Nancy Beth Reiner [1] (April 21, 1942 - September 9, 2006)[2][3] was an artist whose work was featured as the cover art of various record albums between 1967 and 1971.
[6] In 1966, Reiner was one of the girlfriends of Michael Jeffrey,[7] who was managing The Animals as of 1966 and subsequently co-managed Jimi Hendrix with ex-Animals bassist Chas Chandler, as of the fall of 1966.
A clay illustration was the basis of the cover art for a 1967 album by Jimmy Witherspoon with Brother Jack McDuff, The Blues Is Now, on Verve Records.
[11] A similar approach was used by Reiner in her cover art for Getting Our Thing Together, an album by Brother Jack McDuff released on Cadet Records in late 1968.
[16] A similar style is found in "Phone Home", a formal cartoon by Reiner, published in the fall, 2000 issue of The Realist.
[18] Hendrix had personally commissioned French artist Henri Martinez,[19] who was working in New York,[20] to create a painting to be used as the cover art.
Reiner retained the original cover art, which she eventually sold to the Hard Rock Café, due to economic needs and a concern for the preservation of the work.
A source of income for Reiner later became the writing of "letters of authentication" in relation to items of Jimi Hendrix that were being sold at auction.