* “Aladdin Sane 50” Exhibition-the story behind this now iconic David Bowie image

This Shoes blog is another one that’s slightly different from the norm I usually publish.

It relates to music, and in particular a man who was responsible for being one of the main contributors to the soundtrack of my life – the late great and very muched missed “David Bowie”.

However – the blog subject matter isn’t about Bowie the person, it is about the creation of one popular music’s most iconic images – the album cover to Bowie’s 1973 released album “ALADDIN SANE”.

In 1973 David Bowie was 26 years old and already had 5 studio albums under his belt – namely:- ‘David Bowie’ (1967) – ‘David Bowie-Space Oddity’ (1969) – ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ (1970) – ‘Hunky Dory’ (1971) – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars’ (1972).

His ‘star’ had just started to shine with the release of the Ziggy Stardust album the previous year, and so his 6^th album was going to be crucial, to keep him in the public eye whilst enabling him to develop as an artist.

Bowie’s first 2 album covers had been basic straight forward images of his face.

The cover to his 3^rd album ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ came in 2 formats – the US version had a sort of cartoon story on it – the UK version had Bowie wearing ‘male’ dress, and had him stretched out on a chaise-longue with a deck of cards spread out on the floor in front of him (it was banned in the US, that’s why they had a different cover).

The cover of his 4^th album ‘Hunk Dory’ was a blurred image of his face and long hair – doing a sort of Hollywood vintage starlet pose.

The cover of his 5^th album – had an image of Bowie as the character ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and was taken one cold rainy night in Heddon Street – a small street off of Regent Street-London.

So – with his 6^th album ‘in-the-can’ Bowie and his management knew that they had to come up with a spectacular album cover that immediately caught the public’s eye and was immediately recognisable.

So -they commissioned renowned photographer “Brian Duffy” to come up with something both spectacular and perhaps a little bit different from the norm.

Brian Duffy – a Londoner with Irish parents – was born in 1933 – and studied art and design at the famous St. Martin’s School of Art. He left St. Martin’s in 1953 and did several jobs as an assistant designer – and a main designer – and then he moved on to photography.

He worked initially as a photographer’s assistant, and then went freelance, working for top publications such as Harper’s Bazaar and then British Vogue, who he worked for from 1957 to 1962.

Brian Duffy soon gained a reputation as being one of Britain’s top and in demand fashion/design and celebrity photographers throughout the so called ‘Swinging Sixties’ – Pop stars, Royalty, Underworld characters, actors-actresses, politicians – were all his customers.

He was up there with the likes of David Bailey and Terrance Donovan – and the 3 of them were referred to as the “Black Trinity”.

Brian Duffy’s popularity and quality of work got him commissions with publications such as Cosmopolitan / Esquire / the Observer / the Times plus many more of the top ‘rags’ of the Swinging Sixties.

Duffy also did advertising work for top agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi – some of his more famous work being advertising images for products like Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges cigarette brands, and Smirnoff vodka.

In 1965 he was commissioned to photograph the globally famous “Pirelli Calendar”.

In early 1972 at the start of the very first Ziggy Stardust tour (which started 4 months before the release of the Ziggy album) – Bowie and his management approached Duffy to shoot a few Ziggy images – which he did, but the material was never used commercially.

However – in 1973, with his 6^th album in-the-can – David Bowie commissioned 39-year-old Brian Duffy once again – but this time to come up with a cover his new album which was to be entitled “ALADDIN SANE” (a play on the term ‘A lad insane’).

Bowie’s manager Tony Defries wanted no expense spared – and it was to be the costliest photoshoot of its time.

So – one cold Saturday at the beginning of January 1973, a busy world touring David Bowie managed to find a couple of hours to head off to Duffy’s studio at 151a-King Henry’s Road in Swiss Cottage – to undertake the task of shooting an image for the cover of his new ‘Aladdin Sane’ album

Now – a few months earlier, Brian Duffy had been commissioned yet again to do the 1973 Pirelli Calendar – the only photographer ever to have been asked to produce 2 of their iconic Calendars.

