For six psychedelic months, David Bowie slept with his landlady. It all began when, sitting in the sun on her porch in the sleepy suburb of Beckenham in Kent, UK, Mary Finnigan heard the unusual sounds of what would be Bowie’s first hit single Space Oddity.

I called up. “Hello? Who’s playing?” and David popped his head out of the window and said: “Hello, I’m David.”

This was back in 1969 when David was a struggling folk musician who had released only one album which soon sunk into oblivion.

I said: “Would you like to come downstairs for a cup of tea and some tincture [alcoholic extract] of cannabis?” David was down in a flash.

Seven years his senior and a mother of two, Mary – a journalist – and David would spend a psychedelic six months together. She described him as ‘very horny’ and ‘sexually sophisticated’ and created an atmosphere ‘fizzing with excitement and activity’. Aaaa, young love.

He ended up staying well into the night, chatting, playing and drinking tea and by the time he left, Mary had invited him to become her lodger. He returned a few days later with a suitcase, a small box containing a stylophone and his Gibson. For only £5-a-week, Mary was delighted he got on with her children and they adored him as much as she did.

He was a very talented singer and songwriter… I would not say I was infatuated with him, but I was interested, very interested, in him straight away

While Bowie had no work, income or savings, the rent agreement became confusing when days later Bowie seduced May over a candlelit dinner, music and a spliff. He then moved into her room and they settled into a routine of living, cooking and eating together.

I was spellbound by his charm and his talent… I had been a man-free zone for many months and now there was this handsome, sexy, interesting male creature occupying centre stage in my life, out of the blue and at high velocity.

Soon, Bowie took over the small house with all his stuff. The dining room became his music studio, while the speakers were forever on the move, from the kitchen to the garden — trailing a tangle of cables everywhere.

Then, his good friend Angie Barnett, who would later become his wife, moved in to join the fun. During this time, David’s first hit single Space Oddity started to climb the charts, ultimately reaching No.5. And then it all unravelled. Assuming their relationship was monogamous, Mary found out that not only was David unfaithful, but he was also bisexual and polyamorous: he was simultaneously dating Calvin Mark Lee, a Chinese American man from Mercury Records, a mime artist called Lindsay Kemp and, of course, Angie, who became Mrs Bowie the following year.

He had been bisexually multi-timing me for the entire period of our relationship. I was just one among many of whom Angie was probably the principal.

Mary and Angie had nevertheless become good friends, and remained so, spending a lot of time together in the flat. She remained in contact with Angie, but not David.

Mary’s book Psychedelic Suburbia: David Bowie And The Beckenham Arts Lab will be released tomorrow coincidentally at the same time as David Bowie’s latest studio album Blackstar.

Oh the life of a rockstar.

[source: dailymail]