Utah woman remembers helping design one of The Beatles' most iconic album covers
A Utah woman helped design one of the most famous Beatles album covers of all time: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Jann Haworth was just 24 years old when The Beatles asked her to co-create the iconic cover for their 1967 album.
“We were hearing a few tracks we would go over to Paul’s house and listen to another track,” she recalls casually referring to that Paul McCartney. A few days later, she helped bring to life the concept that became history: a full-size set, surrounded by life-sized cutouts of cultural icons, where The Beatles would stand for their photograph. “The Beatles are wearing uniforms from a different era,” she says. “It’s quite nostalgic if you look at it.”
Today, that nostalgia lives quietly in her Salt Lake City home — though not quite the way you’d expect. Her Grammy sits on the sofa in shambles, teeth marks and all. “The dog chewed it there,” she laughs. “If it were precious on a shelf — meh.“
More than 50 years later, she views her work with a new perspective. “There are deficits on the cover,” she admits. “Only twelve women, and six are fictional.”
After moving to Utah in the 1990s, Haworth began revisiting those gaps through her life-sized mural art. Her “SLC Pepper” mural near Pioneer Park reimagines the cover with 50 percent women. “Much of the work I have done in Salt Lake is, in some ways, an apology or revisiting of the Sgt. Pepper problems,” she says.
Her work today continues that mission — empowering local artists, students, and entire communities to take part in large-scale public art projects that celebrate inclusion. From community murals to collaborative installations, Haworth brings people together to literally paint a fuller picture, one that reflects everyone’s story.
“If you don’t change as you grow older and wiser and more informed, there’s something wrong.”
Source: Kristen Kenney/kutv.com
