Why David Bowie Was ‘Terrified’ to Meet John Lennon
Meeting one’s idol can be intimidating, and celebrities aren’t immune from feeling starstruck themselves. John Lennon was an idol for many legendary musicians, including David Bowie, who was “terrified” during his first meeting with Lennon.
John Lennon first met David Bowie at a party thanks to Elizabeth Taylor
Bowie became a worldwide sensation during the 1970s, shortly after The Beatles disbanded. His newfound fame earned him the opportunity to attend parties with other celebrities, including one that was also attended by Lennon. In the mid-1970s, Lennon and his girlfriend, May Pang, attended a party for Dean Martin’s son that was also attended by Hollywood actor Elizabeth Taylor.
In Pang’s 1983 memoir Loving John, Pang said Lennon was dying to meet the Cleopatra star and finally had the opportunity to speak to one another. While chatting, Taylor saw Bowie and pulled him into the conversation, marking the first official meeting between Bowie and Lennon.
“When David Bowie arrived, she seized his arm and said, ‘David, do you know John?'” Pang shared. “‘No, but I’ve always wanted to meet him.’ Bowie flashed his bright smile at John. There was a look of genuine admiration in his eyes. John, who found Bowie’s music fascinating, was very cordial. David had great charm and was also very funny The dialog began to flow very quickly.”
Bowie was ‘terrified’ during his first meeting with Lennon
After meeting each other for the first time, John Lennon and David Bowie interacted further when Lennon agreed to play the guitar on Bowie’s cover of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe.” In an interview with BBC Radio 4 shared via The Guardian, Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti shared details about the meeting, saying Bowie was “terrified” and compared the interaction to two children meeting for the first time. \
“About one in the morning, I knocked on the door and for about the next two hours, John Lennon and David weren’t speaking to each other,” Visconti said. “Instead, David was sitting on the floor with an art pad and a charcoal, and he was sketching things, and he was completely ignoring Lennon.”
The two began to come out of their shells after they exchanged drawings.
“So John started making caricatures of David, and David started doing the same of John and they kept swapping them, and then they started laughing, and that broke the ice,” the producer added.
Bowie performed a cover of ‘Imagine’ following Lennon’s death
David Bowie and John Lennon became good friends and frequent collaborators. The two worked together on Bowie’s song “Fame,” with Lennon providing backing vocals and guitar. The “Space Oddity” singer was struck by Lennon’s 1980 assassination and performed a tribute to the artist three years later. At a 1983 show in Hong Kong, Bowie performed an emotional cover of “Imagine,” one that his band was not prepared for.
George Simms, a backup singer during the performance, said that Bowie had not told them about this cover, and recalled the solemn atmosphere that followed.
“We all grew up listening to The Beatles and John Lennon. After we did ‘Imagine,’ we all went off the stage and back into the holding area,” Simms said via Happy magazine. “Normally we’d be slap-happy, talking and laughing, but that night there was absolute silence because of all the emotion of doing a tribute to John Lennon—especially knowing that David was a friend of his and that David was speaking from his heart. We didn’t know how dramatic the lights’ impact was going to be. Nobody wanted to break the silence; it was like a sledgehammer into your chest.”
