WHERE WERE YOU WHEN Ziggy Stardust made his TV debut - YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Celebrity WHERE WERE YOU WHEN Ziggy Stardust made his TV debut By You Magazine - July 14, 2019 David Bowie’s performance of ‘Starman’ was out of this world, recalls singer Toyah Willcox. David Bowie, Mick Robinson and Woody Woodmansey glam it up on the TV show Lift Off With Ayshea. Image: REX/Shutterstock. I was born in Birmingham in 1958. My life was quite conventional by today’s standards: I went to an all-girls school, ate with my family twice a day at a dining table and wasn’t allowed to speak unless spoken to. Men led the households and were affectionately known as ‘blokes’. Then the singer Marc Bolan came along with T Rex in 1970, strutting his stuff to ‘Ride a White Swan’. He was clearly in touch with his feminine side but was very palatable to look at. While my brother scoffed at Bolan’s satin trousers, I sneaked off from school to see him on stage – and fell in love with rock ’n’ roll. My adolescence was completely normal until an afternoon in June 1972, when I was 14. After coming back from school, I turned on the TV to see who was singing on Lift Off With Ayshea, a music show on ITV. I was expecting Slade, Bolan, Dana, maybe Val Doonican – but instead, there was David Bowie singing ‘Starman’, in his television debut as Ziggy Stardust. It derailed me completely. More of a cross-dresser than Bolan, Bowie had a scary masculinity in his Ziggy jumpsuit as his fictional alter ego – a bisexual rock star who was a messenger for extraterrestrial beings. He was like Mick Jagger but with higher cheekbones. Afternoon television wasn’t supposed to be subversive but this changed my life for ever. Bowie was staggeringly beautiful. His hair was bright red, standing up on end, wild and contained all at the same time. Everything was a contradiction. And his performance portrayed something I’d never seen anyone do before – a nonchalance. He didn’t care if the audience liked him or not because he knew they loved him. The song ‘Starman’ was otherworldly. Bowie was, too, and wildly sexy. I stood up, walked over to the television and asked the screen, ‘Who the hell are you? You are magnificent! ‘This is what I want to do!’ Also that month… Jeff Spicer/Getty Images ‘Vincent’ by Don McLean topped the UK charts. British tennis player John Paish was defeated by American Jimmy Connors in the men’s singles final at the Queen’s Club Championships. The Duke of Windsor’s funeral was held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. TV chef James Martin was born in Malton, Yorkshire. RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR 50 of the best celebrity Halloween costumes of all time Shirley Ballas ‘ Strictly gave me back my hope’ Davina McCall discusses how men can help women going through the menopause Popular in Celebrity TV chef Gino D Acampo on Sardinia Sophia Loren and scary salads May 25, 2017 The Evergreen Goddess Exercise guru Diana Moran on looking fit and July 10, 2017 More more Julianne Moore November 13, 2017 Author Jill Mansell on designer notebooks commissioning art and the family January 16, 2018 EMOTIONAL TIES Kelly Hoppen on vodka vintage finds and being a April 4, 2018 ‘ I have no regrets’ Millie Mackintosh on divorce debt and reuniting May 20, 2018 EMOTIONAL TIES TV presenter and tennis player Annabel Croft shares her July 1, 2018 Stella Parton ‘ Dolly and I have always been close’ August 12, 2018 Anna Friel on getting jeered in the street shared parenting with September 23, 2018 Queen of primetime Charlotte Riley on juggling rising stardom with pregnancy October 21, 2018 Popular CategoriesFood2704Life2496Fashion2240Beauty1738Celebrity1261Interiors684 Sign up for YOUMail Thanks for subscribing Please check your email to confirm (If you don't see the email, check the spam box) Fashion Beauty Celebrity Life Food Privacy & Cookies T&C Copyright 2022 - YOU Magazine. All Rights Reserved