Steven Tyler (couch) Aerosmith, Done With Mirrors Tour, AZ, 1985

“This was the last photo I took of Steven for ten years; here’s why…I was excited that Aerosmith were making a comeback. They began to hire me in the early ‘80s and we became friends. When Joe and Brad rejoined the band in the summer of ’84 for the Back in the Saddle tour, I tried to set up shoots, but the best I got was a pass to take photos for a few songs during the show, with no backstage access. The band had a new manager and wasn’t being responsive to my requests. He was trying to get them all clean, and I found out later that his main goal was to get rid of all of the people who had been in their lives back in the drug days. Now it was a year later and they were no longer a headliner. Aerosmith was on tour opening up for the Scorpions. In September, they had a show in Arizona, and the Scorpions hired me to shoot it. I figured it was a perfect opportunity to talk to Steven and find out why I was being shut out. I went over to the new manager at sound check and asked if I could sh