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period, and soon after Easter teamed up with the
Kon-Rads, a rather old-fashioned dance-based
band formed a few months earlier by drummer Dave
Crook and guitarist Neville Wills. Once George was
in, he invited David along, too, asking him to join the
band on saxophone, with the proviso, ‘I’m the singer,
but you can do a couple of numbers.’ David brought
his Grafton down to rehearsals. ‘He looked a bit like
Joe Brown at the time, so we said you can do “A
Picture of You”, and “A Night at Daddy G’s”.’
David Bowie’s first public performance took
place just a few weeks later, on 12 June, 1962, at
the Bromley Tech PTA School Fête. This was the
Tech’s biggest ever summertime event – the PTA
bought a new PA system for the show, and four
thousand parents and locals attended. No one got to
hear David’s Joe Brown impression that afternoon,
though – the Kon-Rads set consisted strictly of
instrumentals.
David, his hair arranged in a blonde quiff, stood
with his cream sax slung to one side, next to George
Underwood, who picked out Shadows’ riffs on his
Hofner guitar. David looked ‘cool, well dressed’
according to schoolmate Nick Brookes. It was a
pretty impressive debut, but there was a clear
consensus among most of the audience about who
would go on to stardom: David’s taller, betterlooking,
more popular friend. ‘It was George who
was the singer, who did a great Elvis impression,’
says Tech pupil Roger Bevan, who remembers, like
many other pupils, Underwood’s dark, glossy hair
and Elvis sneer. ‘Everyone reckoned he was going