Danny Clinch has established himself as one of the premier photographers of the popular music scene. Equally adept at portrait and live photography, he has captured defining images of a wide range of performing artists, from Johnny Cash to Tupac Shakur and from Bjork to Bruce Springsteen. In this photo essay he details, in his own words, the stories behind his pictures, starting with the photograph below.

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Westbury, N.Y., 1994: I was shooting Johnny Cash for this guitar magazine with his acoustic guitar, so we did all these portraits -- very much Johnny looking straight into the camera. He sang us a song while we were photographing him. He just couldn't have been nicer. When we were done, I said, "Mr. Cash, do you mind if I just kind of hang out and shoot some pictures before you go onstage." He said, "Yeah, man. Do whatever you want." I just hung out backstage and he literally was just about to go onstage. They were introducing him and saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, the 'Man in Black!'" And he walked down that hallway. The funny thing is that all the time I spent on doing those portraits and all the preparation, those pictures aren't even close to the emotion I get from this picture.

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