About Jamie Soule Expertise I am able to answer questions about Bowie`s career and his personal life. I can provide in depth information about his music, what his lyrics mean, the recording sessions and the people he has worked with. On the business side I can tell you what companies he owns and how they work, such as Bowiebanc. I can answer questions on his personal life as well as each of his so called "characters." If you require information about his concerts I am able to give first hand accounts.
Experience I have been a David Bowie collector for 29 years. I have a large selection of biographies, discographies, magazine articles and newspaper reviews. I have well over 150 audio recordings and a major video library. I have seen every tour since 1974.
Publications No publications. However some of my essays are posted on websites at the request of the owner. I have a regular readership on alt.binaries.fan.david-bowie. I am often asked for answers to questions or to write articles
Question Ive recently read bits of jaggers ex wifes life story,and she seems to be indecating a sexual link between bowie and jagger,can you help.
Answer Hi Andy,
First of all may I ask you to please take a bit of your time to rate me after you have read my response. This is important as I need to know if I am doing a satisfactory job. I thank you in advance.
Let's start at the beginning. The Bowie gay and bisexual story is a long one and muddled with innuendo, truth and lies. It has been used to boost the career of Bowie as well as to attempt to discredit him as a relevant artist.
In February and March of 1972 a series of fourteen concert dates were arranged in Britain to promote the release of Hunky Dory. Bowie's career was in serious trouble. Hunky Dory was a flop, it got very little airplay and was basically ignored. In addition to this, the advance ticket sales for the upcoming tour were dismal to say the least. Being ignored by the press is suicide to any artist. People are fickle and quick to follow the "flavour of the week" in order to be one of the "in" crowd. The same press that was killing Bowie could easily save him If used properly.
The idea was not Bowie's, but was the work of his wife Angela and manager Tony Defries. While sitting at a table in Haddon Hall discussing ways to bring David's career back the idea was born. David was not to keen on it at first but went along anyway as he knew that if this tour failed, his career was pretty much over. And so it came to be that in January 1972 during an interview with Melody Maker magazine Bowie said he was gay and always had been. David's face was on the next cover accompanied by a story titled, "Oh You Pretty Thing." The other trade journals were fast to pick up on the story running their own pieces and some of the mainstream press also gave coverage with some running editorials.
It worked. There was a "let's go see the weirdo" attitude that drew in the curious and the tour sold out. Bowie had recently dyed his hair the "Ziggy " red and the costumes he was now wearing based on Japanese Kabuki theatre added to the "character." The press was starving for Bowie and Tony Defries restricted access. Only the "chosen" were granted an audience and the press was left to beg. Bowie was hot property and the hype spilled over to America where he most needed exposure.
Although the lie did wonders for Bowie's career it also left him labelled, and once labelled you are usually stuck with it for life. Not a well known fact is that Ronson handed in his resignation the second to last gig of the American tour because Defries wanted him to announce he was gay due to the fact he was getting too much attention from the girls in the audience. Ronson refused on moral grounds and what the resulting fallout would do to his mother and friends in Hull. The label has stuck with Bowie through all of his career and many refuse to believe the truth even though every bit of evidence points to the fact he is straight. In a1983 interview Bowie admitted that the worst thing he ever did was say he was a homosexual to Melody Maker.
The Bowie and Jagger story goes back a long way before any Stones biography. It all started in Switzerland. A word of advice that If you are rich and want a divorce Switzerland is the place to go. David Bowie's divorce to Angela Barnett was finalized on Feb.8, 1980. David received full custody of Duncan Zowie Haywood Bowie and Angela received a lump sum of thirty thousand pounds. In addition there was a gag order placed on her that she could not speak to the media or write any articles that pertained in any way to Bowie for a period of seven years.
Bowie, while noticeably high on cocaine in a television interview with Dick Cavett in 1974 called Angela an "intellectual." In reality "lunatic" is more appropriate. Before the divorce Angie summoned the media to Switzerland for some exclusive interviews with her. In stead of getting an interview the media were subjected to watching her throwing herself down the stairs while stoned out of her mind and threatening suicide. This same intellectual carved up all of Coco Schwab's wardrobe in Berlin out of jealousy. Angie is a lunatic but not stupid.
In 1993, after the gag order had expired, she released a book called Backstage Passes which was supposed to be an inside look at the life of David Bowie. I have read this book several times and it reads more like The National Enquirer than a reputable historical account of life with David. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you need some hype, a sales gimmick in other words, to give people a reason to buy your book. In order to sell her book Angela makes an appearance on the Joan Rivers Show and tells the world she caught David in bed with Mick. A fact also on the first page. The sales followed. Angie had managed to aggravate David with this nonsense and The Stones as well. Bowie sent his lawyers threatening a lawsuit. The Stones refused her permission to reprint any lyrics from Angie, the song Jagger wrote about her.
The truth is that the Jagger and Bowie story is a complete fabrication used to sell books as is the case with your Stones tell all book. In forty years not one piece of credible evidence has ever appeared to suggest Bowie is other than straight. This fact though still does not deter those who bought in to the Bowie hype machine.
