The album artwork for Duran Duran’s Rio is an iconic part of ‘80s history. However, despite its status as one of the era’s most recognizable covers, the band never got to meet its creator.

It was Patrick Nagel who came up with the distinctive image. Duran Duran was introduced to his work by their manager, and Nagel’s vivid pop art style immediately caught their attention.

“[Our manager] was an avid reader of Playboy magazine,” Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes recalled during a recent appearance on the Rockonteurs podcast. “Because Nagel used to do all the early illustrations around then, the late ‘70s, early ‘80s, for Playboy.”

READ MORE: Revisiting Duran Duran’s Buoyant Single ‘Rio’

Impressed by the illustrations, the band reached out to Nagel to see if he’d be interested in doing the cover for their sophomore LP.

“We weren’t that known in America at the time,” Rhodes noted. “But he said, ‘Yeah, I’m up for it.'”

How Did Patrick Nagel Create ‘Rio’ Its Distinctive Artwork?

Nagel sent the band two images. Duran Duran would use one of them for a single in Japan. The other – an alluring portrait of a smiling woman – would become Rio’s iconic cover.

Released in May 1982, the LP became a multi-platinum triumph. Hit singles “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Save a Prayer” and “Rio” helped launch the band to superstardom. Meanwhile, Rio‘s cover art became one of the decade’s most distinctive images.

“He was amazing,” Rhodes recalled while sharing his appreciation of Nagel’s art. “We never met him, very sadly.”

Less than two years after Rio’s release, Nagel died of a heart attack while participating in a celebrity aerobathon to raise funds for the American Heart Association. He was 38 years old.

Since his death, Nagel has been hailed as one of the defining visual artists of the ’80s, and Rio remains one of his most recognizable achievements.