Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie

by Angela Bowie

There are countless books about the great rock/pop icon of the twentieth century, David Bowie. But only one written by the woman who met him aged just nineteen, married him, had a child with him and helped shape his image and the early stages of his career. In one of the great rock'n'roll exposés, Angela Mary Hartnett Bowie gives a riveting account of her years with Bowie and his progress from aspiring young singer to international rock stardom. She emerges as a witty, powerful personality in her own right, and as his partner of ten years has insights into his background and personality that are exclusively hers. American, educated in Cyprus, Switzerland, the US and then London, Angie brought her confidence and sophistication to the young David’s life and is credited with conceptualizing the costumes for the Ziggy Stardust stage show, which was his breakthrough to success. This is a fascinating glimpse into the music and club scene of early seventies London, and later the rock lifestyle in New York and Los Angeles. Angie knew everyone and gives a colorful, wry account of the ambience, and her brushes with other giants of the decade - Jagger, Elton John, Lou Reed, the Jacksons and members of Led Zeppelin, to name just a few. Her story gives a unique take on life with the inscrutable Bowie and she recounts the dissolution of their marriage, and his descent into cocaine addiction, with courage and charm. Praise for Backstage 'Neither coy nor restrained, and freed of a time-limited divorce-settlement clause that forbade her to discuss her marriage, the former Mrs. David Bowie describes in no uncertain terms the torrid "open marriage'' she shared with the singer known as the Thin White Duke. She proudly affirms her bisexuality as well as that of her "dear ex-husband,'' and describes with considerable relish their dalliances with sundry gender-benders of the glitterati' - Publishers Weekly As steamy as any rock memoir in the past few years. A screamingly provocative tell-all… she writes so colorfully that you can’t put the book down’ - Seattle Post ‘Rife with gossipy tidbits about such luminaries as Mick Jagger and Elton John…takes the reader on the young couple’s rollicking ride from their early days of struggle, through dazzling days at the height of Mr. Bowie’s superstardom, to the dissolution of their marriage’- Atlanta Journal Born Angela Mary Barnett to American parents in Cyprus, Angela Bowie was educated at exclusive schools in Cyprus and Switzerland. She then moved to London to do a marketing degree and it was there that she met the young David Jones, later Bowie. They married in 1970 when she was just 21 years old. During the years of their marriage Angie, as she became known, shared her husband’s fame as a key figure in the development of his music and image. Subsequent to their divorce Angela Bowie returned to America, where she developed a career as a performer, a writer and a journalist.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, 20th Century, Pop Culture

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Angela Bowie (born Mary Angela Barnett in 1949 in Cyprus) is an American citizen who has been a covergirl, model, actress, musician, groupie and, most recently, a best-selling author.

Reviews

[Lynx · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for a detailed look into the life of David Bowie during some of his most iconic, creative years you aren't going to find too much of interest here. However, if you want to know all the details about her sex life, and the details of her friends sex lives then look no further! Angie puts focus on the most bizarre things while leaving out a lot of what I was hoping to get insider information about. She doesn't hold back her opinions, or secrets, on anyone in the rock n roll scene, including herself so I guess we're supposed to accept that it's ok. Very gossipy and leaves you feeling kinda sleezy.

If you are interested in a more positive summary about Angie Bowie and her influence in rock n roll history check out the Muses & Stuff podcast my friend Chanty and I recorded recently along with other episodes on the women who inspired rocks greatest legends!

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor Angela Bowie. This corny, tragically UN-hip memoir of the Glory Days of Glitter is an unrelenting "I, me, mine" whine festival. Her many sexual (and bisexual) escapades elicit "Eweeees" rather than "Oooohs"; her strange lack of reference to her child during all this rock history is disturbing. As the wife of one of my favorites, the great, brilliant David Bowie, she would have appeared to have insider information. Yet the voice of this book feels like that of an outsider. And her insights into David are strangely limited. Though much of the book takes place during the years he wrote masterpieces like "Heroes", she fails to create a chronology of what was exactly happening at the time. See Angie. See Angie party with rock stars. See Angie tell us the facts about everything and everybody. See Angie think much too highly of herself and bad mouth everyone else. I wonder why these people all wanted to jump into bed with her. She isn't attractive, though she's so made up in the photos it's hard to tell. Unless she does some weird sexual tricks most people can't even imagine. And sorry, all this trash-talking doesn't diminish David one iota in my eyes. Her insights into Michael Jackson are particularly amusing. She's thinks he's just a fine, fine person. And her straight-faced recounting of aliens and exorcisms push an already mediocre book right into the toilet category. The most annoying thing is the author's (Angela or the ghost writer, whatever) insistence on using a non-existent form of punctuation, a series of slashes separating adjectives. Funny how this convention is only used by those who are too stupid/uneducated/illiterate to know any better.

[Gaia · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Lance of Love."

