MY LIFE WITH DAVID BOWIE AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS

An interview with Suzi Ronson, by Sachin Kureishi

‘Me and Mr Jones’ by Suzi Ronson, (c) Faber & Faber Books

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Below, an interview Sachin conducted with the writer Suzi Ronson, who just so happened to be David Bowie’s hairstylist.

Settling down for our virtual rendezvous on Zoom, Suzi greets me from her New York apartment, as the city she now calls home is just waking up. Despite the hour, she’s dressed sophisticatedly in a dark shirt, her bright, disarming smile cutting through the morning gloom. She speaks from her living room which is furnished with pictures and relics from a life richly lived.  

From her early days as a hairstylist in a small Beckenham salon to her remarkable journey as a stylist and the confidante to stars, Suzi has been a silent force behind some of the defining moments of British music in the late 20th century.

Glamour surrounds her, but does not overshadow the warm, chatty girl from Beckenham she has always been. Her conversation slips into her excitement surrounding her new book, ‘Me and Mr Jones’, which chronicles her years working as David Bowie’s hairstylist. It’s a story of music, fashion and radical innovation at a time when British counter cultural moments were, for the first time, marking their territory in the mainstream. It was a time when suburban kids, with dreams cradled in vinyl grooves, could ascend to the celestial realms of rock and pop stardom.

The conversation that follows is a glimpse into the life of a woman instrumental in shaping some of Bowie’s most iconic personas, these ethereal beings whose power exists still in their capacity to stir the most profound nostalgia. 

Can you take us back to the early days when you first began working with David Bowie? What was your role, and what were your initial impressions of him as an artist? 

I’d cut his mother’s hair in a salon I worked in in Beckenham. And it was her who introduced me to Angie (David’s first wife). It was right before Christmas, and Angie had asked me round to hers to give her a perm. So that evening I went to the house, I walk in, and there’s David, sitting in the corner with this long blond hair.  

He had had a hit was Space Oddity, but he wasn’t a big star at the time. I knew instantly they were an interesting couple though, not like people I’d met before.  

Angie kept saying ‘David would look good with short hair’. David didn’t answer, so she asked me, ‘What do you think?’ And I said ‘Well, no one’s got short hair, and I think it might look really good’. He’s the perfect person for it: tall and skinny, great face. He came over and showed me a magazine with a model in it that had short hair, and asked me if I could do that, which I did.  

At the beginning I didn’t have a big role, but it was just so exciting being around those two. I used every excuse to go around there and hang out with them. And that’s how it started.  

When did you first come to the realisation that Bowie was an extraordinary talent, and that your collaboration with him had the potential to change your life?  

I never really thought that, to be honest. Before we had been introduced, I had seen him perform at a college in London. Back then, people would mostly wear jeans and t-shirt when they played. But then David comes on with a full face of make-up, this costume with ABC’S all over it, these big boots, and I’d never seen anything like it.  

I suppose it was when I saw him and Mick (Ronson) on stage that night, and I thought to myself, wow, this is something totally new and I needed to be part of it.  

Was there a specific instance when you realised that your work as a hairstylist had the power to transcend the standard expectations of your profession and influence fashion and style on a global scale? And how did this realisation shape your approach to your craft? 

I didn’t really think it did at the beginning. I was really just helping him with his style. I was more concerned about getting on the road. You need to remember, I was a simple girl from Beckenham. I was only 22 years old.  

But I have always been creative. And I wanted to create a hairstyle that nobody else could do, something that needed a lot of attention, a trim every two weeks, lots of colour. It’s hard to believe now, but it was difficult to make hair stand up back then – but I had the formula! 

As time went on, Bowie’s style evolved into my style. It got longer in the back and I put some gold streaks in it. At the time, though, I never really thought about much more than inventing something for David that would leave an impression.   

You were living more in the present, swept along by it.  

Absolutely. Those songs, Queen Bitch, Life on Mars, Kooks, Changes, and then the songs from Ziggy. No one had ever heard anything like that before. I just wanted to be there.  

