Falling for Ziggy, meet the woman who inspired Bowie

AVA Cherry was both a muse and a musical partner for David Bowie during his prolific spell in the 1970s.

As well as being romantically involved with Bowie, she brought him to soul clubs and provided backing vocals on many of the tracks on his album ‘Young Americans’, including the hit single ‘Fame’, which also featured and was co-written by John Lennon.

Ava will be appearing at the Dublin Bowie Festival tomorrow where she will be in conversation for a Q&A in the National Concert Hall.

Dublin People Editor Padraig Conlon spoke with Ava ahead of her trip to Dublin.

“I’m really looking forward to this trip, I’ve never been to Ireland before but from my own experience the Irish are the friendliest, kindest and funniest people so its going to be great!” Ava tells me over the phone from Chicago.

Back in early 1973 Ava Cherry was starting to make a name for herself as a model in New York City.

David Bowie had burst onto the scene in the UK but was yet to become a megastar in America.

“At that time, I was the first Black model in New York city,” Ava says.

“There were no other Black girls in the industry then, so it was a big deal.

“I had a manager and an apartment in New York, I was doing well.

“My manager gave me a copy of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and I was just completely blown away!

“I had never heard anything like it before.

“Even though he had green hair I fell in love with him and his music. I was very interested in science fiction and my favourite song on the album was Moonage Daydream, I loved it so much I kept singing it over and over.”

Completely unexpectedly, Eva got to meet Bowie in person in February 1973 at a party following her friend Stevie Wonder’s concert in Carnegie Hall.

“My manager said to me ‘you’re not going to believe it, Bowie is here!’ and I freaked out!

“I couldn’t believe that he was actually in the same room.

“We were introduced, and he said he said to me ‘I love your hair’ (Ava had a blond buzz cut.)

“He was the total quintessential gentleman, lets say it was a mutual admiration society!

“He asked me was I a singer and even though I wasn’t I said ‘yes’.

“He said he was going touring in Japan and would I be interested in going?!

“Obviously I said yes!”

The next day she met Bowie at a local recording studio for an audition.

“After I’d sang a few songs he said, ‘what I hear I love’

“It was just a ‘wow’ moment for me, the blessings just kept coming.

“I had never met anyone like him in my life.

“He was a perfect gentleman.”

Ahead of the tour to Japan, Ava got rid of her apartment and quit her job.

However, then came the crushing news that the tour had been cancelled.

“I was devastated, I couldn’t believe this was happening,” Ava says.

“I got a telegram saying the tour had been cancelled and David was ill and they were really sorry and David would get back to me.

“I cried about it for a couple of days

“My Mom said that I got to go find this guy, so I decided to follow David to France where he was recording an album.

“It was a challenge, but I eventually tracked him down.

“I was told that famous people in Paris would hang out on the Boulevard St Germain so I went there for months but to no avail.

“Then one day I’m in a bar when I hear some David Bowie’s name and I ran down and ask a guy have you seen David Bowie?

“He told me he was across the street in Castel’s a very exclusive upscale club for the very rich.

“It had a stairwell that went down and I saw David’s bodyguard Stuie and he saw me and said ‘Ava what are you doing here?’

“I said I’m looking for David and he says the guvnor, as he called him, is talking to someone.

“David looks up and sees me and says, ‘Oh my God Ava, oh my goodness what are you doing here?”

“I said you can’t just leave me like that, I loved you and was in love with you and you can’t just leave me high and dry after I left my job and quit New York.

“So he looked at me and said ‘Let’s go’ and we spent the most beautiful, romantic time at a recording studio in Deauville in the South of France and in a seventeenth century castle.

“It was the most beautiful experience and I felt so in love at that moment in time.

“David was the first man I ever loved, he treated me wonderfully and lovingly.

“I felt so close I can’t even tell you how I felt at that time.”

Prior to rerecording ‘Young Americans’ album, Ava brought Bowie to visit the Apollo Theatre in Harlem where he discovered Luther Vandross and Carlos Alomar who along with Ava become backing vocalists in his band.

“David was learning about Black music, he told me James Brown’s Live at the Apollo was one of the first albums that inspired him.

“Working on Young Americans was hard work, David was a stern taskmaster in the studio, we had to be as professional as possible.

“His attitude was whatever you do, do it well, he was very disciplined, he wasn’t interested in playing around.

“We were in there, and we were all working real hard.”

Eventually, Ava and David’s relationship fizzled out, due in part to Bowie’s increasing drug use and paranoia.

“When I first met him, David was a normal human being, but within a few years he started to do coke and that had a really negative effect on him.

“We didn’t break up because he was cheating on me or because we argued all the time or we were fighting, we broke up because he was feeling trapped.

“I stayed in love with him for so long because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong for us to break up.”

Ava went on to inspire two songs, “Stay” and “Golden Years”on David Bowie’s next album, Station to Station.

“Listen to the words, ‘Don’t let me hear you say life’s taking you nowhere, angel.

‘In walked luck and you looked in time, always walk tall, act fine.’ He walked in and we attached to each other.

“From then on, he was trying to help me.”

In the 1980s, Ava became backing singer for Vandross and Chaka Khan and mentored a young Whitney Houston while recording her Curtis Mayfield produced debut album ‘Ripe’.

“David Bowie is in my heart and my spirit forever and I will continue to tribute him,” Ava says.

“He’s in my karma, it will be such an honor to appear at Dublin Bowie Festival next week, I can’t wait to meet people and discuss what was an amazing time in my life with a truly amazing man.

“I’m still writing and performing music, after Dublin I’m going to Germany to finish an album.

“I also released my autobiography, ‘All That Glitters’ in January and it has been very well received.”

AVA CHERRY Q&A, SATURDAY APRIL 23RD – THE KEVIN BARRY ROOM, NATIONAL CONCERT HALL, EARLSFORT TERRACE, D2 – DOORS: 6.30PM – ADM: €10