelley, an American artist best known for his psychedelic posters and art for 1960s rock bands, has died. He was 67.

Kelley died Sunday of complications from osteoporosis in his home in Petaluma, Calif., according to his publicist, Jennifer Gross.

Kelley designed the "skull and roses" poster for the Grateful Dead, an image that ended up on the cover of their 1971 live album, titled Grateful Dead.

He also designed rock posters and album covers for Journey, Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and dozens of others who frequented San Francisco's music scene in the 1960s.

Kelley and collaborator Stanley Mouse operated Mouse Studios in a converted firehouse in San Francisco.

The psychedelic colours and themes they created helped define youth culture of the period.

"Kelley and Mouse drew the first face on rock music," Joel Selvin, rock critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, said of their work.

The two worked furiously together to turn out posters for the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium.

They used to pore through library holdings, looking for inspiration. Their use of colours was drawn from French poster-making and they copied illustrations, including a drawing of a skeleton from a 19th century edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which was incorporated into the Grateful Dead cover.

Kelley did the layouts and Mouse did the drawing.

"We were just having fun making posters," Mouse told the San Francisco Chronicle. "There was no time to think about what we were doing. It was a furious time, but I think most great art is created in a furious moment."

Many of the posters, snapped up by fans at the time, are now eagerly sought by collectors.

Shows kick-started San Francisco music scene

Kelley, born June 17, 1940, in Houlton, Maine, met Mouse, who hailed from Detroit, in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in late 1965, then the epicentre of the hippie movement.

Kelley was also one of four people who called themselves the Family Dog and threw psychedelic dance-concerts at the Longshoreman's Hall in September 1965, kick-starting the San Francisco music scene.

He and Mouse also opened a store called Pacific Ocean Trading Company (POT Co.), one of the first head shops in Haight-Ashbury.

The two collaborated recently on the cover of the program for this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction dinner.

In recent years, Kelley's artwork focused on paintings of hot rods and custom cars, which were sold as fine art and printed on T-shirts.

He is survived by his wife Marguerite Trousdale Kelley, their children Patty, Yosarian and China, his mother, his sister and two grandchildren.

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