David Bowie: Rock ’n’ Roll with Me

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April 2023 until the 22nd October 2023. Spring public opening with guided tour, and Private View on the 1st. The private view is open to everyone but guests must RSVP to the Wende.

No. I knew he had been ill, but I didn't know he had been that ill, because although I hadn't seen him for, like, a year and a half before, I remember him having to take tablets and whatever and his[personal assistant] fussing over him. So I thought, Oh, that's perhaps not a good sign. But no, and I'm glad I didn't, really. James Smith, Publisher of ACC Art Books, said: “This unique story, told with humour and incredible insight, details the author’s adventures on-and-off the road with David Bowie – his childhood friend. We’re incredibly proud to be publishing Geoff’s book and know fans, old and new, will be as enthralled with his book as we all are.” I was just hanging out with Ava (Cherry) and David, and it just came into my stupid head. Oddly, the same name was used by a music journalist and a character in an American teen movie called Sky High. You have taken some incredible shots of David when he was filming The Man Who Fell to Earth, you were originally going to be his body double weren’t you? What are your memories from the film shoot? It’s my favourite Bowie film of all time. What’s yours?

Our dress sense was considered to be quite effeminate because he was flamboyant. We were the first generation to be free, and have extra money to spend on ourselves, and to buy clothes, and have foreign holidays and have suits made and stuff like this. So it was quite a liberating situation. But then we were the first generation who weren't bossed around by society.” I’ve always thought that good cameras (and to a degree, guns) are extremely sexy, something about the buttons and dials with all their precision. Also, the pointing and shooting —– Ooh La La! We had a little party on the Trans-Siberian Express. We had a few drinks (copious) with some tourists and young Russian soldiers who said they were in the construction unit. David came off second-best on this occasion and I managed to snap the aftermath!” Was it traveling with David which prompted you to document what was happening for posterity or were you always interested in photography? Bowie pictured in Chicago in 1973 on his Ziggy Stardust tour, sporting an outfit designed by influential Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto.

You were one of very few people who stayed with Bowie from his glam period to his soul period and everything in between. At the time, did you feel that he was moving incredibly fast? David Bowie in the Soviet Union is generously supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. It's interesting because you captured some beautiful shots during eras in which Bowie maybe wasn't as happy or fulfilled in his life or career — the period when he was filming 1976's The Man Who Fell to Earth, for example. DBN: During periods when you weren’t busy taking photos, writing or performing, did you take the opportunity to reflect on the fact that you were traveling the world with David Bowie?Justin de Villeneuve: “Twiggy and I flew to Paris where David was recording his new album, ‘Pin Ups,’ and I booked a studio to take the portrait. When T & B sat in front of me, I realised we had a problem. Twiggy and myself had just returned from the Bahamas and she had a dark tan. David was as white as a ghost. They looked weird together. The problem was resolved when the make-up artist Pierre LaRoche and myself decided to draw masks on their faces of the same colours. It was only when I looked through the lens viewfinder that I noticed Bowie’s eyes were different. All the times I’d met him before and I had never noticed! David also had an 8mm cine-camera on which he documented our progress. The film has historic importance and I Iove the stuff that he filmed.” What are your memories of The 1980 Floor Show? It’s great to see it’s recently been uploaded to YouTube in superior quality.

When I showed David the Polaroid of the portrait, he loved it and asked if he could have it as the cover of his new album. I replied, ‘But this is a special commission for Vogue.’ Then I asked him how many albums he thought he would sell. ‘A million,’ he replied. I realised Vogue would sell about 80,000 copies, which would soon be forgotten so I agreed David could use it as his next album cover. Vogue never spoke to me again!”In 1995, I was able to meet David Bowie during his ‘Outside’ tour with Nine Inch Nails and presented him with a framed copy of my favourite image of him. About three weeks later, I received an envelope from Switzerland in the mail. I didn’t know anyone in Switzerland. It was a handwritten letter from Bowie, on his embossed stationery, thanking me for my gift of the photograph. He asked that I please excuse his tardiness in sending thanks. A handwritten note. Politeness. What a perfect British gentleman! It only made me love him more.” They had never heard his music and he did an impromptu little show on the boat going to Siberia from Japan, which went down very well. And we had one night where I think he got the guitar out, and we sang to some tourists and a few young Russian soldiers, and drank too much.” I really liked all the spiders. I think they realised that Hutch and I plus the two brass/woodwind guys were just there to bulk up the sound, even where we were positioned, at the side of the stage, confirmed that it was, very much, David and The Spiders show! He was extremely generous. He was extremely polite. That's the way we were brought up in Bromley, where we all came from.

Did you see David’s brilliant musical ‘Lazarus’? (I saw it in NYC & London, inc the filming, adored it) What did you think of it? Cocaine, a fascination with Nazi Germany, his failing marriage and an obsession with occult practice and writings had captured Bowie’s interest but his creative powers and aesthetic were arguably at their peak. What was the atmosphere like at the Ziggy Hammersmith show after David announced on stage that it was the last show we’ll ever do? Woody & Trevor had no idea beforehand. Bowie Poses With a Large Barking Dog for Publicity Shots for His 1974 Album ‘Diamond Dogs’ in LondonThe beautiful thing about the photos in this book is their intimacy. These aren't publicity pictures; they're pictures taken by a friend. I love the one of Bowie asleep in the train car. Were you trying to get shots like that or is that just kind of how it happened? There was confusion. To be honest, although I knew David was going to retire Ziggy, I had no idea that I would have any further involvement in touring and performing with David. Had I known, I would have felt guilty and uncomfortable. It's kind of how it ended up happening. I wanted a camera because I loved the idea of a camera. I loved the idea of a camera like you might like the idea of a gun, the mechanics of it and the weight of it ... so to have a proper camera, as opposed to an Instamatic — Instamatics have got their place, by the way, as do Polaroids — but to have a serious camera with dials that you didn't know what they did. I probably never learned my way around it, but there's something really sexy about a camera - a real camera, a good camera. So I wanted that. I don't know how much was wanting that and wanting to use it, and not the subject as such. So, you know, David wasn't just in the way [Laughs] ... but mostly it was the camera, it was having a camera and using a camera, which I thought was really sexy. Greg Gorman: “I was more than a bit nervous to meet such a creative genius, not to mention a real legend. So, I was quite surprised when we came face to face to realise not only how extremely down-to-earth but very, very funny with a tremendous sense of humor he was. That certainly helped relax me for what was to be the first of many photo sessions over the next 10 years.