David Bowie "completely ignored" John Lennon when they met for the first time - here is why

The two musicians were introduced by none other than Elizabeth Taylor.


Even though David Bowie was pop star Legendary charisma that had already made his mark on Glam rock, there was a person who could almost paralyze him with anxiety in 1974. It was the year when the 27 -year -old Ziggy Stardust The interpreter met John Lennon . While the two rock stars would soon continue to an emblematic collaboration, their initial meeting took place as one of the most annoying in the most clumsy musical history thanks to the unusual way Bowie reacted to meet the old Beatles leader. Read the rest to find out more about this meeting and how their friendship has progressed.

Read this then: Michael Jackson said Prince was "mean and nasty" for him .

Elizabeth Taylor presented them.

John Lennon and May Pang in 1974
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

May Pang , Lennon's girlfriend during this period of creativity "lost weekend" while it was separated from Yoko Ono In the mid -1970s, said the extraordinary night that the two artists met In his memories of 1983 Love John . During her stay in Hollywood, she and Lennon, with pal Elton John were invited to starry is Dean Martin son. Lennon "loved the former Time Hollywood Stars" and died of wanting to meet the guest Elizabeth Taylor tonight. Her dreams came true when she entered the room 40 minutes from the party and started a conversation with the two musicians. When the young Bowie presented himself shortly after, it was the Cleopatra Star who shot him on the orbit of his idol. "When David Bowie arrived, she seized her arm and said," David, do you know John? "" Wrote Pang. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"'No, but I always wanted to meet him.' Bowie flashed her shiny smile in John, "she continued Love John . "There was an authentic look at admiration in the eyes. John, who found the music of Bowie fascinating, was very cordial. David had a great charm and was also very funny, the dialogue began to flow very quickly. ""

When the group broke shortly after, Bowie - who confessed in his start speech to Berklee College of Music in 1999 that he was concerned about trying not to " look really stupid "- Canceled," I have to go. I have to go."

"He was terrified to meet John Lennon."

David Bowie performing in 1974
Steve Morley / Redferns

The initial meeting led Lennon to agree to enter Electric Lady Studios with Bowie in December to record the guitar on a blanket of "About The Universe" for the next Bowie Young Americans album. Although he broke the ice, Bowie was nervous, calling his producer, Tony Visconti For "moral support", according to Richard White book Gather: Lennon and McCartney in the 70s . (Visconti would later marry Pang and the father of two children with her following this meeting.)

In 2021, visconti described the meeting On the BBC Radio 4 show Bowie: Dance in space . He shared that Bowie was so "terrified", he reacted like a child presented to a new playmate.

"About one morning, I hit the door and for about the next two hours, John Lennon and David did not talk about each other," recalls Visconti. "Instead, David was sitting on the ground with an art stamp and a charcoal and he would have things and he completely ignored Lennon."

After a few hours, Lennon finally brought Bowie out, asking for his own paper, said Visconti. "So John started to do caricatures from David, and David started to do the same with John and they continued to exchange them, then they started laughing and that broke the ice," said the producer.

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It took Lennon to understand the depth of Bowie's admiration.

John Lennon in 1974
Zuffing Vinnie / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

During his stay in the studio, Lennon would also help Bowie to write Which would become its best-selling American single at that time, "Fame". But Bowie would always hold Lennon very painfully very high esteem, according to Pang, who told another painful incident for the young musician in Love John .

One night, during Lennon's reconciliation with Paul McCartney , Bowie enthusiastically presented an early pressing of Young Americans For the two ex-Beatles, discussing the way he made the sound "Plastic Soul" on a second then a third game. When McCartney asked him to put a different record, then Lennon did the same, Bowie left The upset piece, wrote Pang.

"They spoke quietly for a while and when John has left this way, '' she said in her book." John was very afflicted by David's reaction. "

Pang continued: "" When David looks at you, his eyes are always filled with admiration, "I told him." You have to be particularly careful when you are with people like that, because each little word and gesture means something special for them. Whether you like it or not, you just have to be a little more thoughtful. ""

They have become friends, collaborators and perhaps more.

David Bowie, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Yoko Ono, John Lennon and Roberta Flack at the 1975 Grammy Awards
Tim Boxer / Archive Photos / Getty Images

In the years that followed, Bowie would visit Lennon when he was in New York, until the latter was shot in 1980. Music writer Lesley-Ann Jones even said that Bowie had confessed once The two had an adventure (speak Daily Express ). Whether or not, the singer of "Rebel Rebel" undeniably shared proximity to Lennon and his family that few others have done. After the death of Bowie in 2016, Shared ono on Facebook that he had intervened as "a paternal figure" for Sean Lennon After John was murdered, taking him to the museums and leaving him dragged to his registration studio in Geneva while the boy was at a boarding school in Switzerland. "As John and I had very few friends, we felt that David was as close as the family," wrote Ono.


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