Bowie, Brown, Gaga, Alomar, “Fame”

I recently interviewed BBC World Service presenter and reporter Tom Hagler, who wrote two books about Bowie, including We Could Be…Bowie and His Heroes, which is biography-via-vignette—300 stories of Bowie’s intersections with other famous people. The book is immensely fun and includes several stories that I hadn’t previously encountered. One of them was about Bowie and James Brown.

Bowie and Brown eventually did meet and, according to Hagler, seemed to be as excited to meet each other as any other fan would be. But in the mid-70s, Brown, it seems, borrowed from “Fame” for a song with which I was not previously familiar called “Hot.” Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I tracked down the song and, yep, James Brown lifted from “Fame.” I mean, it’s Vanilla Ice-level borrowing.

Longtime Bowie collaborator Carlos Alomar (who has also been a guest on my show) co-wrote “Fame” with Bowie and John Lennon, and Carlos wanted to sue James Brown. Among his most obvious contributions to the song are guitar parts that he first came up with for Bowie’s cover of a 1961 song by the Flairs called “Foot Stompin’.” Bowie’s version of the song is somewhat obscure but easy enough to find on YouTube. The distinctive guitar part stands out to anyone familiar with “Fame.” I’ve read that Bowie thought it was too good to use for a cover, and, well, “Fame” became Bowie’s first U.S. #1 single.

Anyway, according to Hagler, Bowie admired Brown and “was flattered by his hero’s imitation and suggested they wait to see whether ‘Hot’ charted; otherwise they wouldn’t get any money, anyway. The song was a flop and Bowie was spared having to decide whether or not to take one of his biggest heroes to court.”

That’s where Hagler’s story ends, but that’s not the end of the story of the “Fame” guitar riff being repurposed. Lady Gaga’s 2025 song, “Killah,” obviously borrows it too. I haven’t heard anything about Carlos Alomar suing her, though I am under the impression that “Killah” was a bigger hit than “Hot.” Gaga has, however, been pretty open about Bowie’s influence on her, and actually had a Bowie tattoo, which is not something I can say.

Above is a video of Bowie performing “Fame” and below are videos of “Hot” and “Killah.” I also listened to the Flairs’ “Footstompin’,” which sounds nothing like “Fame,” and Bowie’s cover of that song, which does. These, again, are pretty easy to find, so if you’re interested, check them out on your own…

The Lady Gaga video is from her 2025 appearance on Saturday Night Live, which reminds me both of Bowie’s 1979 appearance on the show with Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias providing backing vocals, and of a number from The Nineteen Eighty Floor Show in which Ava Cherry (who has also been on my show) and, I believe, Jason Guess rip away Bowie’s outer costume to reveal a skimpier one underneath. (Bowie borrowed this move from Kabuki theater and did it elsewhere, as well).