Bowie’s companion: Time with him not valued enough

He stood on stage with David Bowie for decades – and now thinks that he was far too little a fan of the British pop icon.

At least that’s how Bowie pianist Mike Garson put it in an interview with the PA news agency. Bowie, who died six years ago, would have turned 75 on Saturday. Garson said that he was so focused on his task that he did not adequately appreciate the “big picture”. “When you work with a guy like that, when you’ve been hired to play the piano the best you can, you’re not looking at him from a fan’s perspective.”

To commemorate Bowie, Garson is hosting an internet streamed concert on his birthday with Duran Duran’s artists including Noel Gallagher, Def Leppard and Simon Le Bon and John Taylor entitled “A Bowie Celebration”. The US pianist Garson was hired by Bowie for his Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972 and 1973 and can be heard on nine of the superstar’s studio albums.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 220108-99-634710 / 2