The SRO Show — David Bowie

Goodbye Ziggy & Major Tom

Produced by Lawrence Standifer Stevens

Written by Joseph E. Casanova

042

After introducing the world to Ziggy Stardust and Major Tom, British rock impresario David Bowie widened his repertoire with unforgettable duets with fellow icons Tina Turner and Mick Jagger and crooner Bing Crosby. 

Bowie recently released his 25th studio album Blackstar days prior to his untimely death at 69. He had succumbed to liver cancer after an 18-month battle with the disease.

Born Robert David Jones in 1947 in South London, he propelled the glam rock movement to atmospheric heights in 1969 with his first single “Space Oddity.”

He re-emerged in 1973 as his androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust spawning the classic LP The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

After scoring his first #1 hit in the US with 1975’s “Fame,” he  reached another pinnacle of success in 1983 with the release of Let’s Dance, which gave him another #1 with the funky title track as well as MTV favorites, “China Girl” and “Modern Love.”

The latter track featured riffs by late Texas axeman, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bowie asked him to play on the record after seeing him perform at a Paris music festival. 

In 1984, he released Tonight, which spawned the international hit “Blue Jean” and the title track featuring Tina Turner on guest vocals.

She once said in Rolling Stone that she wanted to do “rock-n-roll like Bowie or Jagger.”    

At Live Aid the following year, Bowie and Jagger performed a cover of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street” giving the pair a transatlantic hit. 

His most covered song is the glam anthem “Rebel Rebel,” which featured slick guitar work from Bowie himself.    

However, “Heroes” has also had its share of different renditions.  In 1987, Argentinian rockeros Friccion paid homage to their idol with a Spanish version of the signature single.

Bowie also brought his enigmatic presence to the big screen with a starring role in 1977’s The Man Who Fell to Earth.

In 1978, he narrated Sergei Prokofiev's 1936 composition, Peter and the Wolf, with music performed by Eugene Ormandy & the Philadelphia Orchestra. He later said it was a Christmas present for his seven-year-old son, Duncan.

Some of his more memorable characters include the lusty vampire, John, in The Hunger; Jareth, the Goblin King, in Labyrinth; legendary painter Andy Warhol in Basquiat; and famed physicist Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.

CLIP from The Prestige    

Ground control to Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust and David Bowie – we have a problem.