The many loves and lives of David Bowie

Filming of The Man Who Fell to Earth began in Lake Fenton, New Mexico, in July 1975, and over the six weeks of filming, David, who had refused the offer of a hotel room during the shoot, lived in a Winnebago trailer. He was still frighteningly thin, and it was obvious that he was still snorting cocaine on a large scale.

From the first, David and Nic Roeg got on extremely well, and afterward David said, "I'm ever so slow in forming human relationships. I don't really have a circle of friends unless you consider Nic a circle."

Unique performer

Nic was extremely impressed by David's performance. "What's extraordinary about David, as an artist he can't be classified," Nic said. "He can't be singled out, 'Ah that is Bowie,' because that's the way he always does that. He never appears the same way twice. And he's got fantastic concentration and he's also got an amazing kind of self-discipline. He seemed the perfect person for this."

Nic, who had directed Mick Jagger in Performance, later compared him to David, saying that they were "very similar, very different... but they're very similar in terms of their absolute concentration on the character they're playing. They're not just a singer with a band. Their whole magnetism comes out in acting."

At one point on location, David decided that he wanted to do some sculptures, and within a day, Coco had assembled all the necessary materials for him. "He was happy as a bunny," May Routh remembered.

David also spent much of his time between takes reading the biography of silent screen star Buster Keaton, whom he was considering playing in a biopic.

Around the same time, he was also having an affair with beautiful black costume designer and model Ola Hudson, whose son, Saul, would grow up to become Slash of Guns N' Roses.

Slash was eight years old when he walked into a room in his home, only to find David there with his mother, stark naked. "He was always over. They had a lot of stuff going on, but my perspective was limited. Then it turned into some sort of mysterious romance that went on for a while after that," Slash remembered, adding, "Looking back at it now, it might not have been that big of a deal, but at the time, it was like watching an alien land in your backyard."

During his affair with Ola, David would often come by her house, bringing Angie and Zowie with him, as well.

"It seemed entirely natural for Bowie to bring his wife and son to the home of his lover so that we might all hang out. At the time, my mother practised the same form of transcendental meditation that David did. They chanted before the shrine she maintained in the bedroom," Saul said.

Always polite

Even as far back as October 1972, in Los Angeles, David demonstrated an innate noblesse oblige. Following David's Santa Monica Civic Auditorium concert, DJ Wolfman Jack threw a party at his home, during which the guest of honour, David, fixed on a girl on the dance floor swirling around sexily with legendary wild man of rock six-foot-four-and-a-half Kim Fowley.

When the dance was over, David tentatively approached Kim, and the following dialogue ensued: "Is she with you?" David inquired politely.

"No," Kim said.

"Are you in love with her?" David probed.

"No."

Empowered, he asked Kim if he intended to have sex with the dancing girl. On being assured by Kim that he did not, David put all his cards on the table, as it were, and confessed to him that he wanted to have sex with her.

"Can you escort me across the dance floor?" David asked. Kim complied and watched as David moved closer to the dancing girl.

"My name is David Bowie," he said quietly, and then added, "Would you like to accompany me to the bathroom?"

She didn't think twice and followed David immediately. Together, they walked into the bathroom.

They locked the door and did not emerge until after quite some time. At that point, David kissed her on the cheek, shook her hand, and said, "Thank you," and off she went, charmed to the toes by David and his good manners. So was Kim Fowley.

"Thank you very much" were David's last words to him that night.

(Reprinted from the publisher's permission and courtesy of Mail Today.)