The artist who inspired David Bowie to become a musician

Born in London, England back in 1947, David Bowie was only a kid when Rock and Roll music gave its first steps. He saw many incredible artists playing that kind of music on TV and obviously, heard them a lot on the radio and bought their records. When he was still a teenager he started his musical career and in the following decades became one of the most influential artists of all time.

But none of that would have happened if it wasn’t for a particular American artist. He once revealed who was the artist who inspired him to become a musician.

The artist who inspired David Bowie to become a musician

Bowie was one of the most versatile musicians of all time and really couldn’t be compared with no one else. During his career he didn’t only change his sound, but his songwriting, the way he looked and much more. So he always had a broad musical taste and was always listening to new things and experimenting a lot. But as he told Rolling Stone magazine back in 1987, it was Little Richard, one of the godfathers of Rock and Roll music who made him want to become a musician.

“Little Richard (Was who made me want to become a musician). I saw him at Brixton Odeon. It must have been 1963, ’cause the Stones opened for him. I’ll tell you who else was on that bill, as well. Oh, it was wonderful, listen: The Stones opened, then there was Bo Diddley and, if I remember rightly, Duane Eddy, and it closed with Sam Cooke. That was the first half. Then the second half . . . Who else was on that thing? Somebody else unbelievable was on, and then Little Richard.”

“And Little Richard was just unreal. Unreal. Man, we’d never seen anything like that. It was still mohair suits then. I mean, just great suits – baggy trousers and all that. And he was workin’ with a British band called Sounds Incorporated – our only horn band. The only band that knew anything about saxophones. There was one other, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, but they weren’t as good.”

“Sounds Incorporated were the one. And I think it was probably Red Price on tenor sax, guy with dark glasses. I used to love all those sax players, ’cause that’s what I wanted to do. And he led Lord Rockingham’s XI, too [laughs]. Remember them? “Hoots, mon, there’s a moose loose about this hoose!” You don’t remember that?”

He continued:

“Anyway, that show was unreal. And the Stones were so funny. They had, like, four fans at that time, who rushed down the aisles to the front. These four chicks in the front there – it was so funny. Keith was dynamite, ’cause he did that aeroplane stuff in those days, whizzing round and round. He really made an entrance. And Brian was kind of dominant in the band then; he really was,” David Bowie said.

He was happy when he had the chance to see Little Richard on TV

In an radio interview (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), recovered by BBC back in 2013, Bowie recalled how important was for him to see Little Richard’s image for the first time.

”Anything on Rock and Roll seemed, there seemed to be so little of it that when it appeared on television, this seemed like the most, like the holy grail. Especially if it was from America. They’d show a clip from a movie. I remember getting so excited when they shown Little Richard, from I think the film was called ‘Disc Jockey Jamboree’. It was just amazing to actually see him moving. He’d just been a record to me before, you know.”

The first Little Richard record David Bowie bought

The first Little Richard record that David Bowie bought was “The Fabulous Little Richard” released in 1958. He recalled that in an interview for “Little Richard Minute” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) TV show back in the late 80s.

“The first record I think I bought was called ‘I’ve Got it’, which he later rewrote to ‘She’s Got It’. Ever since I saw that photograph of him, I realized he had so many saxophones in his band. So I went out and bought a saxophone intending that when I grew up I would work in the Little Richard band. I didn’t work out like that. But without him I think myself and many of my contemporaries wouldn’t be playing music,” Bowie said.

That record marked the end of Richard’s Rock and Roll period for a few years. Some of the most famous tracks from the record are “All Night Long”, “Lonesome and Blue”, “Wonderin’” and “Early One Morning”.