"It looked like it had been rubbed with sandpaper. Turns out I had a yeast infection and passed it on to him."

"I wasn't going to put my mouth on it. He peed out of that thing. I'm sure he felt the same about my apparatus."

"He could poke a hole in the wall with that thing."

Yes, you, too, can learn what it was like to be married to David Bowie and his penis in the 1970's.

This book is a little bit on the fun side. You do get some insight into what it was like with David Bowie, iconic Rock-God and Living Legend, in the late 1960's and 1970's. You also get insight into how freakin' bitter Angela is. And egotistical. This woman believes that David Bowie would never be David Bowie without her. Everything is her idea. Even the Serious Moonlight Tour of 1983 - three years after they were divorced and 6 years after they separated. And the Serious Moonlight tour influenced Michael Jackson's Thriller tour, so Angela gives herself credit for that, too. Sigh. I'm simply amazed that Angela hasn't claimed that she secretly went back in time and arranged the union between Mr. and Mrs. Jones that lead to the creation of David Bowie. I wouldn't put it past her.

Angela had been dying to write a book since her divorce from Bowie. She tried right away in 1980ish, a book called Free Spirit. It was crap and didn't do well. Bowie then issued a gag order which prevented Angela from gossiping, going on talk shows and writing books. It was never enforced and she would give small interviews here and there, but nothing major. The gag order ended in 1990 and boy did she get to work. I'm surprised that she didn't write this book sooner, though, given her inability to use simple phonics, I'm not surprised. She was obviously busy, though, by going on shows like Joan Rivers (anyone remember? I still remember her cheap pleather outfit, plain as day) and making the claim, "Do you know I caught him in bed with Mick Jagger." That's all she said, but the media went with it and the next day there was a fury of articles about Bowie boinking Jagger. A tiny bit later she went on Geraldo to say they were sleeping naked in bed, but she wasn't going to make any assumptions on what happened. And then years after that she went on Jenny Jones to say she did find them in bed, but they were passed out cold from booze 'n' drugs with their clothes on. Whew! Hard to keep. You think she would have gone into detail in the book, but she didn't. She kept it vague, probably knowing it's the only claim of hers that people want to hear about. Bowie has never denied getting it on with men. But he denies Jagger. I'm inclined to believe him.

This book does give a little glimpse into the sex, drugs and rock and/or roll of the 1970's. You've got stories aplenty about all the big acts back then, such as Led Zepplin and the Stones. You have Angela claiming that the Stones wrote "Angie" for her. Oh, this is a claim she waivers on in various interviews. I guess it depends on which medication she is on that day. There's plenty of sex to be read about, snorted drugs to ponder over and a pool exorcism to leave you laughing or crying. You'll learn all about their offbeat courtship and marriage, how David Bowie reminded her before their marriage and all the years after that he was not in love with her. They each had their affairs and would even swap lovers from time to time.

Backstage Passes shows you how bitter, bitter, bitter and jaded Angela has come. It is obvious that she is still striving to be in HIS limelight. She wants credit. Lots of credit. All the credit. The book was written about 15 years after the official divorce and you can see that she is not over it one bit. She constantly denies, in the book and in media, that she wants to be famous because of him. Yet, this woman was married TWICE (at least!) after her divorce from him, had a kid with one of those husbands, and still goes by Angela Bowie (which was never her legal name as his last name is legally Jones). I would sometimes half feel sorry for her, but then it's hard. She is so delusional. She, by now, has had 30 years to process it and get over and nothing has changed. Reading this book, it is no wonder their son, (Zowie/Joe/Duncan) cut off communication with her as a teenager and is still estranged from her. This is a woman who cannot let go of the past, who keeps trying to change the story to keep her name relevant today and keeps feeling. Kinda sad, really.

[William Strasse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's the summary:
"Well, David was sleeping with this girl and this girl and this boy and this boy, but that's okay because I was sleeping with this boy and this boy and this girl and this girl...Oh, and I took a drug that was kind of like ecstacy before ecstacy."

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's completely, blatantly biased and over-the-top and trashy, and you can't trust 90% of what comes out of Angela Bowie's mouth, but it's delicious trashy fun. A must-read for Bowie fans, just so you can read what's been said - even if it's not true, this book and its publication is an important piece of Bowie lore.

I have to say that the story of the exorcism performed on the pool is a personal favorite of mine.

[Airin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Angela Bowie's autobiography is more or less a text book example of a terrible biography; although autobiographies are subjective by nature, hers takes the entire meaning of the word up a few egocentric notches, to the point where the book reads like the work of an unreliable narrator. It is not so much a question of bias, rather than the work simply being completely devoted to a rather limited point of view, and this makes digesting her version of history a genuine effort in the suspension of disbelief.

