Ray Stevenson began working as a music photographer in the 1960's, photographing prolific rock stars such as Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie. This led him to begin work at the BBC photography department in the early 1970s. By 1976, Stevenson was regularly photographing bands such as The Sex Pistols having been introduced to the scene by his elder brother Nils Stevenson. In 1999, his image of John Lydon was selected as part of the Faces of The Century exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London.