11. David BowieBlackstar
Again, Bowie has been with me my whole life. Favourite Bowie albums? I’ve probably got six, the Berlin trilogy, the early stuff, then Blackstar. I have a massive lost period after he finished the Berlin albums, he became too technical, too full, I didn’t get them. Again, Blackstar was such a surprise, a lovely surprise. I loved his comeback single, ‘Where Are We Now?’ but the album The Next Day was pretty pants, a couple of good tracks maybe, but Blackstar is mind-boggling. I was very sad when he died, I cried. My connection with Bowie started when I recorded a cover of ‘The Prettiest Star’ for Jonathan King’s label UK Records. Only a few people had covered his songs back then. There was the end of the Spiders when he said he’d retired, but I heard he was playing three nights at the Marquee for a TV special, so I phoned up the management office in New York and I introduced myself. Then I was introduced to Angie and became part of her… retinue isn’t the right word, we became friends really. I went out with this girl Daniella who was part of the whole household, and went out to Switzerland where David had a house. I’d got to know Iggy Pop a bit and he came over. I’ve got a recording of David, Iggy and I playing together, I was on guitar and piano, David’s on guitar and piano, Jim’s on drums and singing – we do ‘Blueberry Hill’ badly, ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ is alright. When Angie and David got divorced I was asked to speak in the court case but I said no.
