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David Bowie worked with the best and brightest of every generation’s emerging underground scene. Glam rockers, punks, art prog musicians, disco masters, rappers, R&B stars, industrial musicians, electronica artists and contemporary indie rockers.
But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t work with Cher, Bing Crosby or a Beatle.
Here are 30 of Bowie’s collaborations, from the iconic to the underrated to the strange.
Mott the Hoople, “All the Young Dudes” (1972)
Ian Hunter and his band were ready to give up their rock ‘n’ roll career in 1972 when a famous fan stepped in and gave the band another chance by producing their next album, “All the Young Dudes.” And wrote the title hit that shaped her career.
Legend has it that Bowie wrote the song – a glam-rock anthem for teenagers young and old, then and now – while sitting cross-legged on the floor of Hunter’s apartment. It was his second attempt after the band rejected his first suggestion, “Suffragette City”.
Lou Reed, “Transformers” (1973)
“I just wanted to write songs that someone like me could relate to,” said Lou Reed. “I was really into the Beatles and all that. But why shouldn’t there be something for the kids in the back?” One of those kids was David Bowie, who was inspired by the Velvet Underground’s dark explorations of the dark extremes of bohemia in the ’60s.
By the early 1970s, Bowie was already a star while Reed was still searching for solo success. Bowie and Mick Ronson’s production on “Transformer” made the album Reed’s first post-Velvets classic. Ronson’s string arrangement on “Perfect Day” and his guitar and piano playing shaped the album’s sound. Bowie and Ronson added beautiful backing vocals to “Satellite of Love.”
“It’s not the kind of part I would have ever imagined,” Reed later said. “But David hears these parts. Plus he has a crazy voice and can sing so high and do that. It’s very, very beautiful.”
John Lennon, “Fame” (1975)
“John and David respected each other,” Yoko Ono wrote upon learning of Bowie’s death. “David was as close to us as a family member.” Their mutual respect was reflected in “Fame,” Bowie’s first number one single in America. The song was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York shortly after their first meeting in early 1975.
Bowie was in the process of getting out of his contract with his manipulative manager Tony DiFries. He used the funky song “Fame” (which he described as an “angry little song”) as a sharp attack on the entire star-making process. “I don’t think fame itself is a worthwhile thing,” he said. “The best thing you can say is that it gets you a seat in the restaurant.”
Cher, “Can You Hear Me” (1975)
1975 was a dark year for Bowie, who spent much of the year using cocaine and dabbling in the occult while recording “Station to Station.” But he made time for a surprisingly family-friendly appearance on Cher’s CBS variety show.
He and Cher sang a melancholy duet of the ballad “Can You Hear Me?” from the album “Young Americans” as well as a medley that interspersed songs by the Crystals, the Platters, Bing Crosby, Bill Withers, the Beatles and others between “Young Americans” itself.
Luther Vandross, “Young Americans” (1975)
Bowie was a key early supporter of Luther Vandross, bringing the younger R&B singer in to sing backup on the soulful album Young Americans and to help arrange vocals on the title track. When Vandross became a star himself, he returned the favor by covering Bowie’s song at a concert.
Iggy Pop, “The Idiot” and “Lust for Life” (1977)
Iggy Pop called the first album he recorded after the Stooges’ demise “an album of freedom.” This freedom would have been unthinkable without David Bowie, who produced “The Idiot” and transformed the aggressive, guitar-driven sound of Iggy’s old band into a cooler, synth-driven sound.
Bowie’s work on the album foreshadowed his own “Berlin period.” A few years later he scored a big hit with his cover of “China Girl” from “The Idiot”. That same year, Bowie returned to the board for Lust for Life and took a more low-key production approach that helped Iggy reconnect with his original punk rock side.
The title song and “The Passenger” remain among his most famous songs. When Bowie died, Iggy tweeted: “David’s friendship was the light of my life. I’ve never met such a brilliant person. He was the best there was.”