Mike Garson | |
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 Garson in Paris, 2006 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael David Garson |
| Born | July 29, 1945 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, keyboards |
| Discography | Mike Garson discography |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Website | mikegarson |
Michael David Garson (born July 29, 1945) is an American pianist, who has worked with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, St. Vincent, Duran Duran, Free Flight, The Smashing Pumpkins, Melissa Auf der Maur and The Pretty Reckless.
Garson went to Lafayette High School in Brooklyn. After graduating from Brooklyn College with a music degree in 1970, he was a member of rock/country/jazz band Brethren with Rick Marotta, Tom Cosgrove and Stu Woods. They recorded two albums, Brethren (1970) and Moment of Truth (1971), on the Tiffany label, which had guest piano and liner notes by Dr. John (and album photography by Murray Head, who scored a hit with "Say it Ain't So Joe", "Jesus Christ Superstar", and later with the single "One Night in Bangkok").
Garson played on the I'm the One (1972) album by early 1970s experimental artist Annette Peacock. David Bowie asked Peacock to join him on a tour; she declined, but Garson began an enduring working relationship with Bowie.
Garson was David Bowie's longest-serving and most frequently appearing band member. [1] They performed together for both Bowie's first and last concerts in the United States as well as 1,000 concerts around the globe in between. [2]
Garson provided the piano and keyboard backing on the later Ziggy Stardust tour of 1972–73 and his contribution to the song "Aladdin Sane" (1973) gave the song an avant-garde jazz feel with lengthy and sometimes atonal piano solos.
I had told Bowie about the avant garde thing. When I was recording the "Aladdin Sane" track for Bowie, it was just two chords, an A and a G chord, and the band was playing very simple English rock and roll. And Bowie said: 'play a solo on this.' I had just met him, so I played a blues solo, but then he said: 'No, that's not what I want.' And then I played a Latin solo. Again, Bowie said: 'No no, that's not what I want.' He then continued: 'You told me you play that avant garde music. Play that stuff!' And I said: 'Are you sure? 'Cause you might not be working anymore!'. So I did the solo that everybody knows today, in one take. And to this day, I still receive emails about it. Every day. I always tell people that Bowie is the best producer I ever met, because he lets me do my thing. [3]
Garson played also for Bowie's guitarist bandmate Mick Ronson on his first and last solo tour, and his first Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1974) and second solo album Play Don't Worry (1975). Garson played with Bowie on and off over the years, resurfacing on The Buddha of Suburbia (1993) and 1. Outside (1995).
| External videos | |
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 Oral History, Mike Garson reflects on his greatest musical influences. Interview date October 3, 2011, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library |
Parallel to this work with Bowie, Garson engaged in his own solo career as a jazz pianist.
Garson worked with the reformed Spiders from Mars in 1975, alongside Mick Woodmansey, Trevor Bolder, Dave Black (guitar) and Pete McDonald (vocals). They recorded one eponymous album in 1976 before going their separate ways.
In 1984, Garson became a member of the jazz ensemble Free Flight, founded by flautist Jim Walker. [4]
In 1993, Garson began a short-lived series of Screen Themes albums, jazz renditions of major themes and suites from film scores of 1993 (Man & a Woman, Sax at the Movies), and the following year, 1994 (Reel Romance). The latter album included the recording debut of Jessica L. Tivens, at age 13, who had previously appeared on the American television show Star Search . Both albums were released by Discovery Records.
Garson joined in 1998 The Smashing Pumpkins for their Adore tour, playing piano, keyboards and synthesizer. After the tour, he joined The Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Billy Corgan on his solo effort—the soundtrack for the 1999 supernatural horror film Stigmata . Additionally Garson played piano on The Smashing Pumpkins next 2000 album Machina/The Machines of God on the songs "Glass and the Ghost Children" and "With Every Light".
