Dana Gillespie and David Shasha are the co-authors of Dana’s autobiography Weren’t Born A Man (Hawksmoor Publishing), a book that chronicles a life so outrageously cool, glamourous and eventful you find yourself asking ‘How can I be more like Dana?’ Dana took the Polaroid photo of David Bowie wearing the LW19 Soft Lip Mask circa 1973, which features in her book along side a series of must-see Polaroids.
Questions by Bridget Veal
(Left) Mark Wardel’s portrait of Dana Gillespie (2022). (Right) Polaroid by Dana taken in NYC of David Bowie wearing a LW19 leather mask (1973).
Q. Dana, we were initially introduced by the DJ and Art Curator Martin Green to confirm that it is indeed David Bowie under the LW19 leather mask in your famous Polaroid photo. In your autobiography Weren’t Born A Man your time in NYC with David & Angie Bowie is captivating, insightful, fascinating. How did this moment with the leather mask come about?
A. (Dana) Bowie went shopping to a sex shop and came back with a bag of toys and the mask was one of them. I asked him to put it on, snapped the photo, and only people who knew his naked body would know it’s him. He was falling about with laughter at his bag of toys, but I never saw them in action, so I don’t know whether he actually used them or not.
Q. David, what was it like delving into Dana’s famous Polaroid archive and to reference them when articulating such an important time in music history and pivotal part of the book?
A. (David) It was incredibly exciting. Dana has boxes of Polaroid photos taken in the early seventies with the camera given to her by Tony Defries (the manager she shared with David Bowie). Funnily enough, many of the pictures of Bowie had been stuck in an album that Dana had given to Tony, and we were thrilled to be able to recover it from Tony Zanetta (who ran Mainman for Defries in the States) while we were working on the book. That was where we found the mask photo.
Q. The London Leatherman masks can be confronting for some people, others find them fascinating, hilarious, kinky and an important piece of sub-culture history. How do you feel about the masks and why do you think artists like David Bowie and Adam Ant were drawn to them?
A. (Dana) Bowie always liked the bizarre, and in a way a lot of his stage act was being an alter ego which is a bit like wearing a mask. He used a mask as part of his stage act but I think that came from when he worked with the wonderful mime artist Lindsay Kemp as the whole part of some of his shows was to be someone else, and a mask helps with that.
Q. David, for anyone that is just now discovering Dana and her work, how do you describe her to them?
A. (David) A force of nature. I have taken many friends to see Dana’s shows in the last few years, and they have all commented on her amazing energy and love of performing. Anyone who has read her book cannot fail to be amazed by her remarkable life.
Q. Dana, reading Weren’t Born A Man feels very intimate, just like sitting in a living room with you as you tell your incredible sex, drugs and rock'n roll/ blues story. One also gets the sense that David Shasha really knows his stuff when it comes to music history and it’s relevant sub-cultures. What would you say were the highlights of collaborating with David Shasha?
A. (Dana) Well, it kept us both relatively sane during the Covid lockdown. We spoke almost daily to work on the book, using Skype and a mobile phone, and it was a lot of fun going through my old scrap books and trawling through old stories that had been distant memories for me. I keep thinking we should do a second volume as so many stories got left out, but at least the book has great photos and we managed to get the Audible version done too, with me reading it of course. It was a great distraction from the pandemic!
Q. Artist Mark Wardel recently painted the cover portrait for the album Dana Gillespie 73 Live At The Tam, it’s a great portrait and quite Bowie-esq. From the hundreds of Dana Gillespie portraits and official photographs created over the years, what are your top three (favourite’s) and why?
A. (Dana) Bowie loved Mark Wardel’s art and so do I as I think he did a really great cover for my album.
I also think that Gered Mankowitz did some amazing photos of me. These were used for the Weren’t Born A Man album as well as the book. Gered has been photographing me since 1964 and he really captured me well when I was in the corset, stockings and suspenders. This might seem a little tame now but back in 1972 it was unheard of, that a singer should be so (un)dressed for an album cover. However, at the same time that this record was released, Bowie was on the cover of his album wearing a dress. Also unheard of then!
The photograph that Terry O’Neill took of me in 1973 was used by Andy Warhol to create the silk screen portrait that was used as the cover of my Mainman album called ‘Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle’ which still looks amazing all these years later. Terry O’neill was always known as one of the top photographers in the 70s and 80s and I consider it an honour that I have an Andy Warhol cover done of it.
A. (David) The first one has to be the cover of Dana’s Weren’t Born A Man album. Dana has already described it, but I can clearly remember one of my schoolmates bringing the vinyl record into school one day and the impact it had on a bunch of testosterone- fueled teenage boys (!) From the same period, there is a great photo taken by Mick Rock at the Cafe Royal in London in July 1973, at a party to mark the “retirement” of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character. Dana is sitting at a table of real rock royalty – with Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, Bowie, Jeff Beck and Mick Ronson. And staying with that period, Lee Black Childers took a photo of Dana, Tony Defries and Bowie at the Roundhouse in 1971, which I have always liked.
Q. Ken, the founder of The London Leatherman label started his career making and selling his clothing on the Kings Road, Chelsea. In the 1960s he made frill shirts that Mick Jagger wore and men’s trousers so tight it left very little to the imagination. Both being Chelsea locals, what was the Kings Road really like in the 60s & 70s?
A. (Dana) I had a great time in Chelsea in the 60s and 70s. The King’s Road was a cool place to go as you could sit in a cafe and watch the world go by and as mini skirts had just been invented, guys would oggle the birds and the girls would swagger and strut their stuff, feeling great in either mini skirts or colourful hippie outfits. Sadly, the King’s Road is now just full of the same old shops you find everywhere and the individuality has gone, and anyway these days if you tried to chat up a girl you’d probably get arrested. It was much more fun back in the day!
A. (David) (No idea – I grew up in Manchester!!)
Q. If you were to pick just one person, who's inspiring you the most, creatively, right now in 2023?
A. (Dana) No one is very inspiring these days. I’ve just come back from the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas and the best band there was the Zombies, also from the 60s, so not much thrills me artistically or musically these days. Also, the music of the 60s and 70s will be remembered far longer than anything that any songs that comet now. Maybe it’s because they all sound the same and melody isn’t the priority. Money seems to be the motivation and all these so called talent shows on TV just highlight a get- rich- quick attitude. Everyone wants to be a celebrity which is a joke. You have to earn your stripes!
A. (David) Ian Hunter, former lead singer of seventies glam rockers Mott the Hoople, will shortly be celebrating his 84th birthday and is about to release a new album – with another scheduled for release later in the year.
Q. Do you have a favourite leather wearing musician?
A. (Dana) Sadly, I can’t think of any. From the old days, I’d say that the guys from Kiss, or Alice Cooper or Suzi Quatro has some style.
A. (David) I would have said Jim Morrison, but Dana has just reminded me about Suzi Quatro… !!
Q. Do you have any upcoming projects you're working on together or individually you can disclose here?
A. (Dana) I’m always working on new songs so this keeps me busy in-between doing gigs which keeps me on the road.
A. (David) Dana is always busy- if it hadn’t been for Lockdown we would probably still be working on the book now. We have had some conversations about a follow-up, so you never know…
Dana and David's book Weren’t Born A Man the autobiography can be purchased directly from the publisher here: Dana Gillespie Book and eBook - Weren't Born a Man (hawksmoorpublishing.com)
The audiobook, read by Dana, is available on Audible. Dana Gillespie by Dana Gillespie, David Shasha - Audiobook - Audible.co.uk