Clifford Charles Seeley
Biography
Clifford Charles Seeley (sometimes rendered "Seely") is the credited artist of BG-69, the Bill Graham Fillmore Auditorium poster for the six-night Jefferson Airplane / Jimi Hendrix / Gabor Szabo run of June 20–25, 1967. By the consistent account of poster dealers and catalogs, BG-69 appears to be his sole entry in the numbered Bill Graham series — a true one-poster figure. Almost nothing biographical about him is documented in the available record: no reliable birth or death dates, training, or other body of work surfaces in standard poster references. He is best understood as one of the many peripheral hands who contributed a single design to the Fillmore series rather than a member of the era's recurring poster circle.
Why They Matter
Seeley matters to the record almost entirely through one image. BG-69 advertised Jimi Hendrix's first Fillmore appearance, and it was printed before the Monterey Pop Festival the prior weekend made him a star — so the poster bills him plainly, without "Experience," catching the precise moment before his fame. That an apparently obscure, single-poster artist produced the document of so pivotal a turn is exactly why the name survives at all.
Notable Works
- BG-69 — Jefferson Airplane / Jimi Hendrix / Gabor Szabo, Fillmore Auditorium, June 20–25, 1967 (his only documented Bill Graham series poster; issued in poster, postcard, and ticket formats)