Angela Bowie, as the central character in her own story, goes to painstaking lengths in trying to convince the reader that although rock mythology has more or less overlooked her effort in transforming David Bowie into the superstar he was in the '70s, without her input there would have been little to transform at all. Unfortunately what this makes her sound like is not the crafty mastermind behind one of the greatest legends of rock music, but instead, a deluded, bitter ex-spouse who failed to maximize the benefits of his success and get by on her own merits alone. The question is not about whether this is the reality of the actual person known as Angela Bowie, but the image her autobiography subsequently creates of her; safe to say, it is far from flattering.

However, in spite of my general inability to feel any sympathy towards the main "character" of the book, what frustrated me the most were the glaring factual errors. Although it is to be expected that much is lost in a fog of memories (not to mention the gratuitous use of narcotics, which Angela freely admits to), one key element of biographies is the work spent on background research. In Angela's case, it is clear either this has been done extremely sloppily, or not at all. What this results in is hilarious mistakes like Angela namedropping about "having hung out with Keith Moon" in 1980, when the man died in 1978. While sometimes easily overlooked, combined with Angela's complete inability to sound even remotely objective this results in an atmosphere of unreliability and factual inconsistencies. Unable to either entertain or provide historically accurate portrayals of the places and people referenced in the book, her autobiography lacks any of the elements of worthwhileness that I personally expect from biographical work. For these reasons Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie is probably the worst of its kind I have read to date.

[Henry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Going in, I prepared myself to take "Backstage Passes" by Angela Bowie with a grain of salt and realize that, like in any memoir, there would be embellishments. I found the book to be mildly interesting until page 272 of the hardcover where the author clearly stated it to be 1979 and that she was riding in a limo in LA with Keith Moon, who DIED IN 1978. Ok, so maybe that was a typo? But it gets worse. She also claims that on the same afternoon, she met up with Led Zeppelin and their bodyguard John Bindon -- who was not associated with Zeppelin after 1977. In fact Zeppelin as a group never toured the US after 1977! She didn’t mix up her years either, because she also states that after her afternoon with Moon that he died just a few months later. Therefore it couldn’t have been 1979 and it couldn’t have been 1977. If it was 1978 she definitely did not meet up with Zeppelin. Once glaring inconsistencies (lies!) such as these appear in a book, I’m done. No part of the book before or after can be considered believable.

[zed · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in the mid 90's and my only strong memory was that her son had no contact with her and it was rather gossipy. She may have said some nice things about Mick Ronson.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could I would give this book 3 and a half stars. Angie Bowie tells it like it is (or was) and I kind of admire her honesty. But I don't really admire her self. She had to be tough and she was tough. She's honest about all the excesses of the era, many of which made even me feel squeamish and sometimes outraged. But the book is very interesting. Her voice is clear. It is her story not Bowie's but of course he figures prominently.

[Chrissy Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel as if I need a bath after reading this drivel. Angie has/had no level of self-awareness whatsoever, despite insisting upon her role as the great mastermind who made her ex-husband a talented artist. I really feel for Duncan, their son, all the more after reading this.

[Stephanie Pollard · Rating 3 out of 5]

She was there, man. She lived it. Though a little bit catty at times, her memoir opens a window into such an important era in rock history. You get a unique insight into the mysterious Bowie, as well as the people he worked and played with. No one ever talks about this book, but it was a really fun read.

[Tamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this new era of abundant information, few things should be memorized, how David Bowie used to call his dick is Definitely one of them.

[Tiia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not find this book shocking at all, it was more of a story of two very young people lost in rock and roll world just like so many before and after them. I'm not sure was this love story of any kind or were they in love just on very unique way. The time they lived in and the life they were sharing was pretty unique as well, not necessarily in a good way. I do not know how much there is to thank Angela of David's success or is there any, but for some reason I think they were the right people to each other on the time they met. They both were after the stars.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not going to lie, I enjoyed reading this. Is it biased? Hell yes. Is a lot of it either exaggerated or blatantly untrue? Yes. Don't care, it was a fun read and I'm standing by my rating.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible trashy fun.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally, I think Angie is awesome and cool 😎

[Tsvetelina Stambolova-Vasileva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Доста неща ми дойдоха в повече, а съм свикнала с такъв тип литература и не се шокирам лесно. Но това, което в крайна сметка ме впечатли и ме накара да не зарязвам книгата непрочетена, беше удивително доброто описание на атмосферата на онези години.
Няма да препрочета и не бих препоръчала книгата на никого.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I don't even know. I read all 368 pages in 4 hours. I made a GoodReads account. I had to talk about it. The reviews said that it left them feeling "sleazy." I thought, "Surely, that won't happen to me." Well, I just feel vaguely sleazy now. I remember finishing it and feeling just... sleazy and depressed and gritty in a way that I couldn’t shake. Then, I went to bed. I woke up an hour later, feeling a bit sick, and had to cancel on a hiking trip. I thought, "Did that happen?" I have so much respect for people who have nice personalities, read this book, and took it in stride, especially that one chef who was deeply distressed only by the lack of food. You’re far more mentally resilient than me.

