The identity of the mysterious woman on the cover of BLACK SABBATH‘s 1970 self-titled debut has been revealed.
The “black figure” goes by the name of Louisa Livingstone, and she makes electronic music under the alias of Indreba.
At the time, Livingstone was in her late teens. Photographer Keith “Keef” Macmillan chose Louisa in part because she was just five feet tall, making the scenery around her look bigger.
“I remember it was freezing cold. I had to get up at about 4 o’clock in the morning,’ Louisa told Rolling Stone. “Keith was rushing around with dry ice, throwing it into the water. It didn’t seem to be working very well, so he ended up using a smoke machine.
“It was just, ‘Stand there and do that.’ I’m sure he said it was for BLACK SABBATH, but I don’t know if that meant anything much to me at the time.”
Keef said: “She wasn’t wearing any clothes under that cloak because we were doing things that were slightly more risqué, but we decided none of that worked.
“Any kind of sexuality took away from the more foreboding mood. But she was a terrific model. She had amazing courage and understanding of what I was trying to do.”
“To be honest, it was the first time I really enjoyed that kind of heavy rock,” Louisa added. “But that album made me a fan for life.”
