Family and friends of Dee Lippingwell will gather Thursday, Oct. 17 to celebrate her life during a 1 p.m. event at the Kingsway Legion in Vancouver.
Last spring, musicians and music fans from across Canada paid tribute to Lippingwell, a trailblazer in the world of concert photography for 50-plus years. A Surrey resident, she died May 9 after a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis early this year. She was 78.
"We appreciate your patience as we took time to grieve and plan this event," Lippingwell's family posted on Facebook. "We thank you all in advance for attending, and if you are unable, please send stories and photos to deestribute@gmail.com. We would love to see them."
Lippingwell photographed an estimated 3,500 concerts dating back to her very first, a Pink Floyd show in Vancouver back in 1973. Thousands of rock bands followed including The Rolling Stones, Queen, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton, KISS, Van Halen and more, for publications around the world. Her work is shown on the website deelippingwell.net.
“When I started, it was really difficult for me to get in because everybody thought I was a groupie,” Lippingwell said in 2012. “I kept saying, ‘No, I’m a mom and I want to do this for my career.’”
Three years ago, at age 75, with no concerts to photograph during the COVID pandemic, Lippingwell began sorting thousands of images for a third book chronicling the glory days of Merritt Mountain Music Festival, which she photographed with the help of husband Paul Shaw.
