David Bowie made the choice to kill off his Ziggy Stardust persona with the complete intention of staging a dramatic comeback, his former supervisor mentioned.
In a latest interview with Mojo, Tony Defries mentioned they determined to maintain the retirement information secret till the ultimate present in London in July 1973 was practically over – with the announcement surprising Spiders from Mars bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Woody Woodmansey, who hadn’t been informed prematurely.
“Principally, I feel success wasn’t the best state of affairs for David,” Defries mentioned. “When Aladdin Sane was promoting monumental portions and crowds have been shutting down railway stations, simply to get a look of him, I feel that’s when all of it started to sink in, that he was now not an bizarre particular person. The Ziggy impact was taking maintain and he couldn’t deal with it, actually.”
He added that the retirement thought was partly impressed by Frank Sinatra, who’d give up present enterprise in 1971 earlier than staging a large-scale return two years later. “David was an enormous Sinatra fan,” he mentioned. “Making the comeback is the important thing factor.” However the plan did not work, as he continued: “We tried and did not get promoters in America to e-book [a Bowie / Ziggy Stardust comeback tour] into giant arenas as a headliner. So, that was an actual cause for retiring Ziggy, to be sincere with you… nothing to do with music or fashion or anything.”
The ultimate present was adopted with a glitzy get together attended by a variety of music and film stars, however it wasn’t a celebratory occasion for Bolder and Woodmansey. “Mick [Ronson] knew that we have been doing our final Ziggy,” Defries defined, “whereas Woody and Trevor didn’t. I didn’t need too many individuals to know. The place’s the publicity worth when you inform too many individuals? So, inform as few individuals as potential. However I mentioned, ‘If we’re gonna retire, then we’ve bought to retire in fashion and have an enormous get together and invite all people.’ It was a celebration.”
David Bowie Yr by Yr: 1965-2016 Images
David Bowie’s vogue sense fueled his chameleon-like profession, from the early days as a mod and a folksinger by way of Ziggy Stardust, the Skinny White Duke and past.
