40 Stars From Famous Album Covers

It's not always the artist who appears on the cover of their own album.

Consider a few of the most iconic covers in the history of rock music, none of which depict the band or solo act on it. The beaming, red-lipped woman on the cover of the Cars' self-titled debut was a Russian-born model Nataliya Medvedeva, who was only 17 years old when she moved to Los Angeles and soon after landed the job as cover star.

The blue-eyed, angel-winged boy on the cover of Van Halen's 1984 was very much a real child named Carter Helm, who reportedly kept trying to eat the candy cigarettes that he was asked to pose with. It turned out for the best. The kids on the cover of the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream were real, too — Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts.

"We ate lemon heads and enjoyed rocket pop popsicles from the ice cream truck that happened to pass by during the shoot, all while being dressed up in a cute dress with angel wings," Laenger told setlist.fm in 2018. "Of course, any seven-year-old would love that."

Or sometimes the help of family and friends was enlisted, like in the case of Ratt's Out of the Cellar. That's actress Tawny Kitaen on the cover, who was dating Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby at the time.

Read on to learn more in the following list of 40 Stars From Famous Album Covers.