“Van Halen came across a painting I had done of an angel holding a cigarette. For the group, it was like love at first sight and the rest turned out to be album cover history.”
– Margo Z Nahas, Original Artist
Original Angel
All images copyright Margo Z. Nahas
Original Angel Banner
Full bleed image on 14 mil. 460 GSM Banner Vinyl, with Grommet Corners
Contact Margo for custom sizes and pricing.
“I felt compelled to share the little rebel Angel grieving, along with the millions of Van Halen fans around the world.”
– Margo Z Nahas, Original Artist
Weeping Angel Tribute Print. Limited Edition.
All images copyright Margo Z. Nahas
Weeping Angel Banner
Full bleed image on 14 mil. 460 GSM Banner Vinyl, with Grommet Corners
Contact Margo for custom sizes and pricing.
The back story.
My husband Jay Vigon, a designer/art director was helping his friend Rick Seireeni, a creative director with Warner Bros. Records, on the upcoming Van Halen release "1984." The band had a somewhat nebulous idea having to do with four dancing chrome women. I was known at that time for my photo-realistic airbrush skills, especially my ability to render shiny metal (a staple in rock album logos and cover art). But the reflective intricacies of four chrome dancers seemed like a nightmare of an illustration, so I declined the job. However, that afternoon Warners Bros. called Jay and asked if he would take my portfolio to the band the next day. As Eddie and Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth looked over my work they came across a painting I had done for a more personal project, an angel holding a cigarette. For the group, it was like love at first sight and the rest turned out to be album cover history.
Van Halen was already a world-famous band and their 1984 album was a huge hit. The cover was omnipresent. Giant posters were plastered up and down the streets of every major city. A rumor soon spread that the angel was David Lee Roth as a baby but actually the painting had a different beginning.
I had always wanted to illustrate a picture of something that looked photographically real, yet could not actually be real. Since I loved angels — and little rebels — I thought I would combine the two. I asked my best friend if I could take some photos of her two-year-old son, Carter Helm. I styled his hair, gave him some candy cigarettes and after a brief tantrum he became the perfect character.
The image may have been controversial because it appeared that the angel was actually sneaking a smoke behind God's back. The cigarettes, however, were chocolate candy wrapped in paper to look like the real thing, and Carter, my little model, had devoured every one of them by the end of the photo session.
The illustration still enjoys great popularity and is perpetually ranked among the 100 best album covers of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.
About the artist.
Margo Z Nahas started illustrating album covers early in her career. She did her first cover, Seals and Crofts’ Unborn Child while she was attending the Art Center College of Design, in Los Angeles, California. She met her husband Jay Vigon at Art Center and together they collaborated on over 90 albums and several hundred logos.
A partial list of Margo’s album covers includes Van Halen 1984, Stevie Wonder’s Secret Life of Plants, Toto’s The 7th One, Autograph’s Sign In Please and That’s The Stuff, Rick James and The Stone City Band’s In n Out, Bad News Travels Fast’s Look Out and many more.
Specializing in photorealistic airbrush rendering Margo applied her unique style to developing art for the recording industry as well as illustrations for movie posters, magazine spreads, billboards, advertising, and the medical field. She loved pushing the limits of air brushing.
A partial list of clients includes: Warner Bros Records, Motown Records, Sony Records, ABC, CBS, Universal, J. Walter Thompson, Chiat Day, Hard Rock Cafe, Microsoft and many independent commissions.
“I was in my studio when I heard Eddie Van Halen passed away. It had been 36 years since the illustrated Angel with the cigarette that came to define Eddie Van Halen and the 1984 iconic Van Halen album cover. With tears in my eyes I felt compelled to share the little rebel Angel grieving along with the millions of Van Halen fans around the world.”