Even to new generations now, those songs have such emotional resonance. They still feel so unusual and otherworldly.  

And I’m a girl of the 60s. I saw Pink Floyd, the Spencer Davis group, I saw Gino Washington. We had such fantastic music, and so many live music venues. Every week something was going on. So, to see David, and for him to hold up against what had come, he was still so fresh and original.   

Most other bands would get up on stage, beer in hand, and rattle off their set. But David was a professional, he had a show, it was all rehearsed. He knew what he was doing, and that took enormous work. The songs were one thing, but the performances were another. And they were unbelievable.  

The Ziggy Stardust era is iconic in music history. What are your memories of that time and how did your work influence the Ziggy Stardust persona? Following this, was Bowie receptive to your creative input, or did he have an unalterable vision for the character?  

David was very open to everyone’s input. He was one of those people who just listened and sucked it all in, filtered what he heard, and used what he wanted. He wasn’t opposed to people giving their opinion. Yes, I think I influenced some of the costumes later on.  

It was the gay thing that made it so outrageous, if you like. I’ll always remember him going down on Mick’s guitar (what has been dubbed the ‘guitar fellatio’ moment during the Ziggy Stardust Tour at Oxford Town Hall in 1972). Mick had no idea he was going to do it – poor Mick! But that’s what it was all about for David, shock and awe.  

But none of that ever took away from his songwriting ability, which was unmatched. And he was also so prolific during that period. Five albums – Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, A Man Who Sold the World, and then of course the Lou Reed album, Transformer.  

As for me, I was the first girl roadie. There hadn’t been one before, that I knew of. It was great travelling around with all those blokes. Eighteen blokes and me. But I wasn’t bonking the band to try and get in with them, I was there for a reason. I had my own identity, and that was really important to me.  

Portrait of Suzi Ronson with thanks to Hayley Benoit Photography

Did you find any challenges or obstacles you faced as a woman in the music and fashion industry? How did you navigate these challenges?  

Absolutely nothing. The crew were all very receptive and welcoming, so were the band. And they gave me a lot of respect. It had a lot to do with Tony Defries, David’s manager. It was when they started doing the Rainbow Theatre that I found myself employed on a permanent basis. That was so fantastic. We had a set, lights, and a proper sound engineer. Again, people didn’t really do that back then. Pink Floyd obviously did. But no one did it like David did.  

They were all planning to go to America after Rainbow. I hadn’t expected to go, but then Defries called me one evening and said he’d need my passport by tomorrow morning, that I was going to America.  

Then I was off. I got to go to Japan, to America, then back to England. It was fantastic. A great time. 

Can you take us back to moment to when you first met Mick Ronson? What was the context, and, looking back now, do you consider that initial encounter with him a defining moment?   

It wasn’t a defining moment. I was invited to a party which was the first time I met the band. I thought Mick was gorgeous, mind you, but I wasn’t there for that. I didn’t want to fancy the lead guitarist. I didn’t want to fancy any of them. I wanted a job. And sleeping with one of the band was not the way I was going to get one. It was probably going to work against me.  

And he didn’t seem that interested anyway, he was much more interested in his music. So, nothing went anywhere until much later.  

Can you tell me about that?  

After the band broke up, I went on holiday with a few of them to stay in a villa in Italy. I think David was quite shaken up at that time, after having broken up one of the most successful bands in England. He was so worried and concerned, he just left one day. So, me and Mick were just thrown together really, and that’s when we finally got together. As girlfriend and boyfriend.  

Bowie’s career underwent several transformations and reinventions. Can you share some insight on how David Bowie perceived the evolving world and how this perception influenced his tastes and style?    

I think they were all, more or less, the same character. But they were all born out of Ziggy. You can see it in Pin Ups. I think Aladdin Sane was Ziggy going mad. But I had gone by that point. David was a wholesome lad when I met him. After Hammersmith Odeon, when we last worked together, I think things went a bit ballistic.  

