{"id":138315,"date":"2025-09-07T01:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/138315\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T01:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:18:10","slug":"rock-photographer-haunted-history-founder-sidney-smith-dies-keith-spera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/138315\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock photographer, Haunted History founder Sidney Smith dies | Keith Spera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sidney Smith<\/a>, the New Orleans photographer who documented the Allman Brothers, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin and other rock legends before founding Haunted History Tours, died Friday of pancreatic cancer. He was 71.<\/p>\n

To his enormous circle of friends and acquaintances, Smith was as colorful as any of his photos.<\/p>\n

He inherited his first camera from his father, an art teacher at Alcee Fortier High School. In November 1970, at age 16, he snuck into Tulane University\u2019s homecoming dance to photograph the Allman Brothers Band. Off and on for years, he traveled with and photographed the Allmans.<\/p>\n

\"sidney<\/p>\n

Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, left, with photographer Sidney Smith in 2012.<\/p>\n

PROVIDED PHOTO COURTESY SIDNEY SMITH<\/p>\n

Smith identified with Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical 2000 movie \u201cAlmost Famous” about a teenage journalist traveling with a rock band in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

“That,” Smith said in June, \u201cwas my life.”<\/p>\n

He shot scores of rock legends at The Warehouse, the grungy brick concert venue on Tchoupitoulas Street.<\/p>\n

In early 1975, he chronicled Paul McCartney recording the \u201cVenus and Mars\u201d album at Allen Toussaint\u2019s Sea-Saint Studio in Gentilly. For an avowed Beatles fanatic such as Smith, it was a dream job.<\/p>\n

He also snapped pictures of Paul and Linda McCartney cavorting as clowns on Mardi Gras.<\/p>\n

But during a party for McCartney aboard a Mississippi riverboat, Smith\u2019s camera bag was stolen. It contained most of his gear and the 40 or so rolls of film he\u2019d shot. Disillusioned, he largely gave up photography for years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Shifting gears, he founded Merry Minstrels Singing Telegrams. His personal specialty was \u201cstripper-grams,\u201d bursting into song in offices, bars, homes and hospitals in various states of undress.<\/p>\n

Realizing that he \u201ccan\u2019t be a 70-year-old stripper, but I can be a 70-year-old tour guide,\u201d he launched Haunted History Tours<\/a> in 1995. From French Quarter ghost tours, Haunted History expanded to cemetery, true crime, voodoo and vampire tours. The company, Smith said, hosts over 100,000 customers annually.<\/p>\n

\"Revisiting<\/p>\n

New Orleans photographer Sidney Smith in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

PHOTO COURTESY SIDNEY SMITH<\/p>\n

He eventually picked up his camera again. In 2019, he published a book of his Allman Brothers photography<\/a>. He remained friends with the extended Allmans family and buddies from his Warehouse days, but also had an ear for fresh talent. He was an early promoter of guitar prodigy Brandon \u201cTaz\u201d Niederauer, who is now in Jon Batiste\u2019s touring band.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Smith was married and divorced four times. After his fourth divorce, he shifted to what he described as a \u201cHugh Hefner\u201d model of domesticity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely honest with everybody in my world,\u201d he said this summer. \u201cI don\u2019t lie to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

His day-long birthday bash every May at his Broadmoor home boasted live bands, crawfish and celebrity guests. In recent years, he issued wristbands to help control the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"NO.sidneysmith.liv.082425_1598<\/p>\n

Photographer Sidney Smith is reflected in a bedroom mirror of his home in New Orleans. The framed pictures on the wall are a sampling of his work from years of photographing a who\u2019s who of rock legends. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER<\/p>\n

When he announced his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in January, he noted that he\u2019d previously beaten three other types of cancer. In lieu of a birthday bash this year, he planned an \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Over Til It\u2019s Over” party on Sept. 13. Niederauer, the Troy Turner Blues Band and the Beatles tribute band The Walrus were scheduled to perform.<\/p>\n

The party would coincide with the publication of his memoir, \u201cBeing Sidney,\u201d which friends convinced him to write in the wake of his diagnosis.<\/p>\n

In June, he was still optimistic about being healthy enough to enjoy the party. But by late August, as his weight loss accelerated and his pain increased, his optimism faded.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 4, the Haunted History Tours general manager posted on Smith\u2019s Facebook account that he\u2019d entered full-time hospice care. The \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Over Till It\u2019s Over\u201d party was canceled.<\/p>\n

Being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, Smith said, was not the worst tragedy he\u2019d ever faced. The worst was when his 42-year-old son Justin, who lived with him and struggled with mental health issues, disappeared in June 2023.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Smith discovered that Justin\u2019s unidentified body had been at the Orleans Parish coroner\u2019s office for 25 days. He\u2019d died of an overdose.<\/p>\n

\"NO.coroner.ADV.001.JPG\"<\/p>\n

Sidney Smith poses in his living room with photographs of his son Justin Smith who died in June after collapsing on Decatur Street, in New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER<\/p>\n

Angered by the delay in identifying Justin\u2019s body and that it decomposed at the morgue, Smith sued coroner Dwight McKenna, alleging negligence. In July, a Civil District Court judge found McKenna\u2019s office was liable for \u201coutrageous and reckless\u201d misconduct.<\/a><\/p>\n

In August, Smith took the unprecedented step of securing an injunction from Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill that prohibited the Orleans Parish coroner’s office from handling his own remains.<\/p>\n

Plans for a celebration of life are pending. His photo archive will reportedly be donated to the Historic New Orleans Collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sidney Smith, the New Orleans photographer who documented the Allman Brothers, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin and other rock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-138315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}