# David Costa (graphic designer)

David Costa (born 18 November 1947) is an English graphic designer, art director and musician. Notable design collaborations include those for Queen, Elton John, Anastacia, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Genesis, The Rolling Stones and Phil Collins.

## Early life

Costa was born in London, England. His grandfather was a songwriter and pianist with the Savoy Orpheans. His father was the singer and radio presenter Sam Costa. He attended Merchant Taylors' public school, pursuing Fine Arts at the University of East Anglia in 1966.

## Career

In early 1969 he left university and brought together Barry Clarke, Bias Boshell, Unwin Brown and Celia Humphris to form the folk-rock band Trees, subsequently recording two albums: The Garden of Jane Delawney and On the Shore. In 1971 he left Trees to pursue freelance graphic design, eventually with Dick James Music in 1972, leading to a sequence of album sleeves for Elton John, and subsequently as art director in the UK offices of Rocket Records. During this period, Costa and guitarist Barry Clarke went on to write, record and produce the band Casablanca and subsequent eponymous album in 1973.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s freelance design projects included work with ex-Beatles press officer Derek Taylor to instigate the "Brighton Pier" label for Warner Bros. Records UK. From 1977 through 1979 Costa ran his studio Jubilee Graphics from the previous offices of the Rocket Record Company in Wardour Street, London. Over the ensuing decade he worked as a freelance designer/art director on the re-launched Tatler magazine with Tina Brown; redesign and art direction on the relaunched The Field magazine; early visual proposals for Today, Eddie Shah's publication that pioneered the use of computer systems with photo-typesetting and full-colour offset printing, and, the redesign and frequent illustration of covers for Encounter magazine.

## Discography
### Musician

| Year | Album | Artist | Label |
| 1969 | The Garden of Jane Delawney | Trees | CBS Records, 2007 Sony Rewind, Sunbeam Records |
| 1970 | On the Shore | Trees | CBS Records, 2007 Sony Rewind, Sunbeam Records |
| 1973 | Casablanca | Casablanca | Rocket |

### Graphic art, design and packaging

| Year | Album | Artist | Label |
| 1973 | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | Elton John | DJM |
| 1975 | A Night at the Opera | Queen | EMI, Elektra |
| 1976 | A Day at the Races | Queen | EMI, Elektra |
| 1976 | Blue Moves | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1977 | Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II | Elton John | DJM |
| 1977 | First Thing in the Morning | Kiki Dee | Rocket |
| 1978 | A Single Man | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1983 | Secret Messages | Electric Light Orchestra | Jet |
| 1987 | Cloud Nine | George Harrison | Dark Horse Records |
| 1987 | Live in Australia | Elton John | Rocket, MCA |
| 1988 | Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 | Traveling Wilburys | Wilbury/Warner Bros. Records |
| 1988 | Reg Strikes Back | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1989 | Sleeping with the Past | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1989 | The Best of Dark Horse | George Harrison | Dark Horse Records |
| 1990 | Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 | Traveling Wilburys | Wilbury/Warner Bros. Records |
| 1990 | The Very Best of Elton John | Elton John | DJM |
| 1990 | To Be Continued... | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1990 | Serious Hits... Live! | Phil Collins | Virgin, Atlantic |
| 1991 | 24 Nights | Eric Clapton | Duck Records/Reprise Records |
| 1992 | Rare Masters | Elton John | Polydor |
| 1992 | The One | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1993 | Are You Experienced? (repackage) | Jimi Hendrix | MCA |
| 1993 | Axis: Bold as Love (repackage) | Jimi Hendrix | MCA |
| 1993 | Electric Ladyland (repackage) | Jimi Hendrix | MCA |
| 1993 | The Ultimate Experience | Jimi Hendrix | MCA |
| 1994 | From the Cradle | Eric Clapton | Duck Records/Warner Bros. Records |
| 1994 | Time Traveller | Moody Blues | Polydor, PolyGram |
| 1995 | Made in England | Elton John | Rocket |
| 1995 | The Finer Things | Steve Winwood | Island |
| 1996 | Crossroads 2 | Eric Clapton | Polydor |
| 1996 | Golden Heart | Mark Knopfler | Vertigo, Warner |
| 1996 | Dance into the Light | Phil Collins | Atlantic |
| 1997 | Anyway the Wind Blows: The Anthology | J. J. Cale | Universal |
| 1997 | Calling All Stations | Genesis | Virgin, Atlantic |
| 1998 | Genesis Archive 1967–75 | Genesis | Virgin, Atlantic |
| 1998 | Pilgrim | Eric Clapton | Reprise Records |
| 1998 | Hits | Phil Collins | Virgin, Atlantic |
| 1999 | Turn It On Again: The Hits | Genesis | Virgin, Atlantic |
| 2000 | Riding with the King | Eric Clapton | Duck Records/Reprise Records |
| 2000 | Genesis Archive 2: 1976–1992 | Genesis | Virgin, Atlantic |
| 2000 | The Very Best of Cat Stevens | Cat Stevens | PolyGram |
| 2001 | Vagabonds Kings Warriors Angels | Thin Lizzy | Vertigo |
| 2001 | Re-release of All Things Must Pass | George Harrison | Gnome Records |
| 2003 | Let It Be... Naked | The Beatles | Apple |
| 2004 | Love Songs: A Compilation... Old and New | Phil Collins | Atlantic/Rhino/Virgin |
| 2004 | The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 | The Beatles | Apple |
| 2005 | The Concert for Bangladesh | George Harrison | Apple |
| 2006 | The Captain & the Kid | Elton John | Mercury/Interscope |

