Most Pink Floyd fans probably ignored their name, but Ronnie Rondell Jr was inseparable from the history of the English rock group. This American specialist embodied the burning businessman on the album cover Wish you were Here. Ronnie Rondell Jr died at the age of 88 this Tuesday, August 12 at a residence for the elderly in Osage Beach, in Missouri, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Say that the pressure was strong with Wish you were Here For Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright would be euphemism. Released only 50 years ago, this album was to succeed the triumph of Tea Dark side of the moonThen the best album in the history of history and that has sold around 45 million copies to the present day.
The album It will not repeat such action, but the 15 million records sold will still make it the greatest success of 1975 and titles such as Wish you were Here AND Shines on you crazy diamond It will ensure posterity.
But Wish you were Here He also made a place for himself in the legend of rock thanks to his pocket in which two men set their hands. Imagined by photographer Storm Thorgerson, the cover had to represent two executives of the music industry signing a contract with an “ardor” due to this market concluded with the other.
Fifteen attempts for a legendary pocket
Since it was not possible at that time to use digital effects, it was necessary to understand the image during a photo shoot that took place in the Warner Bros studios in Burbank, California. For the occasion, Ronnie Rondell Jr carried a combination of fire fire under his disguise and was sprayed with gasoline before the fire was on.
As the storm Thorgerson trusts the documentary Pink Floyd: The story of Wish You were hereThey took 15 attempts to obtain the desired result.
But during the final test, the flames “lit the space for a moment the mustache” of Ronnie Rondell Jr. “We could call it a close shave,” summarizes the Thorgerson storm.
In addition to this performance for Pink Floyd, the specialist also appeared in the credits of the films such as The fatal weapon, Invasion Los Angeles, Thelma and Louise, last action hero, speed EITHER RECARGED MATRIX. A race also rich in injuries since Ronnie Rondell Jr had ribs, arms, dolls, vertebrae, and had to be replaced by hips, the Hollywood report underlines.
He had also lost one of his children in 1985, also a specialist, in a helicopter accident during the filming of the series Supercoper. Reid Rondell was only 22 years old.
Source: BFM TV