Garson has played also on Nine Inch Nails 1999 album The Fragile , in 2000 with No Doubt and Perry Farrell, [5] in 2007 with St. Vincent, [6] and many others. Garson collaborated with Nine Inch Nails singer Trent Reznor again on for the Grammy nominated score to the 2014 Gone Girl film on which they collaborated and Garson performed. [7]
Garson played piano on the songs "This is the Life for Me" and "Washed Out to Sea" from Something for Kate's 2006 album Desert Lights . He became acquainted with the band when they opened all shows on the Australian leg of David Bowie's A Reality Tour in 2004. [8] [9]
Garson appeared on Myspace with his own music site, and to date has released some 50 free tracks. He is currently working on three new albums, as well as collaborating with several bands as touring player/session musician. His latest collaboration shows up on the last "met-on-Myspace" French artist Kuta's 2007 album A Home. Garson also contributed to and received co writing credit on the track "Something Unseen" by Athens, Georgia, based power pop band Chris McKay & the Critical Darlings. He has also been collaborating with the Norwegian band Sleepyard. In addition to this, he worked on the writing and recording of two songs on mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan's 2010 release, Option Paralysis . In this year he also collaborated with Melissa Auf der Maur on her second album Out of Our Minds , playing piano in two songs "The Hunt" and "Father's Grave". [10]
Garson premiered a new commissioned work in 2014, written in collaboration with medical patients in partnership with brain surgeon Dr. Christopher Duma of the Foundation for Neuroscience, Stroke and Recovery. Garson's work, a set of movements of original music compositions, titled "Symphonic Healing Suite" which will continue with the National Symphony in 2016 along with Garson's latest solo album release. [11] [12]
A comprehensive biography of Garson's life and career to date was published in 2015, under the title Bowie's Piano Man: The Life of Mike Garson, by Clifford Slapper.
Garson performed in the concert series Celebrating David Bowie from early 2017 through early 2018 [13] and headlined a tour of the UK in November 2017 with his Aladdin Sane tour. [14] Mike and fellow David Bowie band alumni began touring in 2018 with a new show A Bowie Celebration: The David Bowie Alumni Tour and continued the tour each year since. [15]
Garson has endorsed M-Audio keyboards, and has performed a demo recording uses the company's digital piano. [16]
In December 2018, Garson returned to perform with both The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails in separate Los Angeles area concerts. [17] [18] Mike continued his collaboration with Reznor in 2019, composing the opening piano number for his HBO series Watchmen score. [19]
In 2020, Garson's Bowie alumni tour returned to play the Diamond Dogs and Ziggy Stardust albums in their entirety [20] only to be stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic after having performed just a portion of their previously scheduled tour dates.
In October 2020, Garson announced he would be producing an online livestream concert on January 8, 2021 – what would have been Bowie's birthday and the weekend of the fifth anniversary of Bowie's passing called "A Bowie Celebration: Just For One Day!" with an array of Bowie alumni band members spanning the history of Bowie's albums and tours from beginning to end. [21] [22] [23] [24]
In May 2021, Duran Duran announced their upcoming studio album will include contributions from Garson. [25] Garson is also featured on the If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power album by Halsey on its bonus track "People Disappear Here". [26]
Garson also appeared on two songs on Def Leppard's 2022 album, Diamond Star Halos . In this year he also collaborated with The Pretty Reckless on their cover album Other Worlds , in their Bowie's cover of "Quicksand". [27]
Garson married his wife Susan on March 24, 1968. They have two daughters, Jennifer and Heather, and seven grandchildren. They lived in Bell Canyon, California, where Garson had his recording studio, [28] until the Woolsey Fires hit, leveling both Garson's home and studio. [29]
Garson joined the Church of Scientology in 1970, having been introduced to it by Chick Corea. [30] While he played with Bowie he advocated Scientology to the other members of the Spiders from Mars, with Woodmansey converting as a result. Garson left the Church in 1982. [31]
Aladdin Sane is the sixth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 1973 through RCA Records. The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, it was the first album he wrote and released from a position of stardom. It was co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott and features contributions from Bowie's backing band the Spiders from Mars — Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey — with the pianist Mike Garson, two saxophonists and three backing vocalists. Recorded in London and New York City between legs of the Ziggy Stardust Tour, the record was Bowie's final album with the full Spiders lineup.
"Life on Mars?" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, first released on his 1971 album Hunky Dory. Bowie wrote the song as a parody of Frank Sinatra's "My Way". "Life on Mars?" was recorded on 6 August 1971 at Trident Studios in London, and was co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott. Bowie's backing band consisted of guitarist and string arranger Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder, drummer Mick Woodmansey and Strawbs member Rick Wakeman on piano. "Life on Mars?" is primarily a glam rock ballad, with elements of cabaret and art rock; it has a complex structure that includes chord changes throughout. The lyrics are about a girl who goes to a cinema to escape reality, and include surreal images that reflect optimism and the effects of Hollywood.
Pin Ups is the seventh studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 19 October 1973 through RCA Records. Devised as a "stop-gap" album to appease his record label, it is a covers album, featuring glam rock and proto-punk versions of songs by British bands from the 1960s that were influential to Bowie as a teenager, including the Pretty Things, the Who, the Yardbirds and Pink Floyd.
"Aladdin Sane (1913–1938–197?)" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, the title track from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. Described by biographer David Buckley as the album's "pivotal" song, it saw Bowie moving into more experimental musical styles following the success of his breakthrough glam rock release The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972.
