Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

Bingenheimer’s enthusiasm for Bowie (“godhead”
is the word he uses to describe such artists, as in
“Brian Wilson is godhead. Oasis are godhead.”)
was greater than his loyalty to his employer. He had
contacts at every label in town and was happy to
conflict with Mercury’s interests by parading Bowie
before executives from other companies who might
poach him for a bigger and better setup. With two
failed Mercury records and his ears full of kibitzing
about the kind of rock ’n’ roll largesse afforded Los
Angeles–plundering acts like Led Zeppelin and the
Rolling Stones, Bowie seemed eager to be poached
at the time.
“I’d take him over to Liberty Records. We would
walk down Orange, walk right past Hollywood High,
and the kids would be out there having lunch. And
that’s how the rumor went out that we were trying to
pick up girls at Hollywood High. Actually he wanted
to pick up a new record contract. Liberty Records
was across from Hollywood High.” Bingenheimer
also arranged for Bowie to stay at the wellconnected
record producer Tom Ayres’s house in
the Hollywood Hills. Anybody who was anybody
stayed at Ayres’s place when visiting L.A. There he
also met Gene Vincent, the fifties rock icon famous
for his echo-drenched hits like “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and
a somewhat jarring stage act in which he led his
combo, the Blue Caps, through a rockabilly set while
dragging his leg, which was permanently injured in a
motorcycle crash, behind him. Vincent with his
cavernous bone structure and towering physique,