Bowie: The Biography by Wendy Leigh

Author:Wendy Leigh [Leigh, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Music, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9781476767093
Google: BlR2CwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1476767092
Barnesnoble: 1476767092
Goodreads: 20926243
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2014-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

Although Coco did her utmost to try and temper David’s drug addiction, it was an uphill struggle. Nonetheless, the Diamond Dogs tour would prove to be a resounding success. Chris Charlesworth, who was Melody Maker’s American editor at the time, saw the tour and said, “It was a completely different concept of a rock performance. David didn’t acknowledge the audience and the band was on the side. He didn’t introduce any songs, and the whole thing was a theatrical experience.”

Chris, who went on to be an RCA press officer and had social contact with David through the years, developed the highest respect for him during that time, saying of David, “He was polite and gracious and good company and women loved him because of that. He is extremely intelligent, knows his own destiny, and is an immensely talented performer and songwriter. He is very bright. Most rock stars are philistines; all they care about is rock. They don’t read or go to the theater, but David is very culturally aware.”

He was all that and more. But at the same time, as he himself has admitted, he also had an addictive personality. And in his cocaine-riddled years, his addictions often meant that he suspended his intelligence and lost grip on one of the most crucial elements in his life: his finances.

“He was this hugely popular figure and didn’t have the cash in the bank to show for it. I think John Lennon gave him some tips, and Mick Jagger may have put in a word, because he is a businessman,” Charlesworth said.

David had met John Lennon when they were introduced in Los Angeles, at a party thrown by Elizabeth Taylor. “We went on to a great relationship over the years,” David said of Lennon. “Terrific guy, very, very funny guy.”

Back in Manhattan, John called David and asked if he could bring May Pang, with whom he was then having a romantic interlude, and Linda and Paul McCartney over to see David. According to Ava Cherry, who was there, the meeting between David and Linda did not go well. “I also don’t think she liked David very much, and the feeling was mutual,” May Pang said.

At that point, David made the unwise move of playing tracks from Young Americans (the soul-influenced album that he would ultimately release in 1975) to his guests, not only once, but twice, whereupon Paul McCartney asked for another album to be put on instead.

David ignored him and started to play Young Americans again, but John Lennon intervened and gently asked him to play another album. May Pang diplomatically did what John asked, and David left the room.

That same evening, David called John and the two of them talked for quite a while. Afterward, John confided to May that David had been really hurt when he’d asked him to change the album, but that he had managed to mollify him to such an extent that he and David had become friends.

According to Tony Visconti, David’s friendship with John developed to such a degree that the three of them often spent a night on the town together.

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