It’s impossible to overstate the excitement that David Bowie generated in the very early 70s with his albums (The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin In Sane) and the myriad of singles that tumbled off them. As a  teenager I bought the records and perfected (Mick Ronson) air guitar in the bedroom mirror in between probably using the mirror for squeezing my unsightly black heads. Bowie, a flambuoyant, creative, bisexual trend setter is everything I’m not but the image, sound and excitement was a siren call. This draw led this 18 year old to The Top Rank Suite in Doncaster on 27^th June 1973 to watch Bowie’s creation, Ziggy Stardust, blow through a devastating set. I can still remember the febrile crowd reaction. I was with a school friend (Nick Theakston) and we were on a balcony being pressed toward the rail by excited punters behind us. Two days later I was back! At Leeds’ Rollarena. I stood and took in the matinee performance.

Needless to say I wasn’t one for the orange hair, androgynous clothes and make up but I loved the music and went on to collect all his albums. In fact, accidentally, one of my most valuable vinyl records is The Man Who Sold The World. This album preceded Hunky Dory and came out in 1970. At boarding school I couldn’t get to a record store and so bought it by mail order (Cob Records, Portmadog, Wales). Much to my initial disappointment they sent me an American pressing on the Mercury label rather than the UK’s RCA label. This has added to the scarcity and the median value today is £102: it could be worth more. I have 22 Bowie vinyl records or CDs or 29 if you count those I’ve duplicated by having them on both formats. You could say I am a fan!

So this part of Bowie’s career has fascinated me and I came across some books that I wanted to mention. The first is Me and Mr Jones by Mick Ronson’s widow, Suzi Ronson. Jones was David Bowie actual surname. Suzi originated the Ziggy Stardust hairstyle and toured with the band as dresser and hairdresser. It’s there she met and married Ronson. The second is Spiders From Mars by Bowie’s drummer, Woody Woodmansey. The band behind Bowie was a three piece of Mick Ronson (guitar), Trever Bolder (bass) and the drummer. Londoner Bowie was sophisticated with his study of mime, Japanese fashion and his generally open minded approach. By contrast the band all originated from Hull or Driffield and were originally a million miles away from satin jackets, mascara and blown dried hair. Bowie told an amusing story on the Parkinson TV chat show about how these three ‘manly’ Yorkshiremen after resisting the new appearance instructions were eventually fighting each other for the foundation and blusher when they realised it improved their chances with the female fans! Ronson was recommended to Bowie, by another musician in London, as he started his stellar rise and Ronson brought along the others. The boys had played in bands around Hull and knew each other. Their move to London and Bowie’s world was a shock. However, the band stuck to their music and became a powerful trio to deliver the explosive sound of those four albums.

The two books talk about those heady times with Bowie as he became a major rock icon. Four days after I saw Bowie he abandoned the Ziggy Stardust persona and split the band. Ronson knew the demise was coming and had been promised a solo career managed by Bowie’s manager Tony Defries. Ronson was always an exceptional talent and you could see how Defries wanted to hold on to him. The others were completely unaware although the preceding US tour had seen a distancing of Bowie from the trio: he travelled separately and also never flew but sailed to the USA: Bowie announced it from the stage at Hammersmith Odeon, London. Woodmansey was dropped with no sentiment, as was, Bolder who recorded one further album (Pin Ups) with Bowie (when he couldn’t find another bassist.) None of the three had made serious money out of their playing with Bowie and after their abandonment had to make their way.

Ronson, with Defries, released two albums but commercially they were a flop. He went on to play with Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople) and more famously joined Bob Dylan as one of the entourage and his band in his Rolling Thunder Review. You can watch this tour on Netflix. Apart from being a talented guitarist he had additional skills as an arranger and producer but was taken by cancer by 1993 at the age of 46. Reading Suzi’s book you’d gain the impression that drink contributed to his health challenges. Bolder got a berth as the bassist in 70s progressive rockers, Uriah Heep and even recorded an album with Wishbone Ash. Sadly in 2013 at the age of 62 cancer also took him. Woodmansey briefly formed a band, U Boat, but eventually made a living as a drummer for hire most notably touring with Art Garfunkel and Edgar Winter. However, it seems he’s gone on to make a solid living in a Bowie tribute band, Holy Holy.

Woodmansey mentions coming across Bowie accidentally in France some years later where some reconciliation took place. He also says, very kindly in my opinion, at the time he was sacked Bowie was living in a fog of cocaine. However, he assiduously maintains the rise of Bowie and his sound owed a lot to the three behind him. I agree. Another book I’ve read on Bowie by Dylan Jones – David Bowie A Life, is quite clear that whilst Bowie wrote the tune and lyrics it was the band who arranged the song from there. This is true of all his releases.

I’ve read that Bob Dylan dropped fellow musicians as he progressed and Bowie did the same. I suspect if we knew how our musical heroes lived their lives and treated people we’d toss our record collections in the bin. For me it was a hell of a band and I’ve the odd disc to remind me!