Bono Remembers David Bowie: 'He Is My Idea of a Rock Star'

David Bowie and Bono at Royal Festival Hall in London in 2002. "I'd like to consider myself David's friend, but I'm more of a fan," Bono told us. Kevin Mazur/Getty

"He was so vivid. So luminous. So fluorescent. The sky is darker without him"

In Rolling Stone's new David Bowie memorial issue, out January 29th, various artists pay tribute to the late singer, songwriter and pop innovator. In this exclusive recollection, Bono reflects on the way Bowie helped him find "doors into ... other worlds."

I've played at being a rock & roll star, but I'm really not one. David Bowie is my idea of a rock star. Right now, I'm in Myanmar, a little cut off from the reaction to David's passing, but I can assure you the sky is a lot darker here without the Starman.

The first time I saw him perform was on Top of the Pops in 1972, singing "Starman." He was so vivid. So luminous. So fluorescent. We had one of the first color TVs on our street, and David Bowie was the reason to have a color TV. I've said he was our Elvis Presley. There are so many similarities: the masculine-feminine duality, the physical mastery of being on a stage. They created original silhouettes, shapes now seen as obvious, that did not exist before.

They both had that otherworldliness. With Bowie, you had this sneaking suspicion that if you hung around him, you might find some doors into those other worlds. In my teenage mind, "Life on Mars?" was much more about, is there life on earth? Are we really alive? Is this really all there is?

And some of the doors Bowie opened led to other artists. He opened doors for me into Bertolt Brecht, and William Burroughs — and, by the way, Bruce Springsteen, who he was on very early. And for me, the most important door he opened was the one with Brian Eno behind it.

I'd like to consider myself David's friend, but I'm more of a fan. He came and visited us when we were mixing Achtung Baby — and, of course, he had introduced us to Berlin and to Hansa Studios. We had a playful sort of banter — he would really go there in conversations, and we would even occasionally hurt each other's feelings. He took his daughter to a matinee to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and he sent me the reasons he didn't like it. And everything he said was really helpful, because it was in the early days of the show.

I’ve been talking with Brian Eno about this, because David sent Brian a goodbye note, and he shared the contents with me. It was so amazing, and it’s so funny. It’s a really surreal, defiant type of goodbye letter, a kiss-off. And I was saying to Brian that David had been on our minds. Over Christmas, my oldest daughter Jordan and I were listening to Blackstar a lot. David met her when she was two. He called her "Pixie," and she’s been a lifelong Bowie fan. 

I like Bowie when he’s evenly pulled in the direction of being a pop star and Picasso, where he’s right down the middle. That’s usually my favorite, when the songwriting is disciplined but the recording is not. I love when he’s pulled equally in the directions of art and populism. Blackstar is much more art, so I shouldn’t like it as much as I do. But I really loved it. And so did my daughter Jordan.

I sent him a picture of myself and Jordan toasting him on his birthday this year. I sent him a long email, and I sent him a beautiful poem by Michael Leunig called "Love and Fear" — one line goes, "there are only two feelings/love and fear." I didn’t hear back, but I was told he got it.

Ultimately, as a songwriter and as a performer, your currencies are thoughts and feelings. Some people may have original thoughts, but the musical landscape is not that unique. Bowie's musical landscape affected you in a way that is completely different from all the other music around it. You have to close your eyes, imagine you don’t speak English and just feel the songs and say, "What part of me is being played by those notes?" Or "Who else plays them?"

And in his case, the answer is nobody. That part of me is only played by David Bowie. So that part of me is now a void — I have to find other ways to wake it up. But it woke me up when I was 14.

As told to Brian Hiatt

 http://www.rollingstone.com/

Bono at Steve Jobs´s Silicon Valley Memorial Service

Silicon Valley luminaries, politicians and celebrities were among the several hundred people at a private memorial service for late Apple Inc co-founder and tech visionary Steve Jobs on Sunday.
Guests arrived in dozens of black limousines and walked up a path lighted by hundreds of large white candles to Memorial Church in the heart of Stanford University's campus. The event was heavily patrolled by police and security and walled off to the public.
Among those guests was Bono who stopped to exchange words with others in the courtyard before heading in.
Rumour goes that he sang Dylan´s song "Every Grain of Sand" in memory of his friend.


www.reuters.com

Gone But Not Forgotten

November is a sad month for rock and roll. Among others, dear Michael Hutchence (INXS frontman), Freddie Mercury (Do I really have to say Queen frontman?) and George Harrison (I won´t say anything here) passed away.

