Michael Ochs (Born 1943) was born in Austin, Texas. He’s a photographic archivist best known for his extensive collection of pictures dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. His Archive is located in Los Angeles and is called The Michael Ochs Archive. It contains more than 3 million proof sheets, vintage prints, and negatives which are licensed daily for use in books, CD reissues, documentaries and films. Ochs grew up in New York and Ohio. He attended The Ohio State University and Adelphi University. After his graduation, he served as manager to his brother, Phil Ochs who was a singer-songwriter, from 1967 until 1976 when his brother committed suicide. He also led the publicity departments at ABC Records and Columbia Records. He began collecting photographs as a hobby and never knew it would turn out to be a career.
Ochs would allow friends, including Lester Bangs and Dave Marsh (both rock critics), to use the pictures for free to illustrate their articles. At one time the Los Angeles Free Press attributed one of his photos to his Archives, and after a short while he was sent an unexpected check of $1,000 by Dick Clark after he (Dick) used some of his pictures on a TV special. These two incidences made him to begin taking a more professional approach to his work. During the 1990s, record companies often turned to his photographs to include in the liner notes as they reissued large numbers of CDs. His pictures are featured in just about every release by Bear Family and Records Rhino Records.
