Bowie cover of the week: Lexi Jones sings “Starman” and “Life on Mars”

This is a special one. What you have here is the daughter of David Bowie and Iman singing “Starman” and “Life on Mars.” She’s singing along to recorded music, karaoke style. She’s apparently reading the words (though she’s obviously familiar with them) and she screws up a few times, but she can sing for sure. She has a nice voice. If you doubt it, try singing “Life on Mars.” If you can hit all the notes, then I want a video of YOU singing, too.

Lexi does not look or sound like David Bowie. Bowie was around her age when he was writing and recording these songs. Whatever Lexi is going to do with her life, she’s at a different point than he was at the same age. That makes her more like a regular human being, which David Bowie was not.

Maybe more interesting than any of that is why this seems special at all. Our interest— my interest— is in Lexi’s connection to her father, but of course she’s not her father. She’s her own person, but more or less what we know about her is her lineage. OK, she gives us other clues about her personality— she seems like a fairly typical young woman (of means) in her 20s. She’s active on social media and likes to draw and paint. But I think what’s compelling is the somewhat mythical idea that some of David Bowie lives on in her. Perhaps if she takes up music, we can have more Bowie music. Perhaps she can sing a duet, Natalie Cole/Nat King Cole style.

Of course, I wish Lexi well and I hope she has a happy life. But what remains of Bowie is his music. His genetic DNA is in this person but his musical DNA is in this songs she’s singing. The plus side of that is that we’re still getting pleasure out of new interpretations of Mozart, even when they sound very, very similar to the last orchestra’s interpretation of the same music. In a small way, the circle closes with the purpose of this weekly feature— Bowie lives because professional and amateur bands, guys in their living rooms and 20-year olds in front of their computers are keeping the music alive, and adding something of themselves along the way.