SOME of the most iconic images of music legends ever taken are now on display at a small photography gallery at the Oriel Colwyn, Colwyn Bay.

The exhibition ‘Creating The NME Years’ by Chalkie Davies includes images that were not featured in the major retrospective held recently at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

Chalkie worked as a staff photographer at the NME from 1975-79, shooting numerous iconic covers including The Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. In 1980, he helped launch The Face magazine. From 1977-85, he also shot record covers for Thin Lizzy, Elvis Costello, The Specials, The Pretenders, Pete Townshend and David Bowie.

Paul Sampson, curator of Oriel Colwyn, said: “It’s a real coup to be able to show a selection of Chalkie’s work here in North Wales. Especially, the huge 5ft prints of The Specials and David Bowie, alongside other work that also includes 10 images that were not part of the Cardiff retrospective.”

Welsh-born Chalkie joined the Rock and Roll Circus in 1973 after photographing David Bowie's last night as Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon.

On October 13 Theatr Colwyn will recreate that iconic David Bowie concert in 1973 with a rare screening of the seminal documentary and concert movie ‘ Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ which was filmed by D.A Pennebaker on the last night Bowie’s alter-ego Ziggy appeared in public.

Chalkie will introduce the film via a live Skype Q&A at 7.30pm, direct from his home in New York City.

The film screening will be free but there will be a recommended minimum donation of £1.50 towards Oriel Colwyn gallery funds. This is the actual price you would have paid to see the concert live in 1973.

Oriel Colwyn is the North Wales Photographic Gallery based upstairs at Theatr Colwyn. ‘Creating the NME years’ exhibition at Oriel Colwyn runs until October 31.

For more information and opening times visit the gallery website at www.orielcolwyn.org.