![]() I’m singing stronger now than I’ve ever sung. MUSICALITY MICHAEL FULLOn a good day, I’ve got a full three-octave range. “Doing Bowie has really pushed me,” Bell says. Upon the staging of the first few shows, critical acclaim followed, including a five-star rating from Richard Crouse, the host of CTV’s PopLife, who deemed Bell and Beauclerc’s creation “unbelievable … by far the best and coolest Bowie tribute I’ve ever seen.” VIDEO: “Young Americans” and “The Jean Genie” performed by The Bowie Lives It was ‘Here’s the YouTube channel, here’s the arrangements … learn them.'” “We got together for a couple of rehearsals in Peterborough. I didn’t know where to look for players.”Įnter musical Michael Beauclerc, who helped Bell gather stellar players. When I put the show together the first time in the 1980s, my problem was I wasn’t connected enough. But once you get into stuff like Young Americans and Ashes To Ashes, there’s a lot of stuff going on. “There’s an even bigger reason why a lot of the Bowie tributes just focus on the Ziggy period. “I knew people loved Bowie, but the question was ‘Am I going to be able to have a band that’s capable of doing this?’,” he recalled, adding “There’s a reason there aren’t a lot of Bowie tributes.” Soon enough, Bowie - and more specifically the production of a fitting tribute - was again lurking in his mind. He also mentored and promoted a number of music acts. He released five CDs as NumberOneWorld, enjoying success on Internet music listings. In addition, he stood for federal election twice, both times under the Green Party banner, first in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock and then in Peterborough-Kawartha.ĭespite these diversions, Bell’s first love - music - was never not on his radar. In the early ’90s, Bell - who in his own words, “hung up his Ziggy” - came back to Peterborough, got married, and founded The Wire Megazine, a monthly tabloid that broached political and social issues as well as focused on city’s arts scene. VIDEO: “Heroes” performed by The Bowie Lives My agent was booking a lot of stuff, so I went with it.” I had just won the Q107 thing and then it was like ‘OK, what are we going to do in the midst of waiting for a record deal?’ The tribute thing was just starting to happen in a big way. “My heart wasn’t really into doing the show. “The (Bowie) show in the 1980s was a bit of weirdo show,” recalled Bell during his 2020 chat with kawarthaNOW. What followed was his first go-round doing the Bowie thing. (Photo: Michael Bell / Twitter)īell eventually found himself in Toronto, first performing as one half of a folk music duo before fronting club bands Trixie Goes Hollywood and Eye Eye - the latter winning the highly-touted Q107 Homegrown Contest in 1984. Michael Bell is returning to perform in Del Crary Park 40 years after his indie band Strobic Axe performed there. One of Bell’s cherished memories of that time was performing with Strobic Axe in a very different Del Crary Park. With Adam Scott pals John Crown, Rick Kemp, and Alex Stangl, he formed and fronted New Wave/punk band Strobic Axe in 1980. In 1996, his diversified and game-changing sound earned him induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.īowie died of liver cancer in January 2016, shocking millions of his fans around the globe - one of them being Bell.Ī Peterborough resident since moving to the city at a young age, Bell’s passion for music flourished in his teens. In addition, Bowie was an actor in several films and stage productions, his first major film role being his critically acclaimed portrayal of an alien from a dying planet in the 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth. He exploded to a huge following with the 1972 release of the single “Space Oddity” and never looked back, selling an estimated 140 million albums worldwide on the strength of 11 number one charting albums. A lesson I’ve taken away from his life is find good people, let them do their thing and fit in to what they’re on about.”ĭebuting in 2017, The Bowie Lives is a sequential presentation of Bowie’s extensive catalogue, ranging from his early hits, such as “Ziggy Stardust” and “Suffragette City,” through the 1980s and 1990s when songs such as “Fame,” “Golden Years,” “China Girl,” “Modern Love,” and “Let’s Dance” dominated music charts around the globe.īorn David Robert Jones in Brixton, England in 1947, Bowie embarked on a musical career in 1963. He then reinvents himself again in the 1990s with Nine Inch Nails. In the 1980s, he reinvents himself by picking up Nile Rogers, who’s producing all of the top dance stuff of the day. “He (Bowie) comes out of Berlin and he’s working with Brian Eno, so he picks up a whole generation of new fans. “The thing about David Bowie that was super clever is how he reinvented himself,” noted Bell in a January 2020 interview with kawarthaNOW. ![]()
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