"He came over to London for a couple
of weeks, and I got to know him. He was TRULY NUTS, and really
thought he was some composite between the Son of God and an alien.
The thing that always stays in my mind is him spreading out maps
of the world on the pavement in front of Tottenham Court Road
tube station in rush hour traffic, and us kneeling and looking
and he was showing me where all the space ships were going to
land.(laughs) There were all these commuters going backwards
and forwards over our map! I thought 'This is unreal. I LOVE
this' He was quite a party boy which was one of the reasons I
knocked around with him. "
- David Bowie (source : Golden Years : The David Bowie
story : Sat 18th March 2000)
November's Mojo magazine runs a four page article about the extraordinary life and times of Vince Taylor, a cult hero singer who had a brief period of success in the late 50's and early 60's.
If ever there was an example of a triumph of style over substance, Vince was it. "Vince Taylor was the beginning of British rock'n'roll. Before him there was nothing. He was a miracle." (Joe Strummer - The Clash)
He
came to the UK in 1958, inspired by Elvis, and determind to make
it as a singer. The Shadows drummer Brian Bennet remembers
his early performances at 21s in Soho. " He had all the
movements, the girls loved it. But us lot up there (on stage)
would wince because he couldn't sing in tune. He had no timing
at all. We had to nurse him into the beginning of a chorus."
If he did lack musical talent, he certainly made up for it in every other department. Mojo describes his own 'Brand New Cadilllac' as 'a defining moment in UK rock'n'roll' . He was electrifying to watch, leaping onto the piano, swinging the mike around and lying on the floor, and he was the first artist in the UK to do any of this.
He was very unreliable though, and would miss bookings on a whim. He took to the drug scene with great delight, using speed, Preludin, spliffs, and moved on to LSD. His career was a series of fabulous come backs and great disappointments, when he just couldn't seem to sort himself out to keep his promises. Its hard to be sure, but his first experience of LSD seems to have begun his messiah complex. He returned from the UK to France in 1964, looking terrible and announced "You think I'm Vince Taylor, don't you? Well, I'm not, my name is Mateus, I'm the new Jesus, the son of God."
By
the time David met him in London in 1966, he was completely gone.
Mojo says 'The Vince Taylor Bowie met that day was a man who'd
fallen into a chasm too deep to ever climb out of. A prototype
rock'n'roll burn-out, there was something so profound, so poignant
about Vince and his battered map of the world that Bowie knew
it would stay with him forever.'
Vince did eventually calm down, and married his girlfriend in 1983. He sometimes appeared in small Swiss night clubs. Mojo doesn't say what he did for a living in his later years, but I am sure I remember David hooting with delight in that same 'Golden Years' interview, and saying he had heard that Vince had become an aircraft maintenance man! Fasten your seatbelts...lol
Vince's time in the limelight, did leave its mark though. Mojo says 'The story and its accumulated myth, the rise and fall, inspired David Bowie to create Ziggy Stardust'. David acknowledged Vince as 'one of the inspirations' behind the creation of Ziggy, again in the 'Golden Years' interview.
I have looked around for some links about Vince, and there is this one, which includes more quotes from David.
:))
spaceface