When David Bowie announced he was coming out of assumed retirement to release a new album in 2013, the world was shocked – and that includes his long-time publicist.
On a new episode of Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast, “the godfather of modern music PR”, Alan Edwards shared some of his most memorable stories, having repped some of the world’s biggest names including Prince, The Rolling Stones, the Spice Girls, and of course, David Bowie.
On the back of his newly-released book, I Was There: Dispatches from a life in Rock and Roll, Edwards discussed an excerpt detailing a phone call he received from Bowie, who made the surprise announcement that he was going to be releasing a new album – his first in 10 years.
Bowie was in New York recording the album – The Next Day – when he called Edwards in on a Wednesday to reveal he wanted to drop the record the following Tuesday.
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“So he said, ‘Look, Alan, I need a marketing PR plan. Could you go and come up with one?’” Edwards recalled to host Neil Griffiths.
“So I go around the corner and funnily enough, my girlfriend Chandrima is in New York at the time. We sit in a cafe, and I sit there with a pen and a, sort of, serviette in front of me.
“And I sat there for 20 minutes and I’m coming out with a cold sweat because I just can’t think of a plan. Nothing’s coming to me.”
After rustling up some ideas to get Bowie’s new music on TV and radio, Edwards presented the plan to the music icon who agreed to what was proposed quickly. However, there was one more bombshell.
“He said, ‘Oh, there’s one caveat,’” Edwards said.
“You’re not allowed to tell anybody who the artist is.”
Listen to the full episode here.
I Was There: Dispatches from a life in Rock and Roll is out now.
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