Nature? Nurture? No; ‘David Bowie Made Me Gay’

What inspires a book: divine intervention? A lucrative book deal? In Darryl Bullock’s case, it was the death of David Bowie.

From his adopted city of Bristol, Darryl has made a name for himself as a music and LGBT journalist. After writing the story of Florence Foster Jenkins, which inspired the Oscar-nominated film starring Meryl Streep, Darryl has returned with another music-inspired epic.

When David Bowie died last year, the book Darryl had planned seemed to crystallise around two of his favourite themes – music and the LGBT community.

“I was a fan,” Darryl explains, sipping coffee between excitedly relaying the story, “but even I was shocked at just how many people were moved by his death. So many artists cited Bowie’s impact on their lives and that allowed me to see the story, the chronology.”

From Little Richard, to David Bowie, to Holly Johnson, Darryl abandoned the plans for an autobiography, to set about writing David Bowie Made Me Gay. Now just released, the book traces the importance of LGBT lives in modern music.

Starting at the birth of jazz in New Orleans and the touring troupes and cabaret groups, through the swinging sixties with icons like Dusty Springfield, to the infamously tortured experience of LGBT artists in the 1980s, the book arrives in the present day having charted the journey culture has taken.

Darryl Bullock

Using wide-ranging testimonials, Darryl goes, in his own words, “far beyond the two Georges and Elton”.

With more LGBT musicians working openly in all areas of the industry than ever, Darryl says understanding how culture has evolved is vital: “It’s so important to capture these memories and tell this story before the great innovators leave us.

“I grew up at a time when the media’s idea of ‘gay’ was Larry Grayson, John Inman, and Frankie Howerd. They were a terrible representation and they made gay life so much harder. I remember buying a copy of The Stage (a trade music magazine) in which Bernard Manning had written a column that slagged off the idea of gay entertainers. I think its really important to take note of how much that’s changed and to credit the people that led it.

“The understanding of LGBT people in music is limited to the well-known, white, gay men. I wanted to ensure that the gay women and black LGBT people were properly recorded in this book. That meant travelling to some far flung archives – in Harlem, for example.

“It was very heartening how many people wanted to participate. Tom Robinson asked me to send him the questions, he then sent back a tape of his answers he’d recorded in his studio. Blackberri – a Black American singer/songwriter, and Patrick Haggerty who gave America its first gay, country album were both so open. Most amazingly of all, Patrick Pink was trusting enough to tell me his story.”

Patrick Pink was the assistant to Joe Meek. His fame peaked in the 1960s when he was known as one of the most experimental music producers pop has ever known. His life went downhill when, in 1963, he was arrested for gross indecency in a highly publicised case. Four years later, having sunk into depression, Meek went on to murder his landlady before taking his own life. “Given the life of Joe and the sensationalism of the press, Patrick understandably felt very let down by the coverage and refused to talk to journalists,” Darryl explains. It’s memories like those of Patrick that mark out the significance of this new work.

Writing David Bowie Made Me Gay has been an education in itself. “I came across John Grant while researching and ever since I’ve been a huge fan. I went to see him perform his album Pale Green Ghost at the Union Chapel, London in May. It’s not understatement to say it was an epiphany.”

Another highpoint for Darryl came in an email from hero Martin Lewis. Lewis produced the Amnesty Secret Policemen Balls and organised the hugely famous performance of Glad To Be Gay by Tom Robinson. “Seeing that performance on a platform as big as the Policemen’s Ball was a watershed moment and I wanted to highlight it in the book. After reading David Bowie Made Me Gay, Lewis emailed me to say how moved he was that that night had had such an impact. I don’t think a few paragraphs in my book really expresses how much that email meant to receive.”

David Bowie Made Me Gay is published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Darryl will discuss his book in more detail and sign copies at Waterstones, Bristol, October 12. Register for tickets.

Darryl is a contributor to bristo24/7 Talking LGBT+ Bristol Project.

Read more: Bristol24/7 launches talking LGBT+ Bristol