Terry Cryer

Early career

At the age of fourteen, Cryer worked for a film processing company called Cardigan D&P, mixing chemicals at 100 gallons a time. It was this experience that sparked his interest in photography. Three years later he joined the army and was sent by the War Office to take photographs in Egypt. His first camera was a Reid (an imitation Leica), but he saved up his pay and upgraded to a superior twin-lens Rolleiflex camera. Upon his return to Leeds, Cryer found employment at a Butlins holiday camp where he learned the art of speed printing. In his spare time he went door-to-door offering family photos until tuba player Bob Barclay opened his famous Studio 20 club in Leeds and invited Cryer to photograph the musicians who performed at the venue.

In 1956, Louis Armstrong played at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester – this was the first time Cryer had photographed a high profile artist from the United States. Cryer then went on to tour with American artists such as Jimmy Rushing and Eddie Condon. However, returning from a Big Bill Broonzy gig in Manchester one night, Cryer broke his neck in a car accident. Rushing wrote to him whilst he was recovering in hospital and undeterred by his injury, Cryer was soon back working though still in plaster. Cryer says of the crash: ‘'We had got pissed with Big Bill in the dressing room after the concert and Bob Barclay fell asleep at the wheel, it is not surprising we crashed!'

London, 1957

In 1957, Cryer relocated to London, living on Lisle Street opposite trumpeter and band leader Mick Mulligan. He found work as a freelance photographer with The Jazz News, earning ten shillings for each photograph he took. Cryer later admitted that "I faked myself credentials and I got myself a press card. Was this honest? Who cares. I broke the rules because it was a lot more exciting than following them. The establishment move the goal posts to suit themselves. Why shouldn't I?" Cryer, Terry (1992). One in the Eye.  Cryer also married his first wife Ann in 1957 while on tour with Chris Barber's Jazz Band. Barber was Best Man, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was Matron of Honour and Monty Sunshine, Chief Usher. Sister Rosetta treated the married couple to a night at Liverpool Adelphi as a gift. That night the group visited The Cavern and Mr & Mrs Cryer spent their honeymoon on tour with the band. It was around this time that Cryer took some of his most iconic photographs. His 1958 portrait of Muddy Waters is now featured on the Mississippi Blues Trail to mark the location of his cabin at the Delta. In addition, Sammy Davis Junior was so taken with Cryer's picture, captured in 1960, that he used it as his publicity shot throughout the next decade. Upon seeing the picture, he sent Cryer a note reading: ‘Dear Terry, it’s the best! Sammy x’.

Other Work

In 1960, Cryer joined The Associated Press and was subsequently assigned to work across the globe, including trips to Moscow. In his autobiography, he recalls finding himself developing film in lavatory pans behind the Iron Curtain. On his first trip to Russia in 1961 Cryer took a photograph entitled 'Russian Guards at Red Square'. The image received the Encyclopaedia Britannica Award for Press Feature Picture of The Year 1961. It was on his second trip that he and his travelling companion were deported from Russia across the Polish border at Brest Litovsk. Cryer also produced candid portraits of personalities outside the jazz world. The photographed include Steve McQueen, Peter Sellers, Eartha Kitt and Paul McCartney. The latter explains 'I’ve known Terry for many years as a mate and have admired his photographic work for as long as I can remember. Linda and I both respected his talent and his great photographic skills'.

One in the Eye

Cryer's autobiography 'One in the Eye' (written alongside editor Ian Clayton) was published in 1992. These memoirs are set to be re-published in the UK and USA by Pen & Ink. The book will feature a new introduction, cover treatment and previously unseen images.

Awards, Collections and Points of Interest