'I was David Bowie's manager and lover and he could turn this charm on and off like a light switch'
14:57, 12 Jan 2016
Updated
16:22, 12 Jan 2016
By Steve Myall
Former David Bowie tour manager Tony Zanetta introduced Bowie to Andy Warhol and hang out with Iggy Pop and Lou Reed
David Bowie 's former tour manager and lover has described how the singer “could make you feel like the most important person in the world”.
Tony Zanetta was made manager for Bowie's Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972 and '73, and president of MainMan his management company, after he met him in London.
It was him who introduced Bowie to Andy Warhol when he came to New York and went with him to hang out with Iggy Pop and Lou Reed .
The pair were briefly lovers even though Bowie was married to wife Angie and had a son but says the singer wasn't gay but bisexual and slept with “ten girls to one guy”.
He said: “When we were in bed together, he was more sensual and narcissistic.
“To him, it was about being adored. . . . I don’t think sex mattered to him.”
Although once part of Bowie's inner circle Tony hadn't seen Bowie in over 40 years when he learned of his death yesterday.
Speaking to the Mirror, Tony said: “Bowie had more charisma than anyone else I have ever known.
“If he found you of interest...for whatever reason...he could make you feel like the most important person in the world creating instant intimacy with a glance or a word or an intonation.
“He had an uncanny ability to turn this charm on and off almost like switching a light on and off. “When it was off he could pass totally unnoticed...and sometimes seem cold...but when it was on ..it was as if a spotlight was focused on him and he became the focal point of any room.
“He was very low key, almost shy but supremely confident and quite humble at the same time. He never raised his voice, was intelligent, curious and very witty.
“He was very much an Artist incorporating everything and everyone he came in contact with into his work.
“He also was fearless....never deterred by failure ...always experimenting and trying new things.”
He described how he came to know the musical icon after meeting him in London in 1971 when in appeared as Andy Warhol in a play by the pop artist which had transferred from America.
Tony said: “He came to the play a couple of times. He and I and his wife Angie became fast friends.
“The play ended in the end of August. I came back to New York and the manager and David and Angie and Mick Ronson came to New York that September to sign with RCA Records.
“I hung out with them the whole week they were there, showed them around New York, got them to The Factory to introduce David to Andy Warhol.”
He said Warhol and Bowie's meeting was awkward, explaining: “Remember, David Bowie was not a big star. He was just some guy off the street as far as Andy Warhol was concerned.
“They found a common ground in David’s shoes. David was wearing yellow Mary Janes and Andy had been a shoe illustrator, which David knew so they began talking about shoes. “Otherwise it was not the greatest meeting.”
Describing his nights out at nightclubs with Bowie and the movers and shakers of the New York music scene he said: “The talk would be about ambition, stardom, music, what they were going to do, all that kind of stuff. David was very wide-eyed about his future and he definitely had his eye on the ball.
“David certainly wasn’t shy but David was kind of laid back and quiet. He wasn’t the kind of guy that went into a club and said, “Look at me, look at me, look at me.” He wasn’t rowdy or raucous.
“He wasn’t even flamboyant – even though he was, but he wasn’t. He didn’t draw attention to himself. David was more taking it all in and always studying everybody. He wasn’t an attention-seeking guy in the way a lot of really extroverted people are.”
Tony's book Stardust: The David Bowie Story was published in 1986