Photographer Mick Rock, dubbed “ the man who shot the 70s” is known for his iconic portraits of famous rock stars such as  David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Debbie Harry at the age of 72. A statement was posted on Friday on his official social media accounts which said: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share our beloved psychedelic renegade Mick Rock has made the Jungian journey to the other side.” But no cause of death was stated.

Rock was born in London in 1918 and studied at Cambridge University, where he met his first subject and co-founding member, Syd Barrett, of Pink Floyd. He was also the official photographer for Bowie in the early 1970s. Rock did not stop there, but went on to take some of the most iconic pictures of some of the most famous music pictures and musicians of that time, like a topless Iggy Pop on the cover of the “Raw Power” album; a spectral Lou Reed on “Transformer”; the members of Queen, their faces part-shadowed, for the cover of “Queen II.”

Rock had a heart bypass surgery and a kidney transplant in the 1990s after years of extreme rock ‘n’ roll excess. He later gave up cigarettes and drugs and continued working. He also took pictures of some of our current day musicians such as Pharrell Williams, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus. Many celebrities have since paid tribute to the iconic photographer such as Sharon Osbourne in her tweet reading: “He was a photographic poet — a true force of nature who spent his days doing exactly what he loved, always in his own delightfully outrageous way.” “We lost a legend, a true artist Mick Rock.” And even Queen guitarist Brian May said he was “sad and shocked to hear of the passing of our friend, photographer Mick Rock.”

Our love goes out to the family of Mick Rock during this time of mourning.