OPINION - Alan Edwards: I worked with David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, The Who and this is what I learnt
As a child I was a keen reader of adventure books, but I could never have imagined then that I’d write one, let alone be the central character.
When I was 16, I saw David Bowie on the tour where he debuted Ziggy Stardust. There were only a couple of hundred people in the audience. At one point David sat on Mick Ronson’s shoulders while the guitarist walked around the sparse crowd. I could never have imagined then that I would ever get to meet Bowie, let alone work for him for nearly 40 years.
The following week the mighty Who came to town and by some twist of fate I ended up being involved with them for the rest of my working life. The die was cast and rock and roll was calling loud and clear.
I think the idea of a book first began to take hold when I was on a Rolling Stones tour of Europe in 1982. I was a PR, hired to oversee the media for the whole of Europe, liaising directly with the band and of course TV, radio and journalists from every and any title.
Still there was a lot of travel time on trains, boats and planes when the band were on tour, where I was just sitting around so I started making notes.
Sometimes the entries were surreal and might include appointments with the dentist, a visit from Motörhead and a meeting with Marvin Gaye at a theatre
Many years later, Prince remarked that my handwriting was like his because he also wrote in hieroglyphics. Sometimes the entries were surreal and might include appointments with the dentist, a visit from Motörhead and a meeting with Marvin Gaye at a theatre. I figured these notes would come in useful.
When I started working with David Bowie in the early Eighties and accompanied him on a tour to Australia, I started writing in earnest. It started to dawn on me that I was witnessing cultural history and that in the future people would want to know about it.
The book is quite eclectic and one conundrum was how to start it up.
We decided to open with my extraordinary last meeting with David Bowie and the subsequent memorial lunch featuring so many people, from producer Tony Visconti to Sir Bob Geldof. It made for an atmospheric and evocative beginning, and for me a timely reminder that I Was There.
Alan Edwards is a publicist and author of I Was There: Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll
