Bowie PDF Book from JFK247

friends without qualm. There were indeed many
instances of his unashamed devotion to ‘Numero
Uno, mate!’ Yet his ruthlesness usually had a musical
motive – outside of his own career, he was genuinely
kind to people like Esther Friedmann, Iggy Pop,
Tony Sales and others. Some of David’s accusers,
notably his ex-wife, insist that each and every
example of David’s compassion was self-serving,
aimed at shoring up his own credibility. Yet there are
plenty of examples of help given and not publicised;
notably, David continued to pay the school fees of
Marc Bolan’s son, Rolan, once he realised the Bolan
estate would not do so. In other instances, Bowie
helped with his time, not money, searching out
specialised medical treatment for the son of a writer
friend. Angie’s depiction of David as a flat, onedimensional,
selfish character does not ring true.
Selflessness and positivity often co-exist with
pettiness and grudge-bearing – David was always
capable of both. An example of such duality was the
way David’s artistic bravery and contempt for
convention was hampered by his unhealthy habit of
reading reviews or features on himself. He could
harbour resentment at perceived slights or
inaccuracies for years. One issue of MOJO
magazine featured Mick Ronson on its cover in
1997: two years later, David was still complaining
about ‘the magazine that said Mick wrote all my
songs!’ – irritated that colleagues such as Tony
Visconti had highlighted Mick’s influence on David’s
early albums.
It was such haughty pronouncements,