ABC Dig Music

US author Mark Spitz spent years talking to the singer for his book Bowie, which aims to explode the many and varied myths surrounding the star.

In the book, Spitz writes that in the mid 70s, following the release of his Young Americans album, Bowie would often sit alone, save for a pile of high-grade cocaine and a stack of books on psychic self defence.

The coke in question must have been quite something, as Bowie told Spitz, "I was hallucinating 24 hours a day. Even people like Keith Richards were floored by it."

Praise indeed...

Bowie became convinced he was being pursued by witches, intent on using him to father a child to sacrifice to the devil, a notion that bears an uncanny resemblance to the plot of the 1968 supernatural classic Rosemary's Baby.

Hallucinatory plagiarism notwithstanding, DB enlisted the help of New York-based white witch Walli Elmlark, who devised a series of spells and incantations to help him battle the forces of darkness...

Source: Nightwatcher's House of Rock

More about: 

• David Bowie

Register to add tags