Unfortunately, the gallery didn’t actually go anywhere as it was boxed off to create more apartments, but there was enough room to sleep around the balcony, which many people did. Haddon Hall was an extremely grand double-fronted abode, and the area David rented had a magnificent hall with stairs that led up to a double-sided gallery from where Joan Crawford would have been entirely happy to have descended. My mother’s house was at number 1 Blakeney Road, about a quarter of a mile from where David and Angie were going to live. I lived in such a place from the age of 12, when my family moved from Bromley to Beckenham, until I left home for West London. Haddon Hall was one of many grand Victorian and Edwardian houses built in the suburbs of London for the wealthy who wanted more space as well as easy access to London. In 1969, David had moved to a fantastic Gothic, raised ground-floor flat in Beckenham with his girlfriend and soon-to-be wife, Angie. Thanks David for introducing me to the divine album “Astral Weeks.” Haddon Hall: The Beginning of Success (1969–1972)

In this excerpt from his recent photographic memoir, David Bowie: Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me, published by ACC Art Books, MacCormack revisits the particular period in the late 60s when Bowie’s march to fame began. Songwriter and producer Geoff MacCormack met David Bowie as a primary school companion, but their shared love for music made them a lifelong inseparable pair.

Diana vreeland memoir