The very first page talks about song rights. Despite this, Angie later explains in-depth that she knew that “Angie” was not particularly written for her. How she managed to miss that it was Keith’s song is a bit beyond me. She spent time with him. (I honestly wish that there was more of Keith. He just seems really great.) The second thing that I found weird was that she thought that her ex-husband would agree to give her “Golden Years” for a tell-all memoir when no one wants to be in one. She seems to know this. A third thing that I find weird is how she understands that Mick and David were close friends (and that she spread the Dick Shagger rumour) and yet expects Mick to give her the rights to “Angie” ... for her book about the rumour. Lastly, why she picked "Golden Years,” I do not know. A part of me thinks that it's because it was about her “upcoming fame” after singing, “I Have a Crush On You." In fact, now that I think about it, both songs were about fame. How dreadful. Still, "The Prettiest Star" was sweet. But it seems sort of ironic that she wants to use any song about fame that she never received. I wouldn’t.

I don’t know who’s more to blame: David for willingly marrying and singing about a girl whose biggest personality trait was wanting fame or Angie for being her. Maybe Angie for not getting the rights to any song and admitting it on the front page. Then again, would he have been famous without her clothes and her desperation for fame...? Maybe it had to be, but should it have been? Probably not. I like to think that there’s a world where they never met and David never became famous but maybe lived a nice, quiet life and got over wanting stardom.

Someone said, "The prologue is written by a ghost-writer. Everything else reads like Angela talking into a Dictaphone." I didn’t realise it, but that's right. I read the prologue and thought, "People are so dramatic. It's not half-bad" and then the tone changes drastically. On the first page, she turns David's penis into a persona with its own personality traits for some reason. I moved from thinking, “Wow, this is going to be really sweet” at a description of their meetcute to hiding my face in my hands, cringing at what I was reading. This continues all throughout the book and adds nothing. Sometimes, she adds euphemisms like David being her “Light Person” instead of speaking plainly. I don’t know why and I refused to learn all of the euphemisms and what they meant. Now that I’m typing this, I realise that it reminds me of 50 Shades of Grey. Jesus Christ.

A few chapters in, Angela mentions that David got a rash from her yeast infection, so they stopped having sex for years. This is played as something that she felt bad about, but the dialogue is hilarious. I don’t know how she felt bad. She ends by saying something about how their love was a rash and I remember thinking, “Yeah, it’s downright unfortunate that happened. That’s sort of bittersweet, how she said it” and moved on. But, every few paragraphs, Angela will randomly mock David for getting a rash when it’s not even relevant. This happens constantly. In fact, she will blurt out information about David having a rash and Mick being a goat to real people in real life when she felt angry. It seemed so strange to me.

Angie, I have questions. I have had a yeast infection before and more serious ongoing health concerns. Firstly, how do you not know? Surely, you feel it? Secondly, can you not laugh it off, pop some meds, and do outercourse? I don’t know if this is naïve, 21st century thinking, but this rash was a character. Why? I can't comprehend not knowing my body well enough to know if I have infections and when I've got rid of it. I mean, Anita Pallenberg had full-on Hepatitis C and sincerely seemed not to give a fuck. On that note, the pages on David’s body said nothing but managed to be ridiculously sleazy for much longer than they had to. I found myself skipping whole pages about the abstract concept of David’s Body or something. It said nothing. I also skipped whole sections where celebrities were name-dropped and had nothing to do with the story. The whole book is in a very vague ABCD format. A lot of stuff happens and is said, but nothing much is said at all by anyone. Abysmally, nothing is mentioned about the Spiders' creative process but clothes shopping.

She’s insanely into being the receiving partner. I’ll never understand it, but this is something that I don’t get. It wasn’t painful to read, just weird, but I have a feeling that this might be my problem.

A lot of people mention how disturbing it is that Zowie is all but absent. He appears when Angie needs a reason to yell at David. Noticeably, he disappeared for several chapters and then Angie has a fit when she sees a picture of him in the same room as David and Bianca even though she gives zero indication that she knows anything about what he’s been doing for months. Sometimes, she calls him beautiful. Then, at the end, she shows sympathy for Zowie changing his name even though she called him that... Sometimes, she describes intense love but never shows it or seems to know anything about him. That is as much as I remember except for the pregnancy.

Angie reveals that she wants to be pregnant. David says, “But you’re so busy and a baby is a lot of work” (common sense). Angie says that David said this because he is a misogynist who wants to be coddled. ... What? Angie has decided that Zowie will be raised by a nanny before David knows that he’s going to be conceived. She then describes the decision to have a baby like a juice detox. It's what's "healthy for the female body.” This sort of detached, business-like thinking can be attractive. I have seen women plan pregnancies around their age. But it seems ridiculous that Angie never taps into any real, tender reason to have a baby. She seems to have an incredibly loose understanding of why people enjoy pregnancy, marriage, and modesty. Whenever she describes her marriage, she does not even want to say the word "vows," seems to see nothing concerning about having an orgy several hours before the wedding, and does not understand why Peggy cares about marriage. Angie mentions nothing at all about being pregnant.

