They're just a chip off the old block: Photo essay that revealed humble roots of rock legends as they pose with parents


In 1971, the likes of Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, Elton John and the Jackson Five were some of the most famous celebrities in their world.

But for their parents, these ultra-famous rock stars were still only grown-up children, whom they doted on and fussed over.

LIFE Magazine photographer John Olson followed some of these big name stars home to see their parents to tell the inside story of the private lives of famous musicians and show their person histories.

Stayed up late: Elton John, seen here with mother Shelia and stepfather Fred Fairebrother in their London apartment, used to get up to party with his parents when he was just four

Doing right: Eric Clapton poses with with his grandmother Rose Clapp in the house he bought her in Surrey.

Mr Olson traveled around the world -- from Scotland and the suburbs of London, to the hard streets of Brooklyn, New York, and the San Francisco Bay area.



The photos of reveal humble, less glamorous beginnings that some of these outrageous icons tired to move away from.



'The thing that makes me mad about Frank," she said, "is that his hair is curlier than mine -- and blacker,' Frank Zappa's mother Rosemarie remarked from her home in Los Angeles.

Mr Olsen captured Grace Slick, the hard partying lead singer of psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, at home with her mother Virginia Wing while Slick was pregnant.



Eclectic taste: Frank Zappa's parents Francis and Rosemarie show that they have style of their own in their eclectic Los Angeles living room

Cover photo: This shot of Marlon, Tito, Jermaine, and Jackie Jackson, as well as father Joe, and mother Katherine, appeared on the September 24, 1971 cover of LIFE Magazine

Mrs Wing was described as a 'soft-spoken suburban matron' from Palo Alto, California. Her daughter Grace, on the other hand, was a hard-partying rock star, who has made no secret of her use of LSD and marijuana and waged public battles with alcoholism.



'Grace and I have different sets of moral values,' Mrs. Wing acknowledged.



'But she's her own person, and we understand each other.'

That tension was a common theme among the rock star-parent relationships.



David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, says he only recently started to have a good relationship with his father Floyd, an Oscar-winning cinematographer.



Differences: David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, sitting with his father Floyd in father's house in California. David said he and has father had recently come to an understanding despite their differences

'What I like best about him is that he seems to feel no need for me to be like him, so we're not offended by each other's differences. Like he knows I get high. He doesn't do it and he doesn't approve of it, but he doesn't inflict his values on me,' David Crosby told LIFE.



Other stars seemed to have childhoods that only served to explain their extravagant behaviors later in life.



'When he was four years old, we used to put him to bed in the day and get him up to play at night for parties,' Sheila Fairebrother said of her son Reggie Dwight -- better known now as Sir Elton John.



Left home: Folk singer Richie Havens leaning on xylophone with parents Richard and Mildred in their apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Richard said his son was the only one of his children to leave home

Proud of his success: Folk rock musician Donovan sits with his parents Donald and Winifred Leitch in their home in Englad

British musician Joe Cocker looks at his mom Marjorie in Sheffield, England in 1970