SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Music photographer Jim Marshall, who spent more than a half-century capturing rock-and-roll legends including the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin at work and in repose, has died. He was 74.

Marshall's death in New York City was confirmed on Wednesday by Aaron Zych, a manager at the Morrison Hotel Galleries, which hosted one of the photographer's last exhibits. Marshall had been scheduled to appear at a reception on Wednesday night to promote his new book with celebrity photographer Timothy White.

He apparently died in his sleep sometime overnight while alone in his New York hotel room, Zych said. "Jim's work is legendary," he said. "As far as music photographers, he is the godfather."

According to his professional website, Marshall had more than 500 album covers to his credit. The San Francisco resident was best-known for his iconic images from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where he photographed Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar ablaze, and 1969s Woodstock, where as an official photographer he captured The Who tearing up the stage at sunrise.

Marshall also was the only photographer granted backstage access at what turned out to be the final Beatles concert, at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966.

Good timing and his rapport with musicians also helped him catch Johnny Cash memorably "flipping the bird" at a 1969 performance at San Quentin Prison.

Other famous subjects included Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Rolling Stones.

"This 'career' has never been just a job – it's been my life," Marshall remarked on his website.

Born in Chicago on February 3, 1936, he bought the first of his beloved Leica cameras in 1959, and a year later, during what he would describe as a "life-changing meeting" with saxophonist John Coltrane, he found his professional calling.