Dana Gillespie: Before Bowie Was Bowie, Stories, Songs & Two Live Sets
About this Event
DANA GILLESPIE: BEFORE BOWIE WAS BOWIE
Stories, songs & two full live sets with The London Blues Band
Friday 25 September · Doors 6.30pm · 7pm–12.30am
Temple of Art & Music · Elephant & Castle, London SE1
£20 until Thursday 24th September ·
80 seats · Most Standard tickets are seated, first come · Guaranteed seats with Supporter & Patron tickets
3 minutes from Elephant & Castle tube · Mercato Metropolitano food & bars on site · Only 108 places
“A very, very, very, very, very, very excellent songwriter.”
David Bowie on Dana Gillespie · BBC Radio with John Peel · 1971
Dana spoke about the young Davie Jones on BBC Radio 5 Live this week. This is the night behind the interview.
Not a Bowie tribute. Not a retrospective.
This is one night with Dana Gillespie — who knew Davie Jones before the world knew David Bowie, was building her own life as a songwriter in the same London, and is still writing, recording and performing today.
She'll tell the stories.
A new generation will perform the songs.
You'll hear the newly released 1965 recordings in context.
And then Dana plays two full live sets with The London Blues Band.
WHAT YOUR £20 TICKET INCLUDES
In November 1964, 15-year-old Dana Gillespie stood at the front of the Marquee and watched a 17-year-old Davie Jones front The Manish Boys.
They became close and remained in each other's lives for years — two teenagers moving through the same London: the Marquee, Wardour Street, Denmark Street, its cafés, publishers and clubs.
Both were trying to get songs heard.
Both wanted to be known as songwriters.
David remembered that.
Bowie wrote “Andy Warhol” for Dana; his guitar and backing vocal can be heard on her recording.
Dana sang backing vocals on “It Ain't Easy” for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Her 1973 album Weren't Born A Man was produced by Dana Gillespie, David Bowie, Mick Ronson and Robin Cable.
And before Led Zeppelin existed, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones had already played on Dana's first album, Foolish Seasons.
Dana wasn't simply someone who knew David Bowie.
She was making records too.
More than six decades later, she still is.
Dana's first-hand stories of the young Davie Jones and 1960s London
Young artists performing songs from Dana's earliest writing years
The newly released Shel Talmy recordings heard in the company of someone who knew Davie Jones in 1965
Dana's own BOWPROMO and personal archive
A special performance of the new song “What Makes Me Human”
Two full sets from Dana Gillespie & The London Blues Band
INSIDE 1965 — Dana's Listening Room
A 60s & 70s aftershow until 12.30am
BEFORE BOWIE WAS BOWIE£20 gets you the whole night.
THE ROOM — BOWPROMO & DANA’S PERSONAL ARCHIVE
TAM is an intimate live music room beneath a London market. People who knew the original Marquee have told us its closeness takes them back.
For this night, Dana brings some of that history into the room through photographs, records, stories and material from the Marquee, Trident, MainMan and Bowie years.
At the centre of it is one of the rarest objects connected to their shared story:
BOWPROMO
In 1971, a small run of promotional LPs was made containing seven early David Bowie recordings on one side and five Dana Gillespie recordings on the other.
Dana’s own original copy is now far too precious to be put on public display.
So instead, we will play it.
You’ll hear BOWPROMO in the room while Dana talks about what it meant, how it came about, and the period of her life it captures.
And for those who want to take a piece of the story home, a limited number of signed reproductions of Dana’s personal Polaroids of Bowie, Dana and their friends will be available on the night.
These are images from Dana’s own world — not press photographs, but personal moments from the people and places behind the story.
7–8PM · THEN MEETS NOW
Dana takes us back to the beginning:
The Marquee.
Davie Jones.
Denmark Street.
The records.
The clothes.
The clubs.
The people around them.
And what it was like trying to get songs heard while still a teenager.
As Dana talks, a new generation enters the story.
Young performers, close to the ages Dana and Davie were then, will perform songs from Dana's earliest writing years — with the songwriter herself only a few feet away.
Then the story moves to today.
Dana has spent this year mentoring Mbayang, a 16-year-old singer and dancer, roughly the age Dana was during those formative years.
Dana and Sieng Van Tran have written a new song for her:
“WHAT MAKES ME HUMAN”
Mbayang performs it on the night.
A young songwriter at the beginning of her journey.
The same songwriter six decades later, helping another young artist begin hers.
A new song connecting the two.
The night isn't only about what happened then. It's about what gets passed on now.
8–8.30PM · INSIDE 1965 — DANA'S LISTENING ROOM
The Shel Talmy Recordings are released just one week before this night.
They take us back to Davie Jones in 1965:
Before Ziggy.
Before Hunky Dory.
Before the world knew David Bowie.
You can stream those recordings anywhere.
What you can't stream is Dana in the room while they play.