## Books
### Graphic art, design and packaging

| Year | Title | Author/Artist | Publisher |
| 1990 | Blinds & Shutters | Michael Cooper | Genesis Publications |
| 1991 | 24 Nights | Eric Clapton/Peter Blake | Genesis Publications |
| 1994 | Liverpool Days | Astrid Kirchherr/Max Scheler | Genesis Publications |
| 1994 | Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book | Brian Froud/Terry Jones | Pavilion Books |
| 1995 | Mason's Yard to Primrose Hill | Gered Mankowitz | Genesis Publications |
| 1995 | Sometime in New York City | Bob Gruen | Genesis Publications |
| 1996 | Strange Stains and Mysterious Smells | Brian Froud/Terry Jones | Pavilion Books/Simon & Schuster |
| 1996 | Stuart: The Life and Art of Stuart Sutcliffe | Stuart Sutcliffe | Genesis Publications |
| 1997 | Raga Mala | Ravi Shankar | Genesis Publications |
| 1998 | Eye-Contact | Gered Mankowitz | Genesis Publications |
| 1998 | Wyman Shoots Chagall | Bill Wyman | Genesis Publications |
| 1998 | The Rolling Stones: A Life on the Road | Philip Dodd/The Rolling Stones | Virgin Books |
| 1999 | Hamburg Days | Astrid Kirchherr/Klaus Voormann | Genesis Publications |
| 1999 | The Vogue Book of Blondes | Kathy Phillips | Pavilion Books |
| 2000 | The Beatles Anthology | The Beatles | Cassell/Chronicle Books |
| 2001 | The Book of Rock | Philip Dodd | Pavilion Books |
| 2002 | Shooting Sex: The Definitive Guide to Undressing Beautiful Strangers | Bob Carlos Clarke | Bob Carlos Clarke |
| 2002 | Martin Guitar Masterpieces | Martin Guitars/Dick Boak | Bulfinch Press |
| 2003 | Punk: A Life Apart | Stephen Colegrave/Chris Sullivan | Cassell/Chronicle Books |
| 2005 | Drawing Blood Forty Five Years of Scarfe Uncensored | Gerald Scarfe | Little, Brown Book Group |
| 2006 | Will The Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America | Country Music Hall of Fame | DK Publishing |
| 2007 | Genesis: Chapter & Verse | Genesis | Weidenfeld & Nicolson |
| 2009 | Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World | Mike Evans, Paul Kingsbury, Museum at Bethel Woods | Sterling |
| 2011 | No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan | Robert Shelton | Backbeat Books |
| 2013 | Starting at Zero | Alan Douglas/Peter Neal | Bloomsbury Publishing |

### Tour programmes and books

| Year | Artist | Tour |
| 1976 | Elton John | Louder Than Concorde |
| 1979 | Elton John & Ray Cooper | Back in the U.S.S.A. |
| 1980 | Peter Gabriel | Tour of China 1984 |
| 1985 | Elton John | World Tour |
| 1987 | Prince | Sign o' the Times Tour |
| 1990 | Phil Collins | The Serious Tour |
| 1994 | Phil Collins | Both Sides of the World Tour |
| 1997 | Phil Collins | The Trip into the Light World Tour |
| 1997 - 1998 | The Rolling Stones | Bridges to Babylon |
| 2002 - 2003 | The Rolling Stones | Forty Licks |
| 2003 | Simon & Garfunkel | World Tour |
| 2003 - 2004 | Shania Twain | Up! Tour |
| 2004 - 2005 | Anastacia | Live at Last Tour |
| 2004 - 2009 | Elton John | Red Piano, Las Vegas |
| 2005 - 2007 | The Rolling Stones | A Bigger Bang |
| 2005 | Destiny's Child | DC Weekly World Tour |
| 2006 - 2008 | Elton John | The Captain and the Kid Tour |
| 2007 | Beyoncé | The Beyoncé Experience |
| 2007 | Spice Girls | The Return of the Spice Girls |
| 2007 - 2008 | The Police | The Police Reunion Tour |
| 2007 - 2010 | Elton John | Rocket Man: Greatest Hits Live |
| 2008 | Robert Plant & Alison Krauss | Raising Sand Tour |
| 2009 | Elton John & Billy Joel | Face to Face 2009 |
| 2009 | Elton John | The Red Piano: Live in Europe |
| 2009 | Take That | The Circus Live |
| 2010 - 2011 | Rihanna | Last Girl on Earth Tour |
| 2011 - 2018 | Elton John | Million Dollar Piano, Las Vegas |
| 2011 | Elton John | Million Dollar Piano, 40th anniversary edition |
| 2011 | Elton John | World Tour |
| 2014 | Elton John | Showbook |