Did you remain close with him after you left?  

Not at all. He didn’t speak to me or Mick. It was just like he vanished. David was like that, and I think a lot of people have said the same thing. You’re with him, and he’s so eloquent and kind, getting everything out of you that he can, and then when he’s done, he discards you.  

This was when he was coming up. I think David became a much nicer person as he got older. But he was someone with such a strong vision of what he wanted, maybe he didn’t really need me. 

You underplay your role a little bit, but you played a big part in the creation of Bowie’s early characters.  

Yes, without a doubt. But I was lucky. It was a good haircut. But you try putting that on a trucker from Birmingham, it doesn’t look quite the same. David had that long neck, that beautiful face, that slim, androgynous body. He just looked good in anything you put him in really.  

Bowie’s legacy endures. What are your thoughts on how his music and style continue to inspire contemporary artists?  

Well, who could imagine we’d still be talking about my time with David and that haircut all these years later?  It shakes me, it’s shaken me my entire life. I’ve written a book about it,  can you believe it! 

His legacy has certainly endured. I think a large part of his genius was his ability to do nothing instead of doing something mediocre. He always told me ‘best do nothing, if you’ve got nothing great to do’.  

That’s a large part of his legacy. He was someone who always reinvented himself at the right moment, with something new to say about the world. I’ve never met someone who had such drive, such creativity.  

The world of hairstyling has evolved significantly since your early days working with Bowie. How do you view the evolution of hairstyling as an art form, and do you see your influences today?  

Find David Bowie – *Laughs*. Well, it’s difficult to say. But hairdressing is a lovely career, I’ve always felt that. It’s like an art, you can be taught the basics, but unless you have that flair, the creativity, you might not make it to the next stage.  

I was good at knowing what I could do, and what I couldn’t. I was good at looking at the entire body of the person, rather than just the face. It’s about finding the character of the person, and creating something for that.   

I think I had a role to play in the beginning of the punk era, because it really just was a dirty looking David Bowie. I remember seeing their spiked-up hair-dos and realising that I had played a small role in kick starting all of that. 

Your Moth performance highlighted the sense of chance and luck in your life, particularly in the serendipitous encounter with David Bowie. Has this sense of chance infused your broader philosophy of life?  

Oh absolutely, I’ve always taken a chance. Working for David, more than anything, was for freedom. I didn’t want to do a regular job. I didn’t want to be my parents. I didn’t want to get married and live around the corner. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted, but it wasn’t that.  

I think I’ve been lucky. Things have always worked out when they were meant to. But I had to push. After my first meeting with David and the band, they didn’t call me back. So, I had to keep trying, knocking on the door, stalking them almost! I worked really hard to get myself in that position. And that wasn’t luck, that was fucking dedication, man.  

These were guys that weren’t living normal lives, and after I experienced that, I knew that was the only way to live. 

And how has Counterculture helped you?

Well after meeting Counterculture’s Senior Partner, Tom Wilcox, with my daughter Lisa, I went on the road with her and him and Toni Visconti/Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy band.  Later, with Lisa who supported the Station to Station tour with Earl Slick and Bernard Fowler, we went out on the road again.  The energy and efficiency of both these tours, run by Tom, impressed me.

After I finished writing my book, I wasn’t sure what the next step was.  My daughter suggested calling Tom Wilcox, and I did.   Tom is an extraordinarily gifted man, a catalyst if you like, someone who has great ideas and knows how to make things happen.  He took my book and within a few weeks, after he’d shown it to his good friend author Hanif Kureishi, got me, a first-time author, a book deal at Faber and Faber.  I was astonished and so grateful.  I do rely on Tom, I call him my manager.  He’s a committed man, who gets things done. I use him as an advisor, a sounding board and a confidante.

This piece was originally published by Counterculture.

Suzi Ronson’s book Me and Mr Jones: My Life with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars is published by Faber and Faber for release on April 2024. It is available for preorder here