You’d think a man with so many alter egos would have, well, a pretty big ego. But when he wasn’t Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, or the Thin White Duke, he was David Bowie – a man who by all accounts was gracious, kind, and generous, even when he didn’t have to be. Of course, it’s hard to separate the man from the myth, especially a myth of Bowie proportions. His fine attention to detail, musical innovation, and daring stage presence cemented him as the glam rock icon, and showed the world you should be proud to let your freak flag fly. Backstage, he had a biting wit and the same alluring charisma.
Over the course of his prolific, five-decade career, Bowie developed a large circle of famous friends and collaborators in the creative world. While an outpouring of tributes came from celebs and fans alike, the stories and memories below are from those who worked with him over the years. They give us a brief glimpse behind the curtain into the kind of guy he truly was, and make us all the more grateful that he graced this planet with his presence.
Vote up the items that make you want to steal time, just for one day, and spend it with Bowie.
He Ticked Off Frank Zappa
Guitarist Adrian Belew, who has played with Bowie, Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Talking Heads, and others, shared on Facebook how Bowie once really, really ticked off Zappa, who demoted the former to “Captain Tom”:
In 1978 I did my first tour of Europe as “stunt” guitarist and singer for Frank Zappa’s band. The night we played in Cologne, Germany, unbeknownst to me Brian Eno was in the audience. Brian knew David Bowie was looking for a new guitarist for his upcoming tour. He… told David he should come see the guitarist for Frank’s band.
The next night we performed in Berlin. There was a part of the show where Frank took an extended guitar solo and most of the band members, including myself, left the stage for a few minutes. As I walked to the back of the stage I looked over at the monitor mixing board and saw David Bowie and Iggy Pop standing there…
So I walked over to David Bowie, shook his hand and said, “I love what you’ve done, thank you for all the music.” And he said, “Great, how would you like to be in my band?” I motioned back towards Frank and said, “Well, I’m kind of playing with that guy.” David laughed and said, “Yes, I know, but when Frank’s tour ends my tour starts two weeks later. Shall we talk about it over dinner?”
David said he would meet me back at our hotel and sure enough when I arrived back at the hotel David Bowie and his assistant Coco Schwab were sitting on a couch in the lobby. As I walked past them they whispered to me, “Get into the elevator, go up to your room, come back down in a few minutes, and meet us outside. We have a car waiting.”
It was like something out of a spy film.
When I came back down and went outside there was a black limousine waiting. The driver opened the door and I got in the back with David and Coco. David immediately launched into all this plans for his upcoming tour, the songs we would play, the staging, and so on, and how much he loved my guitar playing! It was so exciting! He said they were taking me to one of his favorite restaurants in Berlin.
How many restaurants are there in Berlin? 25,000?
We arrived at the restaurant, went in the front door, and who should be sitting at the very first table but Frank Zappa and the rest of the band!… David, trying to be cordial, motioned to me and said, “Quite a guitar player you have here Frank.”
And Frank said, “F*** you Captain Tom.” (Note: Frank had demoted David from Major Tom to Captain Tom.)
David persisted, “Oh come on now Frank, surely we can be gentlem[e]n about this?”
Frank said, “F*** you Captain Tom.”
By this point I was paralyzed. David said, “So you really have nothing to say?” Frank said, “F*** you Captain Tom.”
David and Coco [his assistant] and I got up and went back out the front door. Getting in the limo David said in his wonderfully British way, “I thought that went rather well!”