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Vince Taylor was Lady Stardust
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Will Dockery
Dec 16, 2015, 5:06:45 AM12/16/15
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Vince Taylor, who wrote the Clash classic "Brand New Cadillac", was the inspiration for Lady Stardust, not Marc Bolan. I never knew this, or very much about Vince Taylor, really, until reading about him tonight.
http://www.5years.com/faq.htm
Vince Taylor
Bowie says that he based the character of Ziggy Stardust on the eccentric rocker "Vince Taylor" (real name Brian Holden and also known as the "French Presley") who moved to France and worked as an Elvis impersonator. Born in 1939 in Middlesex, Taylor's family migrated to the US when he was seven years old. By the mid-1950s, his family had moved to California, where Taylor's sister married Joe Barbera, of the famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon partnership. It was in Los Angeles that Taylor - clearly influenced by Elvis Presley - began to hone his act in various LA nightclubs. In 1957 Taylor returned to London as a leather rocker and made such an impact that within a few months he was signed by EMI. At gigs, he would show all the signs of typical rock'n'roll magnetism, the screams from the women in the audience drowning out his weak voice, his only superficial flaw. Trips to Europe proved somewhat more chaotic, as his performances - with Taylor dressed in black leathers, wearing make-up, throwing himself about on stage as if in an epileptic fit - induced riots. Months of this exacting routine, however, began to take its toll as Taylor started to fall prey to the lure of drugs. Come 1964, Taylor was on the edge, his diet of drugs, wine and an increasing God complex leading to his eventual downfall. From the mid-1960s, he drifted from club to club in London, claiming to anyone who would listen that he was the Son of God, his food intake consisting solely of eggs. His best known work is his 1959 single "Brand New Cadillac" which was covered by the Clash on "London Calling" (1977). The Clash's Joe Strummer recalled: "Vince Taylor was the beginning of British rock'n'roll. Before him there was nothing. He was a miracle." Bowie first encountered Taylor at the Giaconda cafe on Tottenham Court Road in 1966.
"He was the inspiration for Ziggy. Vince Taylor was a rock n roll star from the Sixties who was slowly going crazy. Finally, he fired his band and went on-stage one night in a white sheet. He told the audience to rejoice, that he was Jesus. They put him away." - Bowie (1976)
"I met (Vince Taylor) a few times in the mid-Sixties and I went to a few parties with him. He was out of his gourd. Totally flipped. The guy was not playing with a full deck at all. He used to carry maps of Europe around with him, and I remember him opening a map outside Charing Cross tube station, putting it on the pavement and kneeling down with a magnifying glass. He pointed out all the sites where UFOs were going to land." - Bowie (1996)
"The guy was unbelievable. He had this six-day party in some guy's house, that just went on and on. Just the weirdest kind of creature....In his own mind he did become the Messiah...He used to hang out on Tottenham Court Road and I got to know him then. And he had these strange plans, showing where there was money buried, that he was going to get together; he was going to create this new Atlantis at one time...And he always stayed in my mind as an example of what can happen in rock n roll. I'm not sure if I held him up as an idol or as something not to become. Bit of both probably. There was something very tempting about him going completely off the edge. Especially at my age, then, it seemed very appealing: Oh, I'd love to end up like that, totally nuts. Ha ha! And so he re-emerged in this Ziggy Stardust character." - Bowie (1990)
"The weird and rather scary thing is that poor Vince died not so long ago, a few years ago in Switzerland near to where I lived when I was living in Switzerland and do you know what his career had been the last few years of his life? This guy had been in and out of institutions all his life - he was an aircraft maintenance guy at Geneva Airport. Can you believe that! Ziggy was a maintenance guy!" - Bowie (2000)
In June 1972, the month that the Ziggy Stardust album was released, Vince Taylor had partially rebuilt his career in France and released an unsuccessful album called "Vince is Alive, Well and Rocking in Paris". After spending much of his life in prisons and psychiatric institutions due to alcoholism and schizophrenia he died in 1991 in Switzerland from cancer at the age of 52. He is buried in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Learning new things, gotta love that.
:D
http://www.5years.com/faq.htm
Vince Taylor
Bowie says that he based the character of Ziggy Stardust on the eccentric rocker "Vince Taylor" (real name Brian Holden and also known as the "French Presley") who moved to France and worked as an Elvis impersonator. Born in 1939 in Middlesex, Taylor's family migrated to the US when he was seven years old. By the mid-1950s, his family had moved to California, where Taylor's sister married Joe Barbera, of the famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon partnership. It was in Los Angeles that Taylor - clearly influenced by Elvis Presley - began to hone his act in various LA nightclubs. In 1957 Taylor returned to London as a leather rocker and made such an impact that within a few months he was signed by EMI. At gigs, he would show all the signs of typical rock'n'roll magnetism, the screams from the women in the audience drowning out his weak voice, his only superficial flaw. Trips to Europe proved somewhat more chaotic, as his performances - with Taylor dressed in black leathers, wearing make-up, throwing himself about on stage as if in an epileptic fit - induced riots. Months of this exacting routine, however, began to take its toll as Taylor started to fall prey to the lure of drugs. Come 1964, Taylor was on the edge, his diet of drugs, wine and an increasing God complex leading to his eventual downfall. From the mid-1960s, he drifted from club to club in London, claiming to anyone who would listen that he was the Son of God, his food intake consisting solely of eggs. His best known work is his 1959 single "Brand New Cadillac" which was covered by the Clash on "London Calling" (1977). The Clash's Joe Strummer recalled: "Vince Taylor was the beginning of British rock'n'roll. Before him there was nothing. He was a miracle." Bowie first encountered Taylor at the Giaconda cafe on Tottenham Court Road in 1966.
