I heard the news today…* Young Americans Turns 50; Bowie Climbs the British Charts; Dublin Bowie Fest coverage; Bowie in Berlin exhibit; plus new albums by Lady Gaga, Suzanne Vega; reflections, lists AND MORE!
Welcome to my weekly roundup of Bowie news! Click on the bolded article titles to read the originals. This news update might be a little shorter than usual, perhaps because the Bowie-space in the news was dominated by variations on one story– Young Americans’ 50th anniversary, several examples (but not close to all) appear below. The above Lady Gaga video is from her new album. The song has been compared to “Let’s Dance.” See if you can hear the influences. And of course, there’s more. With that said, read on…
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NEWS
Bowie Climbs British Charts. Bowie’s compilation album, Legacy is rising to No. 50 on the Official Albums Streaming chart and No. 57 on the Official Albums chart in the UK. Meanwhile, “Modern Love” is seeing renewed sales, climbing to No. 80 on the Official Singles Downloads chart and No. 83 on the Official Singles Sales chart. Legacy has spent over 430 weeks on the charts, while “Modern Love” has only recently reappeared.
Young Americans turns 50. Young Americans turned 50 this past week, marking half a century since its release brought a shift from glam rock to funk and soul, introduced Luther Vandross to a wider audience, and gave Bowie his first U.S. number-one hit with “Fame,” featuring John Lennon. I’ve interviewed two artists who worked with Bowie on the album– click HERE to hear my interview with Earl Slick and click HERE for part one of my interview with Ava Cherry, and HERE for part 2.
Carlos Alomar on Young Americans. Guitarist Carlos Alomar reflected on the making of Young Americans, recalling how the Sigma Sound Studio sessions shaped Bowie’s shift to “plastic soul” and led to his first U.S. number-one hit, “Fame,” co-written with Alomar and John Lennon.
Bowie Alumni & The RTÉ Concert Orchestra at 3Arena. Bowie alumni Gerry Leonard, Sterling Campbell, Mark Plati, Mike Garson, and Gail Ann Dorsey joined the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for a standout performance at 3Arena as part of the Dublin Bowie Festival this past week, delivering a powerful tribute that showcased Bowie’s enduring legacy through stunning collaborations with guest vocalists.
Steve Schapiro Exhibit features Bowie photos. “I’m Not Here,” the largest exhibition of Steve Schapiro’s work since his passing, runs from February 15 to March 29, 2025, at Camera Work in Berlin, showcasing around 40 photographs—including never-before-seen images—of cultural icons like David Bowie, Andy Warhol, and Samuel Beckett, alongside his civil rights and film set photography.
Rick Astley sings like Bowie (?). Astley earned comparisons to Bowie for his cover of “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan, who herself has drawn many a Bowie comparison—including on this blog. The “Never Gonna Give You Up” singer recently surprised fans with an acoustic take on the song, even donning a red cowboy hat mid-performance.
38th Annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert. At the 38th Annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert on March 3, 2025, at Carnegie Hall, Michael Stipe performed “The Man Who Sold the World” as part of an evening featuring artists such as Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, Jackson Browne, and others in support of Tibetan cultural preservation and human rights.
Kingston Pub Where Bowie Debuted Ziggy Stardust May Become Housing Site. Developers have submitted plans to build 965 homes along with a community center and commercial spaces on the site of the former Toby Jug pub in Kingston, where David Bowie first performed as Ziggy Stardust.
Gerry Leonard joins with Suzanne Vega on new album. Gerry Leonard, known for his work with David Bowie, produced Suzanne Vega’s upcoming album, Flying With Angels, which will be released on May 2 and marks her first full-length release in over a decade. Leonard, who has been Vega’s longtime guitarist and collaborator, also played guitar on the album.
AI Security Hates Bowie. Indonesian AI passport gates blocked a man after mistakenly identifying his David Bowie T-shirt as a security threat.
Josh Homme Covers Bowie and others At LA Wildfire Benefit Show. Josh Homme, of Queens of the Stone Age, covered David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and other songs at an LA wildfire benefit show, delivering a passionate performance that had the crowd singing along and engaging with him throughout the night.
