NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Even before she arrived in Nashville, a photographer's career involved capturing a music movement and major names on the rise. There is no other way to say it. She is cool.
"You know my father would joke I was a hoarder, but I have this innate archivist in me," laughed Theresa Kereakas, opening a storage unit.
Inside there were 50 years of amazing moments.
"The bedspread caught on fire during the photo session," Kereakas said, holding up a picture of the band The Cramps. "This gentleman, Nick Knox, the drummer, said very deadpan; 'you know the bed's on fire.'"
It was 1973. Kereakas, a kid growing up in Los Angeles, went to see an Elton John concert. Her friends at school didn't believe she really went.
"It's that saying, 'pictures or it didn't happen!'" Kereakas said. "The next concert I went to, I just took a camera. I went to see Electric Light Orchestra. They're the worst pictures ever!"
It was the start of a journey. By the mid 70s, Kereakas found herself in the middle of the emerging punk rock scene.
"It was just this zeitgeist," she said. "It was a very, very small community, and everybody knew each other. There were probably a hundred of us who identified as punk."
In college, Kereakas and a friend launched a fanzine.
"Lobotomy, the brainless magazine," Kereakas said. "That would be Lobotomy after the Ramones song Teenage Lobotomy. We were influencers before there was even the concept of an influencer!"
Doing photography for the fanzine, Kereakas was meeting amazing people like one UK punk rock fan named Billy Idol.
"We loved the name Billy Idol," Kereakas said. "Just the audacity of the name Billy Idol! 'I'm going to be a star someday!' He was really cute."
Kereakas was capturing Idol just before his music breakthrough.
"I knew Billy Idol was going to conquer the world," she nodded.
"Joan Jett was my neighbor," Kereakas continued. "I took the very first pictures of [Jett and Idol] together. In the few months after that, it was published in 47 magazines."
At her apartment, Kereakas did a photoshoot with a band called Blue Angel and their lead singer Cyndi Lauper.
"Cyndi was such a natural," Kereakas remembered. "Cyndi had to put on her makeup, and she's in my bathroom where I put on my makeup!"
Kereakas remembers getting a dress at a rummage sale. It didn't turn out to be right for her, so she gave it to a singer named Debbie Harry.
"She wore it on stage the very next day," Kereakas said of the Blondie front woman.
Her path just kept crossing with people about to be huge names in music; Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Belinda Carlisle. She also got the chance to capture people already music icons like Chuck Berry, David Bowie, and Bob Dylan.
"This photograph of Lou Reed is from 1976," Kereakas said, holding up another of her prints.
Kereakas went on to produce shows for PBS and VH1, but her photography remains special to her. This year, she's taking an exhibit of her pictures on a tour across the country.
"I call it Retrospect: 50 Years of Photos," Kereakas said.
She said picking up a camera and getting these pictures taught her something about life.
"Everything that happens, you make it happen," Kereakas said. "I wanted it, and I pursued it, and when opportunity knocked, I opened every door and every window. That's the thing about punk rock. We were fearless, and I would just encourage people not to get in their own way."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
I always say storytelling is a team sport, and a key part of the NewsChannel 5 team is our photojournalists. They are nationally recognized for their talents, more importantly, they are also great people. Enjoy this peek behind the lens, get to know them, and see some of their most notable work of 2025!
- Carrie Sharp