On that note, Angie will call men misogynistic for every reason (This is ironic because she seems to hate other women for the same reasons a lot of the men do). She does it upwards of ten times with vivid expletives and often never explains. For Tony, this makes sense. At first, when she called a man sexist, I would read it. Then, when my eyes hit the word “misogynist,” I skipped paragraphs. It happens very often. She mainly thinks that men are sexist for not wanting women to strip on camera. This felt weird to me. The Wonder Woman sub-plot had me severely questioning her taste. Furthermore, I struggle to understand how she conceptualises sex. When she does it, it’s “sexual liberation.” When Mick does it, he’s a “slut.” In fairness, this is true, so what can you do? I’m sure that she has some complicated explanation for her semi-contradictory sexual judgements that I just can’t tap into. There's an undercurrent of bitterness towards Africans throughout the whole book that seemed vaguely unnecessary, presumably because David married Iman.

“More on that later” became a gag that was somewhat endearing. Her recounts of some people were sweet (e.g., Mick and Keith’s relationship and other people that she knew). Her boyfriends seemed very nice. Laughably, the hottest sex was with Ron. It was the only time it didn't feel sleazy and scummy. I'm glad for them. Her childhood love Lorainne was recalled tenderly; I felt a lot of sympathy for that relationship. Her recount of the Ziggy years was sweet and made me feel the thrill that they were experiencing. For better or worse, a lot of the direct quotations felt real. They were in-character. Angie said something about how she was naïve to expect an unfaithful man to love her. I think that was good advice. She says things that are unexpectedly profound and poignant. She was good to Ronno, but I skipped most of his parts. Nothing seemed to happen in them that wasn’t happening to everyone. A lot of people complained about the font and timeline changing, but I just went with it. Another thing that people criticised was how her opinions change, but I picked up quickly that she was describing them in the moment and after the fact. I liked it. As someone said, the photographs and captions were nice. The bits about Yamamoto were lovely. Angie is very motherly and resilient at times. It's nice.

I definitely believe some of what she said about David. It just all feels sort of sad. You cannot help but feel sort of sorry when David is cold to her over and over. I don’t think that all of that could possibly be made-up. There were moments about David being childish, sly, promiscuous, and difficult that I believed. All-in-all, it just puts an awful taste in your mouth, doesn't it? She talks about how they were good in bed, but the stories are all about lousy, clumsy, apathetic sex, which she acknowledges is a contradiction (This feels strange since every girl who's interviewed describes being impressed, but I don't know about NDAs). She also feels the need to speculate on whether he pissed in jars. And then there's a sad moment when she states that she doesn't know because he quite frankly hid everything from her. Angie seems to have a knack for making these bizarre moments sad for no reason. Or maybe they were. But then you realise that you're probably better not telling her anything if she writes this. And that you don't really need to tell your wife where you piss.

What jumps out most is moments where Angela blatantly misinterprets a situation/person. I have to stop and ask, "Is she joking?" These moments seemed to happen for others more. For example, many people felt annoyed by the stories of UFO-spotting and exorcisms, but these were mainly played for humour. I don't think that Angie took them any more seriously than I did even though she teased their ambiguity.

The saddest moment was David saying point-blank, “You know I don’t love you, don’t you?” It happens relatively early on when they’ve been together for a long time and are used to each other but not really “official.” She describes her thoughts like she somehow didn’t hear him. In her head, she says that David didn’t love her “like Hermione,” but that was OK because they were going to be famous together and David couldn’t be famous with Hermione because they were lazy together. David never actually said this. He said, “You know I don’t love you, don’t you...?”

This is a reoccurring theme. Someone will do or say something. It will be plainly obvious what they mean. Angie will ascribe thoughts and feelings that they simply point-blank did not have. I think that the most heart-breaking moment was reading that line from David, knowing what he meant, and hearing Angie wildly misunderstand it. It would have saved her hundreds of pages of nonsense if she had just heard it and asked why. Later in the book, she becomes frustrated because David is not living up to the “emotionally intimate business partnership of sexual equals,” which she believes that they agreed to via. marriage. I don’t recall hearing him agree. Often, Angie says that Bowie refuses to tell her things and she doesn't know what he wants. However, the few times that we see snippets of David speaking, Angie gets such a wildly incorrect idea that it’s almost heart-breaking. It’s moments like these that make me question whether David didn’t tell her anything or she just didn’t listen if he did.

