Assembly one’s idol will be intimidating, and celebrities aren’t immune from feeling starstruck themselves. John Lennon was an idol for a lot of legendary musicians, together with David Bowie, who was “terrified” throughout his first assembly with Lennon.
John Lennon first met David Bowie at a celebration thanks to Elizabeth Taylor
Bowie turned a worldwide sensation throughout the Nineteen Seventies, shortly after The Beatles disbanded. His newfound fame earned him the chance to attend events with different celebrities, together with one which was additionally attended by Lennon. Within the mid-Nineteen Seventies, Lennon and his girlfriend, Might Pang, attended a celebration for Dean Martin’s son that was additionally attended by Hollywood actor Elizabeth Taylor.
In Pang’s 1983 memoir Loving John, Pang stated Lennon was dying to meet the Cleopatra star and at last had the chance to converse to each other. Whereas chatting, Taylor noticed Bowie and pulled him into the dialog, marking the primary official assembly between Bowie and Lennon.
“When David Bowie arrived, she seized his arm and said, ‘David, do you know John?’” Pang shared. “‘No, but I’ve always wanted to meet him.’ Bowie flashed his bright smile at John. There was a look of genuine admiration in his eyes. John, who found Bowie’s music fascinating, was very cordial. David had great charm and was also very funny The dialog began to flow very quickly.”
Bowie was ‘terrified’ throughout his first assembly with Lennon
After assembly one another for the primary time, John Lennon and David Bowie interacted additional when Lennon agreed to play the guitar on Bowie’s cowl of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe.” In an interview with BBC Radio 4 shared by way of The Guardian, Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti shared particulars concerning the assembly, saying Bowie was “terrified” and in contrast the interplay to two youngsters assembly for the primary time.
“About one in the morning, I knocked on the door and for about the next two hours, John Lennon and David weren’t speaking to each other,” Visconti stated. “Instead, David was sitting on the floor with an art pad and a charcoal, and he was sketching things, and he was completely ignoring Lennon.”
The 2 started to come out of their shells after they exchanged drawings.
“So John started making caricatures of David, and David started doing the same of John and they kept swapping them, and then they started laughing, and that broke the ice,” the producer added.
Bowie carried out a canopy of ‘Imagine’ following Lennon’s dying
David Bowie and John Lennon turned good pals and frequent collaborators. The 2 labored collectively on Bowie’s tune “Fame,” with Lennon offering backing vocals and guitar. The “Space Oddity” singer was struck by Lennon’s 1980 assassination and carried out a tribute to the artist three years later. At a 1983 present in Hong Kong, Bowie carried out an emotional cowl of “Imagine,” one which his band was not ready for.
George Simms, a backup singer throughout the efficiency, stated that Bowie had not advised them about this cowl, and recalled the solemn ambiance that adopted.
“We all grew up listening to The Beatles and John Lennon. After we did ‘Imagine,’ we all went off the stage and back into the holding area,” Simms stated by way of Happy magazine. “Normally we’d be slap-happy, talking and laughing, but that night there was absolute silence because of all the emotion of doing a tribute to John Lennon—especially knowing that David was a friend of his and that David was speaking from his heart. We didn’t know how dramatic the lights’ impact was going to be. Nobody wanted to break the silence; it was like a sledgehammer into your chest.”