Mick Ronson

Rupert Creed writes with admiration about one of David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars. “From estate kid to superstar, Mick Ronson was a man who stepped beyond his predetermined path,” he says, “who turned and not only faced the strange, but chose to embrace it.” Did you know with a Digital subscription to Yorkshire Post, you can get access to all of our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Ronson was a guitarist who worked with Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust era, contributing to studio albums including Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane. “Mick Ronson is best known for his work with David Bowie but a lot of those stories and narratives are very David Bowie focused,” says co-author Creed. “Mick was the side man but he was incredibly influential on Bowie. David Bowie performing with guitarist Mick Ronson at a live recording of 'The 1980 Floor Show'. (Photo by Jack Kay/Daily Express/Getty Images) “He gave Bowie what he needed and we felt Mick had never really had enough acknowledgement nor had the other Spiders from Mars… It was the three Yorkshire Spiders (the group initially consisted of Mick Ronson on guitar, Hull-born Trevor Bolder on bass, and Driffield’s Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey on drums) that brought Bowie this amazing international success and Mick in particular was instrumental in that. We wanted to shift the narrative from a London-centric focus to redress the balance and give a justifiable Yorkshire perspective on how this all happened.” The Mick Ronson Story – Turn and Face the Strange sheds light on how the city of Hull and its culture shaped Ronson and gave him a thorough grounding as a musician. It comes five years after authors Creed and Garry Burnett co-wrote the critically-acclaimed stage show Turn and Face the Strange, celebrating the life and music of Ronson, for Hull City of Culture 2017. The pair had recorded people’s memories of Ronson, who died of liver cancer aged 46 in 1993, after putting a call-out for stories. “We had a fantastic response but of all these wonderful stories, only a fraction could go into the stage show,” Creed says. “We were left with what we felt was an absolutely wonderful resource about Mick Ronson and we always wanted to do something more with them.” When lockdown came, the duo set about writing in earnest, speaking to many more people about Ronson’s life and career and his work with Bowie. The result charts the story of how a boy from Hull achieved international rock god status, featuring interviews with fellow musicians, friends and fans. Despite his musical talents, Ronson left school at the age of 14 and went to work on the Co-op grocery van, touring the city’s estates selling produce. He joined his first band, The Mariners, in November 1963, when he was 17. When Ronson met Bowie in 1970, he had been playing for four years in a Hull-band called The Rats, but he was also working a day-job as a gardener for Hull City Council. His former bandmate, John Cambridge, who had gone on to play drums on Bowie’s 1969 album Space Oddity, was intent on recruiting Ronson as guitarist for a new Bowie backing band called The Hype, with bassist Tony Visconti. “Visconti and Bowie weren’t that impressed at first with the idea of a council gardener,” he adds. “But John persisted, came back up to Hull and persuaded Mick to go to London…Mick met David Bowie, they hit it off immediately and started working together. Mick became the essential side man to David Bowie…Their relationship was one of mutual creativity...They were made for each other, had the right chemistry and created fantastic music together.” Much of Ronson’s time with Bowie was as part of backing band Spiders from Mars, formed in 1971 with Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey on drums and Trevor Bolder on bass. In 1972, Bowie developed the Ziggy concept and started his and the band’s makeover to glam rock. “It’s a great story,” says Creed, a playwright, theatre director and story broadcaster, who move