Aside from this, Angie seems to severely misinterpret entire people. I have seen footage of a lot of the people that she mentions. Her descriptions of them, how they look and move, and what type of people they are were so wildly wrong that you would assume that she’s talking about someone else. She seems to severely misinterpret her image and how people are seeing her in recordings. Her Ziggy era character never seems to reach the level of self-awareness or concept design or musical expression as David's. There are other moments of bizarre thinking that just paint part of a larger picture. For example, her primary concern when she almost dies from heroin overdose is not that she is dying but that David’s career will die. … Are you not dying from overdose...? I think that it's sad how much Angie chose to see David's business as her own and thought about it before her life. Lastly, people do things for no other reason but to be nice or lazy or something and she will wildly misinterpret it as having malicious intent or bad moral character, especially when they are just nice. For example, she describes Coco Schwabb saving her from being killed by David. She then goes on to say that she probably regrets saving Angie and was only doing it to protect "David's art." ... Or maybe she saved you from dying because it was the nice thing to do? The right thing? And David was clearly out of his mind, attacking people? Because that was... her job? I don't know. From her descriptions of Coco as a puppy-eyed sycophant, I was quite honestly expecting a starry-eyed groupie. I flick open images of her and she just looks like a regular nanny. Angie mentions Candy Clark like this too. I remember Candy Clark and she just seems like the ditzy, alcoholic partying type, not really sycophantic. From what I remember from press interviews, Clark straight-up forgot about David right up until he died. It's strange.

Other jarring moments included David drinking and getting stoned to avoid his emotional problems, expressing extreme emphatic concern for her after she is sexually assaulted on-set, passing on the Wonder Woman project to another woman after Angie clearly had a bad experience with it, opening up about being sexually assaulted in the industry, expressing fears of being possessed and "wanted only for his penis" and feeling afraid of thunderstorms and being poisoned, having outbursts over being told what to do while in pain, quite literally going dead in the eye whenever Angie talks to him and needing to hire a secretary to put space between them, telling Angie that he felt better knowing that she was safe with her lover, piss fucking obviously putting space between him and Angie to avoid hurting her during his cocaine withdrawals while Angie felt snubbed by this (this is never mentioned in the book, but you can honest to God put 2 and 2 together)... Angie feeling jealous that David is concerned for Coco after she storms out. All of these sound like very tender, vulnerable moments with very obvious, heartbreaking explanations. For whatever reason, Angie doesn't pick up on this. When David is telling her about being sexually abused in the music and TV industry, her first concern is that she has to be more careful and be aware that people are out to get her. ... Not your husband straight-up confessing that he's been sexually assaulted and kept all of the rage and shame bottled up inside to the point that you are only now hearing about it? No? Not feeling glad that your husband empathises with you, doesn't blame you, and is taking your side unconditionally? OK... Again, there's another moment where David straight-up explains in whispers over the telephone that he's having almost hilariously comical delusions about being kidnapped and raped by cultists. In the book, it's strikingly clear that this is a consequence of the Ziggy years and him being valued only for his body and him thinking that he's "bad" and going to bring Satan into the world with his bodily fluids due to how evil and slobbish he is. Angie never seems to pick up on any of this thinking and just criticises David for being egocentric even though his trauma from sexual objectification and low self-esteem have become so bad that he is having full-on Cocaine-induced hallucinations about them. A very sad moment from this chapter was David telling Angie through the door that he could only trust Angie, who was the cook for the Spiders, not to poison him and would only eat if no one else touched the food because everyone else wanted to hurt him. Angie seems happy to take care of David but never connects emotionally to this piece of information.

There were other moments where I felt like Angie could have just told David how she felt and for some reason didn't. She never mentions telling him that Ava Cherry made her feel uncomfortable because she liked David and felt hurt by him having partners. She never mentions telling David that she actually wanted the new Wonder Woman project and felt overlooked or forgotten due to her bad experience on-set (Why she wanted this, I will never know; it was awful). She never lightens the fuck up to buy some hand cream for her yeast infection. She never just calls Mick and says, "D'you write 'Angie' about me?" There were so many moments where I thought, "OK, tell him." She didn't. Or maybe didn't have any feelings about it but jealousy and competitiveness. There are moments when I doubt whether she had romantic, tender feeling for David or anyone. Actually, that's untrue. She seemed tender for her boyfriends, childhood girlfriend, best friend... I don't know why this never extended to her family for some reason. She seems to want David to prioritise her even though she felt no great love for him. Perhaps the saddest example of miscommunication is her sweet, doting boyfriend dying from drink because she wouldn't call to say that she felt bad for lashing out when he was defending her. To be fair, that was hard to do... But she mentions his death and moves on.

Probably the worst part was realising that Bianca Jagger of all people didn't like Angie but liked David very much. I think that says something.

In conclusion... Yeah, I had to cancel a hiking trip because it made me sick (supposedly). Apparently, it sucked! Good omens.