Bowie’s resident make-up person ‘Pierre La Roche’ who had toured with him and done all Bowie’s make-up throughout the Ziggy world tours of 1972 – was also in attendance to make up Bowie’s face.

What the famous ‘flash’ down Bowie’s signifies – is a bit of a mystery. Some say it represents the ‘split’ personality of someone with schizophrenic tendencies (remember – the album is entitled ‘A lad insane) – others strongly believe that the ‘flash’ is inspired by a certain ring that Elvis Presley often wore, that had 2 flashes at its sides with the letters ‘TCB’ (ie ‘Taking Care of Business’) inscribed, between them.

Whatever the inspiration was – it was obvious that Duffy’s Pirelli Calendar image plus the distinctive ‘flash’ – were the main features of an image that was to become known as the ‘Mona Lisa of Pop Art’.

So – for the album cover shoot – Bowie stripped down to his underpants – Pierre La Roche applied the flash and surrounding make-up – Brain Duffy took loads of photos, with Bowie’s head pointing in differing directions – and that was it…..’job done’……David Bowie was out the door and back on tour……the rest is history!!

Brian Duffy probably never thought too much more about it at the time, as he had done work for people who were far more famous and important than Bowie.

Duffy also did photo sessions capturing the Bowie entourage at that time – namely his then wife ‘Angie Bowie’ – the rest of the Spiders band (Mick Ronson/Woody Woodmansey/Trevor Bolder) and one of the unsung hero’s of the whole Bowie scene at that time…..’Ken Scott’ who produced the Hunk Dory/Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane albums – creating a unique distinctive sound for Bowie’s music during that period.

“Aladdin Sane” was recorded during Oct 1972 through to Jan 1973.

It was recorded in 2 studios – some of it at the Trident Studio in St. Anne’s Court-Soho-London – where Bowie had recorded his previous ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars’ albums – and some tracks were also recorded at the RCA Studios in New York City, whilst Bowie was touring the US.

The Aladdin Sane album consisted of 10 tracks – and the songs were heavily influenced by the Ziggy tour of US – ‘Jean Genie’ – ‘Cracked Actor’ – ‘Watch that Man’ – ‘Drive-in Saturday’ being prime examples.

The album was released in April 1973 to advanced orders of 100,000.

In May 1973 – on the last gig of the Ziggy world tour at the Hammersmith Odeon–London, Bowie delivered his “I Quit” announcement – much to the horror of his followers – but what he really meant was, I quit being Ziggy Stardust.

David Bowie went on to release a further 19 studio albums (25 in total) throughout the decades leading up to his death on 10^th January 2016. He was, and still is a massive inspiration and influence for artists and music lovers – and will no doubt continue to be so.

To commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of the release of Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ album – an exhibition is currently on at the Royal Festival Hall – that focuses on and studies, the creation and backstory of this album’s iconic cover……. now referred to the ‘Mona Lisa of Pop Art’.

The exhibition focuses on the Brian Duffy photo-shoot that created this iconic image. It deals with what was happening ‘on the scene’ in the lead up to the event – the characters that played a part in the event – and the outcome of the photo-shoot and the impact it had at the time and beyond, into today’s world.

All the photos from the session are on display – along with other photos taken by Brian Duffy of the Bowie entourage at that time.

There’s also the camera that Duffy used for the photo-shoot – plus images and the various backstories to the album’s Bowie had released prior to Aladdin Sane – all of which perfectly captures the vibe of that particular moment in time.

Having been a massive Bowie fan all my life – it would have been rude not to pop along and have a gander – and for just a ‘Lady Godiva’ entrance fee, I personally found it interesting and enjoyable – really pleased I went.

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Before heading off back home, I fancied a little liquid refreshment – and so popped into the famous 1908 built “Coal Hole” pub in the Strand.

Standing right next to the Savoy Hotel, it is said that the pub takes its name from being a popular boozer for London coal carriers who used to fuel the city before the arrival of natural gas. Its cellar was once used as the coal hole for the Savoy.

Although spacious, it’s a cosy pub with a nice friendly vibe about it – and the ideal place for Shoes to sink a couple of enjoyable ‘cheeky’ Guinness’s.

Hope you enjoyed this piece and its accompanying photos.

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