Michael Hutchence belts out a song during a 1991 concert at the Whiskey in West Hollywood, California. (Getty Images)

 It's been 13 years since we lost the great Michael Hutchence at the age of only 37. But even over a decade since his death he's still regarded as one of the most charismatic performers Australia has ever produced.
Born in Sydney in 1960 he met up with the Farriss brothers in the late 70s and formed INXS. Their self-titled debut came out in 1980 and since then INXS have sold millions of albums.
Michael said of the band's success. "INXS are real. INXS is a real band. We didn't just have a hit out of a garage. We just kept on playing and playing and that's the way we work and function. We're a living band."
Michael lived his life to the full.And while he wasn't doing stuff with INXS he was busy with his side project Max Q and collaborating with Jimmy Barnes and amongst others Bono from U2.
When he passed away suddenly in 1997 tributes flooded in and continue to do so to this day.
"Michael Hutchence is the sweetest boy I've ever met." Kylie Minogue remembered at the time of his passing.
While, Jon Farriss remembered his bandmate and close friend as a man who lived his life the way he wanted. "He was enthusiastic, energetic, charming and mysterious. He was a poet, a visionary and a dreamer who was deeply passionate about music and the arts."
Bono said of him: "Michael was not only a great singer but a great friend of ours"...

Since Michael's passing, U2 have often paid tribute to their great mate 'Hutch' many times at their concerts around the world. To see them, click here.
The most well-known is their song "Stuck in a moment you can´t get out" from the All that you can´t leave behind" album.

On 25th  we remember Freddie Mercury as a legend or rock. The great Queen singer was loved all over the world, worshipped as a rock star, admired as a man and always evolving.
Freddie Mercury (his real name was Farrokh Bulsara) was born in 1946. When he was 24 he met Brian May and Roger Taylor and formed the band Queen. Almost immediately he was known for his theatrical style and amazing four octave vocal range.
In the 70s and 80s with the help from his bandmates Freddie's flamboyant style helped change the musical landscape around the world forever.

Queen playing their classic hit "Radio Ga Ga" at Live Aid 1985 at Wembley Stadium (remembered by U2`s fans as the 16 minutes we almost lost Bono) , Freddie Mercury was one of those amazing rock stars that could command the stage and his audience.
"The most important thing for me is to be happy and to have fun," he once said. "Happiness is the most important thing. If I'm happy then it shows in my work."
Outside of Queen he released a couple of solo albums and even collaborated on three Michael Jackson songs, none of them officially released. But one colloboration that became one of his best known works was with good friend David Bowie and the song "Under Pressure".
And then one day in 1991 Mercury told Queen's manager that he was going to make a public announcement that he was HIV positive. Just over 24 hours later he died of bronchial pneumonia. It was November 24 in 1991. Freddie Mercury was 45.

Live Aid 85

 Bono made a funny remark of his encounter with Queen´s frontman in the book U2 by U2 (here)

 George Harrison, also known as "The Quiet Beatle"and its  quiet lead guitarist and spiritual explorer who added both rock 'n' roll flash and a touch of the mystic to the band's timeless magic, died on November 29, 2001. He was 58. Harrison died at a friend's Los Angeles home following a battle with cancer, longtime friend Gavin De Becker told The Associated Press. Harrison's wife, Olivia Harrison, and son Dhani, 24, were with him. 

''He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends,'' the Harrison family said in a statement. "He often said, Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another.'' 

With Harrison's death, there remain two surviving Beatles: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. John Lennon was shot to death by a deranged fan in 1980. 

''I am devastated and very, very sad,'' McCartney told The Press Association, a British news agency, early Friday. ''He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor. He is really just my baby brother.'' T A man who sought privacy in his life, Harrison attempted to keep some of it, when a world of fans grew concerned about his ongoing encounters with cancer. In July 2001, he released a statement asking fans not to worry about reports that he was still battling cancer.

George Harrison was born Feb. 25, 1943, in Liverpool, one of four children of Harold and Louise Harrison. His father, a former ship's steward, became a bus conductor soon after his marriage. Harrison was 13 when he bought his first guitar and befriended Paul McCartney at their school. McCartney introduced him to Lennon, who had founded a band called the Quarry Men - Harrison was allowed to play if one of the regulars didn't show up. ''When I joined, he didn't really know how to play the guitar; he had a little guitar with three strings on it that looked like a banjo,'' Harrison recalled of Lennon during testimony in a 1998 court case against the owner of a bootleg Beatles' recording. ''I put the six strings on and showed him all the chords - it was actually me who got him playing the guitar. He didn't object to that, being taught by someone who was the baby of the group. John and I had a very good relationship from very early on.''

George Harrison's passing is the loss of an extraordinary human being. He will be missed by an entire generation.

In the Elevation Tour, U2 played Harrison´s song "My Sweet Lord" in his memory.

 

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