[sarahhh · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was juicy but boring

[Zoe M Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to be completely honest from the start (please don’t shoot me down yet :o) when I say I’m only a fan of something like 70% of David Bowie’s musical output throughout his career, compared to about 95% of Queen’s catalogue (big Queen fan btw). However when he excelled, with tracks like: Life On Mars?, Heroes, Ziggy Stardust, Starman, Ashes To Ashes, Changes, Fashion, Fame, The Jean Genie, China Girl, Oh! You Pretty Things, etc, etc, I have to say they were absolutely sublime, and creatively definitive, and yes almost ‘otherworldly’ in their quality of concept/vision and execution for the time.

What Angie Bowie’s book does pretty well – admittedly from her personal perspective, having never really been acknowledged by him as to how influential she had been on his life and especially his career – is to explain frankly, and in a pretty easy to read style, just what he did to achieve such greatness. Yes, hard work, great writing and musicianship, and perfect creative partnerships are outlined of course, which are the bulk of what it takes. But she also tells it straight when it comes to things like decimating the Ziggy band once that period had run its course, and the next reinvention was underway, and the fact that he used his sexuality (and his bi-sexuality) to progress in the early days. In fairness it doesn’t deal that much with the outrageous sex life they shared as a whole, as hinted at in many other books and articles I’ve encountered, but I think you most definitely get the picture.

How much of this book is actually true is up to you, but I have to say I found it fun (in a trashy kind of way) and entertaining, and I like naively to think it pretty informative too, although with a few details I’d have preferred not to have known. But on the whole I found it a worthwhile read, and I have discovered just how absolutely focused a man (or woman) has to be to reach such a creative, and long lasting, musical high.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh and by the way, I only very recently found out (not in this book though, but in conversation) that Bowie didn’t have different coloured irises (as I, and I’m sure many others believed over the years), but instead had a permanently dilated pupil thanks to a punch in the eye from a boy at school wearing a ring, whilst they fought over a girl. ;o)

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know, I know: I shouldn't read trash like this because it only encourages more trash to be published. I know if there's a hell I'll be sent there solely on the basis of taking this book out of the library and reading it. Still, here's a biased review:

According to Angela Bowie, David told her that he got sick every time he made love to her. After reading this book, I completely believe it.



Everything else she whines -- er, writes -- I do not believe for a second. There are some very funny stories about Keith Moon and various Led Zepplin personnel, but they are just stories. Part of the legend of rock n roll.

Some very easy things to fact-check were skipped, such as how to spell Philadelphia Inquirer or when the dates of past Igor Novello Awards were. Also easy to check would be songwriter's explanations for their songs (it was Keith Richards who came up with the title to "Angie" and NOT Mick Jaggar) and so many other little incidents that it is just, quite frankly, too much of a bother for me to type.

If you read her previous book Free Spirit then you have already read Backstage Passes. How cheap. How Angie Bowie.

[Melissa Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

does it get better? because i'm about to put it down. it seems like a diatribe of an egocentric woman out to prove that she was the only competent person in a sea full of well-hung, beautiful emotionally stunted idiot-savants, or a forum for the laundry-list of lovers that show how open-minded and progressive she actually thought she was. I'm missing the compelling story here... (that being said, i'm going to keep reading). Update: didn't finish it.

[Moriahmelody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a unique insight into the life of David Bowie, but i don't exactly trust the author I think she had some anger at David when she wrote this and wrote some less than true stories beacuse of that. Angela lost Zowie (their son) a little while before she wrote this and also soon after they were divorced he met Iman. So she probably has a little anger directed at him to let out.

However even if it isn't true she writes a very entertaing story! If your'e a Bowie fan read this!

[Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

What rock star wouldn't want a babe like Angie to sort him and his career out? I remember reading a Bowie hagiography 30 years ago (Cracked Actor?) that played up the madness/creativity idea of the boy genius. This book's better as it describes a pop world of narcissists all convinced of their own brilliance, unaware they were just at the right place at the right time. Who would pay 50p for a copy of “The Laughing Gnome” now?

[Debra Komar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trashy (and not in a good way), mean-spirited, dull, self-serving and self-promoting. I should have trusted the wave of shame that came over me as I pulled this from the library shelf. Very poorly written - the beginning of the first chapter was clearly written by the ghost writer and the rest is just transcriptions of Angie talking into a Dictaphone. Her indifference to her son is genuinely disturbing.

[Jason Bootle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun tabloid style exposé on David Bowie and how Angela influenced his fashion sense. I'm sure some of it is to be taken with a pinch of salt but nonetheless an insiders view on the Thin White Duke's early days.

[Lainy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 368

Publisher -

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Angela Bowie has produced this scandalous, sexy, and uncompromising memoir of her turbulent years with David. She recounts how she launched him from cult hero to superstar and managed his career. Angela witnessed and shared it all―the bisexual orgies; David; decline at the hands of satanic cults and cocaine; and the lives and loves of Mick, Elton, Marianne, Iggy, Rod and Lou to name a few.



