Given the news earlier this week that David Bowie had sadly passed away, I have decided to repeat a post I wrote in May 2014 about Bowie’s genius…
This week’s focus: In the last few weeks I’ve been delving into the brilliant back catalogue of David Bowie. One of the things that struck me is how Bowie has succeeded through true collaboration. He might have his name on the album sleeve, but, more often than not, he developed a partnership with other talented and creative musicians to take his music to a higher level.
In addition to his work with long-time co-producer Tony Visconti, Bowie, for example has worked with these people: Brian Eno, the keyboard player for Roxy Music and long-time producer for U2 and Coldplay produced several albums including Low and Station To Station; Robert Fripp, the peerless guitarist from King Crimson, created that unique guitar sound for Heroes; Rick Wakeman, the keyboard player from Yes, wrote and played the intricate piano on Life On Mars?; and Nile Rodgers, the funk guitarist and producer who is the driving force behind Chic and recently co-wrote the Daft Punk hit, Get Lucky, c0-wrote and produced songs including Let’s Dance and China Girl.
In business, as in music, it can be tempting to try and do everything yourself and keep complete control, but as Bowie has shown, you can achieve so much more through true partnership and collaboration with other talented people. What opportunities do you have for greater collaboration?
Off the record: Heroes by David Bowie
Nothing will keep us together
We can beat them forever and ever
We can be heroes, just for one day
© Stuart Cross 2016. All rights reserved.