The Spiders from Mars were rock singer David Bowie's backing band in the early 1970s, and initially consisted of Mick Ronson on guitars, Trevor Bolder on bass guitar, and Mick Woodmansey on drums.
"John, I'm Only Dancing" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, originally released as a non-album single on 1 September 1972. A glam rock and R&B number, the lyrics describe a situation in which the narrator informs his lover not to worry about the girl he is with because he is "only dancing" with her. Although ambiguous, many interpreted it as concerning a gay relationship. Recorded in London in June 1972, it was boosted by a low-budget promotional video directed by Mick Rock. It reached number 12 in the UK; RCA refused to release it in America due to its suggestive lyrical content.
Michael "Woody" Woodmansey is an English rock drummer best known for his work in the early 1970s as a member of David Bowie's core backing ensemble that became known as the Spiders from Mars in conjunction with the release of Bowie's 1972 LP The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. With the death of Bowie in January 2016, Woodmansey became the last surviving member of the Spiders.
"Watch That Man" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, the opening track on the album Aladdin Sane from 1973. Its style is often compared to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. The mix, in which Bowie's lead vocal is buried within the instrumental sections, has generated discussion among critics and fans.
"Cracked Actor" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on his sixth studio album Aladdin Sane (1973). The track was also issued as a single in Eastern Europe by RCA Records in June that year. The song was written during Bowie's stay in Los Angeles during the American leg of the Ziggy Stardust Tour in October 1972. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, it was recorded in January 1973 at Trident Studios in London with his backing band the Spiders from Mars – comprising Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey. A hard rock song primarily led by guitar, the song describes an aging Hollywood star's encounter with a prostitute, featuring many allusions to sex and drugs.
"Time" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Written in New Orleans in November 1972 during the American leg of the Ziggy Stardust Tour, it was recorded in London in January 1973 and released as the opening track on side two of the album Aladdin Sane that April. An edited version of the song supplanted the release of the single "Drive-In Saturday" in the United States, Canada and Japan. It was also released in France and South Africa, while early Spanish copies of David Live included a free copy of the single.
"Lady Grinning Soul" is a song by the English musician David Bowie, released on the album Aladdin Sane in 1973. It was a last-minute addition, replacing the "sax version" of "John, I'm Only Dancing" as the closing track. The composer's first meeting with American soul singer Claudia Lennear in 1972 is often cited as the inspiration for the song. In 2016, after Bowie's death, an interview with Lennear revealed that Bowie called her in 2014, and told her the song had been written about her.
Santa Monica '72 is a live album by David Bowie, recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 during the Ziggy Stardust Tour. Taken from KMET FM's radio broadcast, it was available only as a bootleg for more than 20 years; according to author David Buckley, possessing a copy was the test of a "proper Bowie fan". The recording was issued semi-legally/officially and without Bowie's approval by the Golden Years label in 1994, with Griffin Music handling the American release in 1995.
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1979 British documentary/concert film by D. A. Pennebaker. It features English singer-songwriter David Bowie and his backing group the Spiders from Mars performing at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 3 July 1973, the final date of his Ziggy Stardust Tour. At this show, Bowie made the sudden surprise announcement that the show would be "the last show that we'll ever do", later understood to mean that he was retiring his Ziggy Stardust persona.
Lost Highway is the soundtrack album for the 1997 David Lynch film of the same name. It was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and includes original music from the film recorded by Reznor, Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson, as well as songs by other artists used in the film. The album reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and reached Gold status in the United States and Platinum in Canada. The album was re-released on vinyl in November 2016 by Dutch label Music On Vinyl.
A Reality Tour is a DVD released in 2004 of David Bowie's performance at Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland in 2003 during the A Reality Tour.
"Just Like You Imagined" is an instrumental by Nine Inch Nails from their 1999 album The Fragile.
The Outside Tour was a tour by the English rock musician David Bowie, opening in September 1995 and lasting over a year. The opening shows preceded the release of the 1. Outside album which it supported. The tour visited stops in North America and Europe.
The Earthling Tour was a concert tour by the English musician David Bowie, in promotion of his album Earthling, released in 1997, The tour started on 7 June 1997 at Flughafen Blankensee in Lübeck, Germany, continuing through Europe, North America before reaching a conclusion in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 7 November 1997.
The Ziggy Stardust Tour was a 1972–73 concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, to promote the studio albums Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Aladdin Sane. Bowie was accompanied by his backing group, the Spiders from Mars, and integrated choreography, costumes and make-up into the live shows to make them a wider entertainment package. The tour generated significant press coverage, drawing positive reviews and launching Bowie to stardom.
This article contains a comprehensive collection of information related to recordings by American pianist Mike Garson.
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