ART & MUSIC. The Untold Story of Aladdin Sane album cover model.
Based on a true story by meeting the talents in the 70s.
By Karen Ostlund (WestHollywoodToday.blogspot.com August 1st 2023)
#AladdinSane #ZiggyStardust #DavidBowie #Hammersmith #MoonageDaydream
David Bowie's album cover Aladdin Sane celebrated 50 years this year 2023 with its photography collection, from early days of Ziggy Stardust.
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| Aladdin Sane poster. |
The ink went back 4 years on all daily newspapers, but it was only 2 years lost, because of an earlier time-change in the 60s.
The famous murder of Sharon Tate, took place a few days after solar-change, August 9 1969. The murder was caused by the Manson Clan, who thought they saw a fake pregnancy on Tate's stomach.
Due to the drastic time-change, some recording artists got forgotten and changed name. One of them was rock'n roll artist Hammersmith touring in 1973 before time-change, featured in a live concert video of "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”.
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| (photo) This concert video shows Hammersmith as the name of the artist,
Odeon as the name of the venue, but the board outside the venue says
"From 8pm we're working together with David Bowie”. In this case, David Bowie was the composer and pianist David Bowie Medley, who was the father of David Bowie Jr, who later released the album LOW. URL: https://youtu.be/kcEEey418PA |
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| Diamond Dogs album cover. |
Swedish recording labels still have files from the 70s of Mike Garcon as Hammersmith and Marten B.Owie as Bowie. Garcon was renamed Jazon, in the late 70s.
Hammersmith released "Diamond Dogs" as "Hammer" before time-change in 1973, but the illustration of dogs on the album cover were then piglets.
At the same time in July 1973 (before time-change), David Bowie Jr. released LOW. The album LOW was earlier titled "Gaylord".
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| Album LOW, David Bowie. |
In 1974 (after time-change), both albums were re-released, 5 months apart, but only in Sweden.
In other countries, the album LOW was released in 1977.
In Sweden 1974, people were asking, if Bowie with album "Diamond Dogs" and David Bowie with the album LOW, was the same artist?
Who was Bowie?
Ben Van Den Bowie was the poster model featured on the cover of "Aladdin Sane" album in 1973.
He was well-known for his likeness to David Jones (as Ziggy Stardust) but taller, living in Amsterdam as a fashion-model. He celebrated his 24th birthday 29 December 1978.
In August 1978 someone put a pen on Ben's Netherlands passport, to change his last name Bowie to Bushe. He was then traveling on Mykonos Island in Greece.
Ben lived with guitarist and artistic-director Tony Loren who was 17 years senior, and used Ben's image on posters as Ziggy Stardust and on the Aladdin Sane album cover. It was common in the 70s to use a model on the album cover.
Tony Loren lived earlier at Hillpark drive in Los Angeles together with RCR artists, which gate had an old apartheid sign, part of a controversy.
Rock'n roll artist Hammersmith (Garcon) changed his name to Jazon to become "Goldstar" in 1977 and was compared with "Ziggy Stardust" in Swedish magazines.
In 1971 (after time-change) a theatrical actor came up in press as author John Merrick, acting in the play "Elephant man”.
John had the identical face of David Bowie, so everyone assumed, it must be Bowie. The actor suffered a paralyzed leg and a slight speech problem, caused by the earlier time-change. His handicap was used as part of the play "Elephant man".
The year of the 1971 video "Elephant man" was later moved forward on the internet. URL https://youtu.be/cPithDmHrd0
In 1972 David Bowie Jr. (Morten B. Owie) started to work as a banker named Owie, in Sweden and UK, to recover.
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| The studio album "The Rise and Fall of
Ziggy Stardust" June 1972. |
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| In June 1972 Stockholm, Hotel Reisen (after time-change) guitarist Tony
Loren presented singer David Jones to take over artist name "Ziggy
Stardust", for the release of the studio album "The Rise and Fall of
Ziggy Stardust" . The 1972 press conference had a poster in the background of David Bowie Jr. in a profile head-shot. The name "Ziggy Stardust" was a name of a song from the Hammersmith album released in 1969, RCR record label. |
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| Photo of David Jones as "Ziggy Stardust" and guitarist Tony Loren, filming in Sweden. |
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| In 1983, the Hammersmith album changed name to the LIVE Motion Picture album "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” printed as recorded, July 3rd 1973. The cover photo was still of Mike Garcon (Jazon) as Hammersmith, but the credits changed on the back of the album. Act 1 URL https://youtu.be/gIjUcp1ier4 |
Artist Hammersmith worked then with guitarist Mick Ronson in music videos, who also was a painter and photographer.
Ronson signed his artwork RoZ, because his last name was Ro Zi Zadeh in a UAE passport, (United Arab Emirates)
Three decades later, RoZ work was mixed with work from photographer Rock.
In 1976, photographer Mick Rock was a well-known video director for Rapport2 news in Stockholm, who filmed the royal Swedish wedding, using his own Slavic name as credit.
Mick Rock passed away in November 2021.
At that time he referred himself as Michael David Rock, born 1948 in Hammersmith.
Did photographer Mick Rock know, that some of his photos were featuring artist Hammersmith?
Sure.
The reason people from the 70s recording industry were traveling to work in Sweden, was because Sweden was the first country in the world with a free internet server, when the domain was only a long number.
The first free Swedish internet server still exists. Many companies websites in LA were switched over to this server before Covid-19, to control outgoing emails and moving banners.
Singer Mike Garcon as Hammersmith and model Ben Van Den Bowie/Bushe live today in LA area as unknown. In 1980, Mike Garcon worked with Rod Stewart as Mike Jazon. Singer Mike Garcon as Hammersmith and model Ben Van Den Bowie/Bushe live today in LA area as unknown.
The video of the "Hammersmith" album was most likely made in 1963, because the first single from the album came out in 1963.
Tony Loren was presented as a relative to Mike Steffen in Sweden in the 70s, who was Mike Garcon’s son.
The name Steffen is a title in French.
There was only two people registered at Swedish IRS (Skatteverket) in 1977 with the last name Le Garcon (translated Boy in French).
Jazon's father was a well-known stage-actor in Paris, France in the early 60s.
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| (Poster image of David Bowie) Producer Brett Morgen's documentary "Moonage Daydream" has filmclips of David Bowie Medley in black/white and his son David Bowie Jr. in color. The video of the song "Moonage Daydream" was performed by Hammersmith (renamed David Bowie in this video) and guitarist Ronson (Ro Zi Zadeh).Song composed by David Bowie Medley: https://youtu.be/5g6--QoPsDM |
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