David Bowie and Garry Johnson

This is my personal tribute to DAVID BOWIE...a living legend and without doubt the person who had the biggest ever influence on my life...and the title of the Chapter means our names will always be `linked` on Google,

I have loved him since first hearing `Starman` and then seeing ZIGGY STARDUST.

David Bowie changed my life...I went from being a Skinhead who worshipped Georgie Best to a Ziggy clone.

I grew my hair and dyed it red/orange...copied his clothes and only played his records...I bought all the  pre- Ziggy albums...`Hunky Dory`...The Man Who Sold The World`...`Space Oddity`...and became hooked on everything David Bowie.

My reason for writing this tribute today...is because its his Birthday...and when I got in earlier the were celebrating the occassion on SKY News.

So far I have watched the new video 11 times on YouTube...and the lyrics just got me thinking of the past...but the mood & tone `scared me`...as a few months back...a Record Company contact...close to a "friend of a friend` of the `great man`...said David was `not well`.

I have a gut feeling/fear that the single was not released to celebrate his Birthday - I honestly believe its a "goodbye present" to his fans.

Please dont ask me to explain...but I genuinely "fear the worst".

To me David Bowie is like a religion...in my mind...since the release of ZIGGY STARDUST he has been bigger then God.

Just as I used to copy his haircuts...clothes...lifestyle...the fast drugs...the wasted look...I feel we could both die in the same year.

I owe my best song to David Bowie...I know the Punk classic `Suburban Rebels` is my most popular song...but for me it has to be "If Looks Could Kill"...as I `stole` the tune from `The London Boys`...which appeared on The World of David Bowie.

I recently gave away a lot of my David Bowie collection...memorabilia...records...photographs...including a black and white picture signed by the great man himself...if that dont convince people I`ve not got long to live ...then nothing will.

I gave some of my most prized possessions to a young guy who works in my local Halifax Building Society...he is also a Bowie fanatic...so I knew it would be going to a good home.

My obsession went way beyond the music and copying Bowie`s image. He lived on speed, Charlie and skimmed milk...so did I.

He had a Jewish girlfriend in Coco Schwabb - I always wanted one - and eventually moved in with Erica Echenberg.

Bowie had bi-sexual friends - so I became `best mates` with Hughie Gee.

David Bowie got me into Lou Reed...Iggy Pop...The Velvet Underground...Andy Warhol...he educated me when it came to music...fashion...drugs and lifestyle.

Before becoming a disciple of Bowie/Ziggy...I was uneducated...and only into Football...girls...The Kray Twins and Georgie Best...and had never read a book...I was a teenage tearaway...a Borstal Boy...going nowhere.

Bowie got me into the `arts`...in a way it was "thanx" to Ziggy Stardust Bowie and The Sex Pistols that I became a Punk...(poet, writer, singer).

I soaked up everything connected to David Bowie - I started signing off - and still do to this day ...all my letters "luv on ya" (with xx above xxx).

Just like the sleeve of Pin Ups.

I got into Mott The Hople...looked up The New York Dolls...and in later years checked out Kraftwork and Brian Eno...as all in a way were `linked` to Bowie...or `name-dropped` in interviews.

I was such a follower that when I met David...at a Tina Turner after-gig party in 1985...that I almost passed out...LOL...I was already `pretty high`...but needed a few more lines of `whiz` to pluck-up the courage to say "hello".

I `floated` over...said "Hi David"...and he shook my hand...I turned into a `Zombie`...at the time Sounds had a gossip column...and my meeting with Bowie...became a running joke...it would say things like "3 weeks and Garry Johnson has still not washed his hand".

I truly hope I die before him...as I couldnt cope with his death. When Georgie Best died I remember watching every bit of the funeral with Sam and Adam.

It affected me...I was `sad`...but the sadness wore off.

The death of David Bowie will for me be like the demise of Will Carlings `bit on the side` when the nation mourned a women who hadnt done a single worthwhile thing in her life.

Since 1972 David Bowie has influenced  music...style and fashion...from Glam Rock to Punk...to New Romantics...to white boy soul.

Bowie List:
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
Station To Station
Diamond Dogs
Heroes
Aladin Sane
Low
Hunky Dory

At my funeral the only songs I want are `Rock and Roll Suicide` and the live version of "My Death".

Being a proper Bowie fan...is a bit like following a religion...only far more important...once a believer you never stop believing.

Toni King...one of my oldest friends...was a fanatical teenage fan and still is...I remember her having a blonde Angie Bowie haircut as a tribute to "our hero".

Being a Bowie fan also blagged me a job...I met up with Daily Star Showbiz Editor Annette Witheridge...the only person who maybe `worships` ZIGGY more then me...we`d never met...went for a drink....spoke about our `mutual` obsession and she gave me a job on the pop column.

Jenny Torring - who I met as a young showbiz journo - was a top PR and `dead ringer` for Debbie Harry in her Blondie "glory days"....I fancied her like mad...not just because she was `drop dead gorgeous" but because she knew DAVID BOWIE.

Showbiz heroes like my favourite funnyman Ricky Gervais...chat show king Jonathan Ross...are also mega fans...there has to be connection.

And how about this my ex-wife did NOT like David Bowie...so perhaps our marriage was `doomed to fail`...even before her affair with child abuser and former pimp Richard Grimson!