Lady Gaga’s latest references Bowie. Lady Gaga’s album Mayhem, released on Friday, includes multiple nods to David Bowie, with “Vanish Into You” (video embedded above) subtly referencing “Let’s Dance” and “Killah” incorporating elements reminiscent of “Golden Years” and “Fame.”
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REFLECTIONS
Carlos Alomar on working with Bowie. The guitar-great recalls how working with Bowie was luxurious but all-consuming.
Labyrinth Commentary. This page has previously reported that Labyrinth is now streaming, which this article mentions. I’m linking to it, however because it is more original commentary on the movie than announcement.
A Young Americans love-letter. The article explores Young Americans as a pivotal moment in Bowie’s artistic evolution, highlighting his openness to learning from soul musicians like Carlos Alomar and Luther Vandross, his collaboration with John Lennon, and the album’s lasting influence on his career while acknowledging the complexities of cultural appropriation.
When Boy George Followed Bowie. This is one of several stories that came out of Boy George’s recent appearance on Lulu’s new podcast, in which he discussed Bowie, among other topics.
On making Young Americans. The album has been getting many retrospectives on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
The Majesty of David Bowie. An article in The Spectator, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s student newspaper, celebrates Bowie’s musical and cultural impact, highlighting his personas, genre-blending innovation, and role in pushing boundaries of gender expression while reflecting on his continued relevance today.
The Bowie Song That Almost Became an Elvis Presley Classic. This story is a retelling of the long-circulating rumor that Bowie wrote “Golden Years” for Elvis Presley. When I asked Earl Slick, who played on and helped shape the song about this rumor, he said he had never heard that. Perhaps there is a kernel of truth to the story, but based on what Earl said, I think it is safe to say that the version of the song we know of as a Bowie song was not created in its final form for Elvis.
Secrets behind Hollywood’s greatest love stories. This article includes fairly lengthy profiles of different successful marriages between celebrities including Bowie and Iman.
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LISTS
Three Underrated Songs That Were Inspired by Bowie. This short list includes two songs I didn’t know about and are destine to make an appearance in my “Divine Symmetry” series…
10 Vintage Vinyl Records You Might Own That Are Worth A Fortune. Diamond Dogs was briefly pulled from shelves in 1974 to alter the artwork, which originally included a dog’s genitals, and unedited copies, once sold for $3,550 on eBay in 2003, have increased in value since his passing, now potentially worth up to $5,000.
Historic Homes of Musical Icons That No Longer Exist. The legendary but now demolished Haddon Hall makes the list.
5 best music collaborations of all time. This rather short list includes Bowie and Queen teaming up for “Under Pressure.”
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FAR OUT MAGAZINE
The online magazine consistently publishes Bowie stories, often centered on a small piece of known information. These articles are given titles that suggest an intriguing detail or connection, enticing readers to click and uncover the full context as the story unfolds. This week featured:
(1) Kate Bush’s favourite avant-garde albums
(2) The 1970s masterpiece Thomas Dolby calls the “classic album of the era”
(3) The Velvet Underground of the 1980s, according to David Bowie
(4) The Razzie-winning Liam Neeson movie David Bowie auditioned for
(5) The genre David Bowie was ashamed for inspiring
(6) Where did David Bowie get “wham, bam, thank you, ma’am!” from?
(7) The song that made David Bowie leave his first band
(8) The one singer Mick Jagger called a true original
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THIS WEEK IN THIS BLOG
March 2: Last Week’s News
March 3: Bowie Cover of the Week: Sing It Live’s “Modern Love”
March 4: KillerStar Set to Rock The 100 Club with Bowie Alumni
March 5: His animal grace: Five Bowie Songs that mention animals, and one that doesn’t
March 6: Who can I be now? Pictures that inspired Bowie…
March 7: Ten Guest Appearances by Bowie
March 8: Kev Gahan helps us find “Where’s Bowie”
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And with that, “we’ve finished our news…”*
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*“I’ve heard the news today” is Bowie’s adaptation of the Beatles lyric, which is heard in “Young Americans.” **“We’ve finished our news” is a line from, “Oh You Pretty Things”