Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

new personal assistant Corinne “Coco” Schwab, a
onetime MainMan secretary, Bowie hired a lawyer,
Michael Lippman (who declined to be interviewed
for this book). On January 29, 1975, Bowie went to
the RCA offices with Lippman to let them know of his
professional intentions. Bowie was visibly shaken
and paranoid during these meetings. He’d recently
taken the master tapes for Young Americans and
secured them in a bank vault so that Defries could
not manipulate them in any way. He’d then sent a
copy to RCA to make sure if he broke from MainMan
they would be loyal to him and not his imperious
manager. Bowie relaxed only after RCA executives
assured him in person that they would back him and
not Defries whatever transpired. A week later,
Defries, like Kenneth Pitt before him, received a
memo of severance. According to legend, when the
furious Defries asked RCA why they sided with
Bowie instead of MainMan, Glancey responded,
“Because you can’t sing.” Predictably, Defries sent
RCA an injunction to prevent them from releasing the
album in America, England and France, freezing all
Bowie activity. Laurence Myers, Defries’s old
partner, who was now doing separate business with
RCA, was brought in since both parties trusted him.
“Those meetings between Bowie and Defries was
like the Vietnam peace settlement,” Laurence Myers
says. “We had Michael and David in one room, and
we had Tony in another room, and the middle room
was me and RCA.” A settlement was eventually
reached, details of which have been widely reported,