Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

1993, once said. “I’d just sit there and sort of bump
into someone by accident and say, ‘What do you
do?’ I was terrified. I used to get really depressed.”
There he joined an up-and-coming band called the
Voice, which was affiliated with the Process Church
of the Final Judgment cult (which worshipped both
Jesus and the Devil). Clearly this wasn’t his thing,
and it wasn’t long before he was toiling in another
obscure act, the soul combo the Wanted, whose
name can only be considered ironic.
“He tried so hard,” Suzi says. “He starved in
London a couple of times. Can-of-beans-a-week
kind of thing. One night the band got pulled over by
the police and everyone else ran out of the van,
leaving Mick and all the equipment. He had no
license, no insurance. He got into so much trouble.
He kind of quit after that. He decided to be
something else. A school gardener is what he
became. Took a lot of persuading to get back down
and do it again.”
Back in Hull, Ronson—a naturally gifted musician
who wrote the dazzling string arrangements for both
Bowie’s “Life on Mars?” and Lou Reed’s “Perfect
Day,” just to name a pair of immortal tracks, simply
by ear—spent his days working as a gardener. He
figured he was done with rock for good. “There was
something about it, cutting grass, pruning roses. I
had sheep to look after too. I really enjoyed it,” he
said years later. “I thought maybe this is what I’d end
up doing.”
“He had no idea how good he was really,” Suzi