A MICK RONSON BIOGRAPHY
The authors, Weird and Gilly (characters from the David Bowie album, Ziggy Stardust), have written a book about guitar legend Mick Ronson, and they have done a tremendous job!
For those who don’t know who Mick Ronson was, this may not be a book for you. Others, like me, will probably find the book overwhelming with all its details and stories.
Michael Ronson was born in Kingston upon Hull in 1946.
Weird & Gilly has interviewed a lot of his relatives, classmates and others that stood him near.
I’m usually a quick reader, but in this case, it took me weeks to complete it. I didn’t know that much!
I bought some of Mick Ronson’s solo projects, and of course, I bought the remastered version of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (I had them all on vinyl, but my son have got all my records and stereo system). The book is very well written, and all the stories have given me a new perspective on both Mick Ronson and the whole environment around David Bowie. As a supplement to the book, it is well worth downloading the video Beside Bowie. It’s easy to find online, and it’s free to download. At least the copy I found.
Technical facts:
Published by Music Press Books www.johnblakebooks.com
The book even contains a couple of pages with pictures, which is a bit unusual for a paperback.
The number of pages is 378 plus the cover.
Finally, I only saw Mick Ronson on stage once.
It was with Mott the Hoople at a club in Bergen. The concert was fantastic and it was an experience to watch Mick Ronson’s way of playing.
Mick later returned to Bergen, where he was to produce a record for Secret Mission, a well-known Norwegian band.
One night I happened to meet him at a pub in town. He stood right next to me and greeted very politely. I wanted to tell him that he was the world’s best guitarist, but I figured it was something he had heard far too many times. Instead, we had a conversation about very ordinary things.
I’ll never forget it!
