The loss of David Bowie continues to reverberate worldwide with the fans of 'the man who sold the world', and, as such,a million books have begun to appear, many written by people who weren't even born when Ziggy Stardust landed and changed pop culture forever; I know, I was in the midst of it as it was happening as I had allied myself with the MainMan crew , whose job it was to sell Bowie to America: As I walked through Barnes & Noble viewing the endless list of titles, I realized what was missing; the "Holy Grail" for hard core Ziggy era book fans, which had been released in France in 2003 by Hachette, but never saw the light of day in America; "Les Papiers De Ziggy Stardust" a/k/a "The Ziggy Stardust Diaries" which first appeared in Europe in the Mirabella 'teen' magazines, but never saw the light of day in America.
The "Diaries' were a regular column, recounting of Bowie's travels and adventures during the 1973/74 /75 period of Ziggy/Aladdin Sane/Pin Ups and Diamond Dogs, and fans thrilled to every last word that bonded them to the most fabulous rock star that ever existed; there was only one thing that they didn't know, which is the fact that the diaries were actually ghost written by Bowie's 'right hand' lady during the era, Cherry Vanilla, and they reflected the Ziggy era through Vanilla's eyes; she was steering the wheel through much of that period (to the everlasting chagrin of RCA Records, but more about that next time..)
Bowie did indeed write the preface for the Hachette Books release in 2003, admitting that he couldn't truly remember how much of the diaries was Bowie and how much was Vanilla, but verified that it was a recount of the pop culture world that they both shared. I recently contacted Cherry, whom I've known and been friends with since 1974, and urged her to get an English language release of this out there for the fans, both his and hers: I've decided to start a campaign on behalf of the "Diaries",and I know the fans of David and Cherry will be ready and willing to support this, so let's go. For those who can't wait, Vanilla's "Lick Me"autobiography has been re issued in paperback by Chicago Review Press, and it's a must for fans of the era.