A track goes on.
Dana tells you what it brings back about Davie, the people around them and the London they inhabited.
Around the Talmy recordings, hear Dana's own selection of the records that surrounded that generation in mid-60s London.
Explore her archive.
Look at BOWPROMO.
Hear the music in context.
The Listening Room returns from 9.30–10pm.
8.30–9.30PM
DANA GILLESPIE & THE LONDON BLUES BAND
FIRST FULL LIVE SET
Dana Gillespie — vocals
Evan Jenkins — drums · Dino Baptiste — keyboards · Dom Stockbridge — guitar · Harry Whitty — bass · Cameron Rossi — saxophone
Across the two live sets, expect music including:
“Andy Warhol” — written by David Bowie for Dana
“Weren't Born A Man”
“Old School”
“Big Daddy Blues”
“Om Shakti”
“Where Blue Begins”
“Twenty Four Seven”
…and more.
Six decades of music.
Glam.
Blues.
Funk.
Songwriting.
And the music Dana is making now.
9.30–10PM · INSIDE 1965 — DANA'S LISTENING ROOM
More of Dana's formative soundtrack, selections from The Shel Talmy Recordings and the archive.
Then the band returns.
10–11PM
DANA GILLESPIE & THE LONDON BLUES BAND
SECOND FULL LIVE SET
There is no retrospective ending because the story isn't finished.
Dana Gillespie is still writing.
Still recording.
Still producing.
Still touring.
Still releasing new music.
You're watching the songwriter Bowie praised continue.
11PM–12.30AM · THE 60s & 70s AFTERSHOW
When the live sets finish, the records go on.
Soul · R&B · rock · blues · funk · 60s & 70s dancefloor records
Stay.
Have a drink.
Dance.
Finish the night with the music back where so much of this story began:
on a dance floor.
25 SEPTEMBER IS ALSO DAY ONE
Signed copies of Dana's memoir Weren't Born A Man will be available at the venue.
This event will be filmed and recorded. By attending, you may appear in footage used in the documentary and associated promotional material.
Hear about the young Davie Jones from the woman who knew him.
Hear the newly released 1965 recordings in the company of someone who lived inside that world.
Hear Dana's early songs passed to another generation.
Hear a new song created for a teenage artist today.
Then watch Dana Gillespie & The London Blues Band play two full live sets.
Then stay and dance.
£20 until Thursday 24th
BOOK YOUR PLACE.80 seats. 108 places.
ONLY 5 AVAILABLE
Everything in Supporter, plus:
Reserved seat in the front rows
An invitation to Dana's Christmas Party at TAM on 16 December — the final Christmas in this building
An invitation to the first private screening of the documentary
108 PEOPLE. ONE NIGHT.Net proceeds from Patron tickets support the TAM Open Music Academy.
ONLY 10 AVAILABLE
Everything in Standard, plus:
Reserved seat
Your name in the documentary's Supporters credits
The complete live album before its public release
Signed album booklet
PATRON — £200A larger share of this ticket supports the TAM Open Music Academy.
STANDARD — £20 UNTIL SUNDAY 24th SEPTEMBER
First-come seating — 65 seats — or standing.
Arrive early for a seat, or guarantee one with a Supporter or Patron ticket.
Includes the whole night:
SUPPORTER — £75 Then Meets Now · the young artists · “What Makes Me Human” · Dana's Listening Room · BOWPROMO and the archive · both full London Blues Band sets · the 60s & 70s aftershow
6.30PM · Doors — eat and drink at Mercato Metropolitano. 65 first-come seats, so arrive early for one.
7.00PM · Then Meets Now
8.00PM · Inside 1965 — Dana's Listening Room
8.30PM · Dana Gillespie & The London Blues Band — first full set
9.30PM · Inside 1965 — Dana's Listening Room
10.00PM · Dana Gillespie & The London Blues Band — second full set
TICKETS 11.00PM–12.30AM · 60s & 70s Aftershow
TAM's current home closes in December.
London has always needed small rooms where artists can begin.
The Marquee was one.
It disappeared.
What these rooms do for young artists doesn't have to disappear with the buildings.
A feature documentary about Dana is also in production, and parts of this evening will be filmed.
YOUR NIGHTYou're not simply hearing about the story. You're in the room while its next chapter happens.
That morning, Dana begins releasing a 19-track live album recorded in this room — one track every Friday through to February.
On 8 January, David Bowie's 80th birthday, Dana's recording of “Andy Warhol” will be released.
Her recordings.
Her masters.
Her videos.
Released independently.
The project supports the TAM Open Music Academy, helping emerging artists find somewhere to perform, learn and record.
Dana and Davie were once teenagers hoping somebody would give their songs a chance.
THE MARQUEE WENT. THIS ROOM GOES IN DECEMBER.Now Dana is helping another generation get theirs.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 22.38 to GBP 217.39