My Review

I didn't really know much about David Bowie, yeah his songs well some of but that was about it. Didn't know he had been married nor really any of his rise to fame stuff. Angela Bowie I didn't know until she was on celebrity big brother and her famous scene of the David's dead and poor Tiffany. Anyway after that stint I Googled her and saw she has this book, bought it and in true Lainy style it stayed on my tbrm since 2016 til now!

The book centres hugely on her and David's time together, we get a little of Angela before it and some of her antics whilst married but doing her own thing. What a wild time she had, free love indeed. She does name drop some people throughout the book and some very spicy stories of sexual times/partners before during and after (but still married) with David.

She drops the lowdown on what it was like being with him, dealing with his managers, people in his circle, getting to stardom and the before. His and her usage of drugs, both their sexual experiences together and apart, even dropping some names of people we know and again, free love.

She is a very different person from the one we seen on CBB and I don't know how much of what she wrote will be a surprise to folk. She did say there was a lot of people not happy about the book and her interview she gave once the NDA expired, I need to look up a few of the interviews and songs.

It is certainly an interesting read, Hollywood scandal, gossip and an insight into Bowie's creative process and rise to fame and how it affected him as he rose, 4/5. Interesting for sure and who doesn't love a bit of gossip and sneak peek behind the curtain of celebrity life/showbiz.

[Hannah Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn’t say that this was a horrible read, it was actually enjoyable at times. To me, Angie comes across very arrogant however having said that, I suppose she is only trying to take credit for what she felt like she never received credit for. Although this book does mention David Bowie often, it is also like a giant memoir of the author’s entire sex life. Granted, if I had numerous love affairs with different celebrities, I might be tempted to write about it too.. At times, I found things that the author said throughout this book very contradicting, but other things seemed accurate for the most part. One minute she’s talking about how in love with David that she was, the next she’s saying that when she met X partner that that was her first real love. Honestly it’s a bit of a roller coaster, but some of the stories are good. The ending really struck me the wrong way.. Angie mentions how she had her son as a gift to David and therefore just let David have custody of him. I’m not sure if that’s just her way of coping with not ever having had a good relationship with her son, but to me it just seems like she gave up.. after reading all about a woman who worked so hard and, from her accounts, dedicated so much to help others, she sure seemed to fall through with her son and ended her book on such a note. Overall, worth a read if you’re a hardcore Bowie fun such as myself, just keep in mind of who the author of this book is before jumping into it.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angela Bowie är bitter och sexfixerad. Bitterheten kan jag iofs förstå och leva med, det är inte allt för genomsyrande men sex-obsessionen är lite jobbigare. Jag menar visst, det är kul att höra lite oanständiga fakta om kändisar ibland men någon måtta och iaf ett visst uns av relevans får gärna existera. Jag bryr mig inte om hur många name-drops på kvinnor hon legat med hon kan göra (merparten av dem är knappt kända). Dessutom kan jag inte låta bli att ifrågasätta sanningsgraden ganska ofta, jag menar KAN hon verkligen ligga bakom 98% av Bowies alla större (positiva) karriärsdrag (och förutsett 99% av de negativa)? Och i många fall av de kontroversiella händelser hon berättar om är hon den enda människan som är nykter/känd/numera levande som kan verifiera det. Men visst, mycket är säkert sant och som en tårtbit från sin tidoch en bit i David Bowie-pusslet är den bra. Den är bitvis mycket underhållande, både språkligt och ur skvaller-synpunkt och trots att de djupare partierna tenderar att tippa över i bitterhet är de också bitvis bra. Vore schysst med en uppdaterad upplaga kunde komma ut + jag vill läsa mer om skiljsmässan och efterspelet.

Hon känns lite knäpp som fortfarande tror på allt det där om Aliens osv..
Och varför bedömer hon etnicitet och skönhet på alla utifrån kindbenen?

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gloriously trashy and Angie's memories are most likely best taken with a boat-load of salt. Launches off into satanic swimming pools and aliens and UFO's for a couple of anecdotal stories. Loathed Bowie's managers and claims she was the one arranging Bowie's affairs while they were living the high life. (This part may be partly true at least with regards to skimming off profits from Bowie's career) . She has some fun with Bowies inexplicable rash that occurred when they had sex. (Angie maybe he just had a recurring case of Herpes???) Zowie, her son hardly gets a look in which may explain why he cut off communications with her as a young adult. Her stories about Bowie's behavior in his cocaine years rings true somehow but who really knows we only have her unreliable narrator to rely on. Angie does lots of drugs, has a whack load of sex with a multitude of people and ends up with a heroin habit. Still it seems to be generally accepted that she had a significant role to play in how Ziggy presented himself to the world. Might have been interesting to have sat down with David and had a fireside chat along the lines of " Well David what was life with Angela really like?" Have to say quite a fun read mostly.