"He was the inspiration for Ziggy. Vince Taylor was a rock n roll star from the Sixties who was slowly going crazy. Finally, he fired his band and went on-stage one night in a white sheet. He told the audience to rejoice, that he was Jesus. They put him away." - Bowie (1976)
"I met (Vince Taylor) a few times in the mid-Sixties and I went to a few parties with him. He was out of his gourd. Totally flipped. The guy was not playing with a full deck at all. He used to carry maps of Europe around with him, and I remember him opening a map outside Charing Cross tube station, putting it on the pavement and kneeling down with a magnifying glass. He pointed out all the sites where UFOs were going to land." - Bowie (1996)
"The guy was unbelievable. He had this six-day party in some guy's house, that just went on and on. Just the weirdest kind of creature....In his own mind he did become the Messiah...He used to hang out on Tottenham Court Road and I got to know him then. And he had these strange plans, showing where there was money buried, that he was going to get together; he was going to create this new Atlantis at one time...And he always stayed in my mind as an example of what can happen in rock n roll. I'm not sure if I held him up as an idol or as something not to become. Bit of both probably. There was something very tempting about him going completely off the edge. Especially at my age, then, it seemed very appealing: Oh, I'd love to end up like that, totally nuts. Ha ha! And so he re-emerged in this Ziggy Stardust character." - Bowie (1990)
"The weird and rather scary thing is that poor Vince died not so long ago, a few years ago in Switzerland near to where I lived when I was living in Switzerland and do you know what his career had been the last few years of his life? This guy had been in and out of institutions all his life - he was an aircraft maintenance guy at Geneva Airport. Can you believe that! Ziggy was a maintenance guy!" - Bowie (2000)
In June 1972, the month that the Ziggy Stardust album was released, Vince Taylor had partially rebuilt his career in France and released an unsuccessful album called "Vince is Alive, Well and Rocking in Paris". After spending much of his life in prisons and psychiatric institutions due to alcoholism and schizophrenia he died in 1991 in Switzerland from cancer at the age of 52. He is buried in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Learning new things, gotta love that.
:D
Buffer Underrun
Dec 16, 2015, 8:08:54 AM12/16/15
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I not sure if Ziggy and Lady were supposed to be different entities. It's been known for a long time that Taylor was the inspiration for Ziggy, similar with Bolan for Lady. The two have always been separate in my mind.
Anyway, enough of the juvenile mythology... errr, where did Alvin fit in? :)
Anyway, enough of the juvenile mythology... errr, where did Alvin fit in? :)
Jimmy
Dec 16, 2015, 10:33:58 AM12/16/15
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alvin was ziggy and lady`s love child
"Buffer Underrun" wrote in message
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"Buffer Underrun" wrote in message
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Will Dockery
Dec 16, 2015, 1:03:11 PM12/16/15
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On Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 8:08:54 AM UTC-5, Buffer Underrun wrote:
> I not sure if Ziggy and Lady were supposed to be different entities. It's been known for a long time that Taylor was the inspiration for Ziggy, similar with Bolan for Lady. The two have always been separate in my mind.
>
> Anyway, enough of the juvenile mythology... errr, where did Alvin fit in? :)
Yes, I always saw Lady Stardust was Marc Bolan, and that mostly makes sense.
> I not sure if Ziggy and Lady were supposed to be different entities. It's been known for a long time that Taylor was the inspiration for Ziggy, similar with Bolan for Lady. The two have always been separate in my mind.
>
> Anyway, enough of the juvenile mythology... errr, where did Alvin fit in? :)
I'm also seeing the Legendary Stardust Cowboy as having more influence than I had realized in the past.
Beaver...@live.com
Dec 16, 2015, 7:11:10 PM12/16/15
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Buffer Underrun
Dec 16, 2015, 7:23:04 PM12/16/15
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There's a bit of history in the 'show more' on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ1JyBJfc9s
Will Dockery
Dec 16, 2015, 7:34:28 PM12/16/15
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On Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 7:23:04 PM UTC-5, Buffer Underrun wrote:
> There's a bit of history in the 'show more' on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ1JyBJfc9s
Ah, great stuff, thanks, Buffer.
> There's a bit of history in the 'show more' on this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ1JyBJfc9s
Buffer Underrun
Dec 16, 2015, 7:41:46 PM12/16/15
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I definitely remember this record from when I was a kid, although it might've been by one of the others who recorded it. In a way, it looks like Bernard Jewry/ Shane Fenton/Alvin Stardust modelled himself on Taylor as well. :)
Buffer Underrun
Dec 16, 2015, 7:42:11 PM12/16/15
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I meant this one - https://youtu.be/hPxmPdDQtQA
Jamie Soule
Dec 20, 2015, 3:29:37 AM12/20/15
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Will is right, and don't even try to argue.
You'll lose.
Guaranteed.
ENOuGh
You'll lose.
Guaranteed.
ENOuGh
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