Although David Bowie became fully absorbed in soul music in the mid-1970s, the genre had a significant impact on the rest of his career. Notably, Bowie’s 1972 breakthrough masterpiece The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars included ‘Soul Love‘. Like several other tracks on the album, it was influenced by Ben E. King’s soul music, among other heroes of Bowie’s boyhood.
Bowie continued to experiment with soul-infused glam rock on Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, and Diamond Dogs, but his greatest dive came in 1975 with Young Americans. The contentious album featured Bowie’s most soulful vocals and the funkiest instrumentals. Danceable rhythms may have taken away some of Ziggy Stardust’s creative depth. However, the record did have its moments, especially the odd John Lennon collaboration ‘Fame‘.
Aside from ‘Fame’ and the groovy title track, which made up the album’s single release quota. Other standouts were ‘Right‘, ‘Win‘, and a cover of Lennon’s Let It Be Contribution, ‘Across the Universe’. Surprisingly, liaisons with a former Beatles overshadowed another work with a teenage Luther Vandross, ‘Fascination‘.
“I wrote one of the songs on the album,” Vandross, who had attended the Young Americans sessions, stated in a 1982 interview with The Black Collegian Magazine. “Bowie overheard it and said, ‘I’d want to record that. Would you mind? When I did it, I termed it ‘Funky Music’. Bowie modified it to ‘Fascination‘. He remarked he didn’t want to be so arrogant as to declare ‘funky music’ because he was a rock musician. He asked, ‘Do you mind?’ And I said, ‘You’re David Bowie, I live at home with my mother; do whatever you want.'”
Vandross went on to become a household name and a constant source of inspiration for Bowie. However, Bowie’s interest in soul music had been sparked many years before by funk pioneer James Brown. While sorting through his 2,500-piece vinyl collection and selecting a few favorites to discuss with Vanity Fair in 2003, Bowie recalled how Brown’s 1963 live album, The Apollo Theatre Presents: In Person! The James Brown Show inspired his teenage soul to embrace.
“My old schoolmate Geoff MacCormack brought this around to my house one afternoon, breathless and overexcited,” the singer recalled. “‘You’ve never heard anything like this,’ he continued. I also went to see Jane Greene that very afternoon.”
Bowie went on to say that the record influenced his work on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. “Two of the tracks on this album, ‘Try Me‘ and ‘Lost Someone‘, were somewhat inspired by Ziggy’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’. Brown’s Apollo performance remains one of the most electrifying live albums I’ve ever heard. Soul music now has an undeniable ruler.”
Listen to the song ‘Try Me’ from James Brown’s 1963 live album below.
