In June 1964, at the peak of global Beatlemania, a bold 24-year-old Danish photographer named Bent Rej positioned himself at Copenhagen Airport to capture what would become some of the most intimate and memorable images of rock and roll history. As The Beatles launched their first world tour—a defining moment in music history—Rej was there to document the hysteria and the humanity behind the phenomenon. His most iconic shot came not during their two sold-out concerts at the K.B. Hallen arena, but in a split second after the shows ended.
As the Fab Four—or rather, the Fab Three, since drummer Ringo Starr was out sick—rushed from the arena to their hotel limousine, Rej seized his moment. He reached his camera through the front window of the car and snapped the shutter, capturing an unprecedented peek inside the Beatles' limo with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney visible from right to left. Earlier that day, hundreds of teenage fans had welcomed the band at the airport, and that night they had opened with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and closed with covers of "Twist and Shout" and "Long Tall Sally."
This daring photograph marked the beginning of a brief but extraordinarily prolific period in which Rej would gain unprecedented access to the era's most influential musicians. Over the next few years, he would photograph legends including The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix, capturing them both on stage and in intimate behind-the-scenes moments as they visited Denmark and other locations. His unique approach and respectful demeanor earned him the trust of rock royalty during one of music's most revolutionary periods.
More than 200 of Rej's photographs, many rarely seen by the public, have been compiled in his posthumous book "Musik: The 1960s Photographs," a coffee-table volume designed in the dimensions of a record album. The collection was published nearly a decade after his death in 2016, bringing his remarkable archive to light for a new generation. "Our father didn't really talk much about that time," said Ny Rej, one of his two daughters. "It was just him being at the right spot, at the right place, at the right time."
Following the Beatles' Copenhagen concerts, Rej's career trajectory changed dramatically when he signed a contract with the English magazine Fabulous to photograph British groups visiting Scandinavia. His first major assignment was covering The Rolling Stones when they arrived in Copenhagen in April 1965. He was invited to an afterparty at their hotel, where the band had booked an entire floor. "I did not take pictures during the nightly parties, and I think they noticed that," Rej recalled in his book. "It was just an unspoken agreement; it felt natural to put away the camera at some point. As a result, I gained their confidence—something that would prove useful on many later occasions."
This respectful approach led to extraordinary access and genuine friendships with the musicians. Rej became particularly close with Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones and was eventually invited to photograph individual band members at their homes for an exclusive portrait series titled "At Home with the Stones." These intimate images show Keith Richards at the piano, Brian Jones in his London home, Charlie Watts sitting at his dining room table, and Mick Jagger posing casually in his residence—all captured in 1965 when the band was ascending to global superstardom.
As Rej's reputation grew in the industry, his relationship with artists evolved from pursuer to pursued. "It was not always Bent who approached the musicians. Sometimes it was the other way around, as was the case with Tom Jones and also The Who," recalled his wife Inge in the book. "The managers knew that he was a good photographer and contacted him with jobs." For Tom Jones's album cover shoot, Rej went to the extraordinary length of renting a white horse for the Welsh singer to pose on, and even had to buy safety pins during the session when Jones burst the zipper of his pants. "He became a friend, and we spent a lot of time with him when he was in Denmark. He was such a pleasant, unpretentious guy," Inge remembered.
Rej's portfolio continued to expand with iconic figures of the era. In 1967, despite having largely moved away from music photography, he was tipped off by The Animals' bass player Chas Chandler about an emerging talent from Seattle—Jimi Hendrix. That same year, he accompanied Bob Dylan on a walk to Kronborg Castle, the setting of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," capturing the folk-rock legend in a contemplative moment. His archive also includes playful shots of The Kinks fooling around on Copenhagen street signs in 1965 and Chuck Berry performing in the Danish capital that same year.
According to his daughter Ny, Rej's success with these legendary musicians stemmed partly from his youth and personality, and perhaps surprisingly, his lack of intimidation by celebrity status. "He was just as young as they were, and a little bit crazy, too, I think," Ny reflected. "Maybe that functions well with rising young rock stars. Maybe it also helped that he wasn't a big music fan. He wasn't intimidated by their celebrity status. To my dad, whether it's someone from The Rolling Stones or a neighbor down the street, it's the same thing to him. He was never starstruck."
Despite having a backstage pass during such a critical time in rock music history, Rej's career in music photography was remarkably brief. By November 1966, just two years after photographing The Beatles, he had shifted his focus to fashion and opened a shop in Copenhagen. His departure from the music scene was abrupt and personal. "He says it stopped when he got a drink that was spiked with some LSD," Ny explained. "He was very much affected by that. This happened in London. He had two young girls, my sister and I, back home in Denmark. And maybe he got kind of a wake-up call to know that this was not for him."
Rej's final photographs of The Rolling Stones were taken in 1970, marking the end of his music photography career except for one album cover he shot for an old friend, Peter Belli, in 1980. During the 1970s, he diversified dramatically, buying a farm and breeding cattle while also entering the advertising business. "He was a very good advertising photographer because he could make anything happen, almost no limits," Ny said. "To him, everything was possible." It wasn't until many years later that friends suggested he had "an archive that could be really substantial from that period of time" and encouraged him to explore it as a business opportunity.
Bent Rej died on January 14, 2016, at the age of 75, having lived a full life beyond his brief but legendary stint as a rock photographer. His daughters, Ny and Mumle, have been carrying on their father's legacy, exhibiting his work and sharing it with the world. Ny remembers her father as a modest, hard-working man who avoided talking about himself or bragging about his extraordinary experiences with music royalty. "Even late in life, he didn't brag about his work or the time he spent with music royalty. Our children, almost grown at the time before he passed, also tried to talk to him about it. He never talked about it," she said. "Fortunately for us, his pictures speak volumes." The book "Musik: The 1960s Photographs" was published by Chronicle Books and is now available to the public.
