Woody Woodmansey, the former drummer of David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars, has given a detailed account of life with Bowie and how the singer’s creation of Ziggy Stardust and a growing drug habit changed him, as London’s V&A prepares to open a major Bowie exhibition this weekend.
In an interview for Alison Boshoff’s Spotlight feature in the Daily Mail, Woodmansey described Bowie as a “strange bloke” who was intensely work-driven in the early days and who enjoyed modest nights out. Woodmansey said the situation shifted as Bowie increasingly inhabited the Ziggy persona and began to rely on cocaine and a personal supplier while on the road, a development that Woodmansey and others found difficult to handle.
Woodmansey, who joined Bowie’s group after meeting guitarist Mick Ronson in the early 1970s, recounted the band’s origins in Beckenham, Kent, and the slow build to hits such as “Changes,” “Life on Mars?” and “Starman.” He said Bowie would work obsessively on songs, sometimes composing at home and alerting the band when a new song was finished. The single “Starman,” Woodmansey said, was the breakthrough the group needed after earlier radio play did not translate into record sales.
The drummer said the band initially resisted some of Bowie’s theatrical choices, including heavy stage make-up and flamboyant costumes, but soon embraced them when they recognised the public reaction. Woodmansey recalled tense moments over wardrobe on the 1972 U.S. tour — disagreements that could be resolved quickly and did not stop the band from laughing together within minutes.
Woodmansey said the Ziggy persona eventually took on a life of its own. "When they did interviews with him sometimes, it was like they wanted Ziggy Stardust to talk to. They didn't even want Bowie," he told the Daily Mail. He described Bowie as trying to maintain control over the character, but the persona became a 24-hour presence, amplified by drug use. The drummer said he first realised there was a dedicated drug supplier on tour when he noticed a man who seemed to be at every gig but never helped with the stage setup.
By 1974, Woodmansey said, Bowie’s deteriorating condition was visible in the documentary Cracked Actor, which depicted the singer living largely on cocaine and milk. Woodmansey linked the escalation of drug use to the blending of Bowie’s private self and his stage persona, saying that Bowie “got a little bit scared of it.”
The transformation also had professional consequences. When Bowie “killed off” Ziggy Stardust on stage in 1973, he effectively disbanded the Spiders from Mars as his backing group. Woodmansey said the decision left him out of work, though the two men maintained sporadic contact over the years.
Woodmansey recalled one of his last exchanges with Bowie in January 2016, when he was performing in New York. He said Bowie did not appear in person as had been rumoured, but participated by phone on his birthday, January 10, answering a call and briefly speaking about his final album, Blackstar. Woodmansey said Bowie thanked the band for calling and wished them well; the singer’s death from cancer was announced about a day and a half later.
The Woodmansey account is being recirculated as the V&A opens a new centre devoted to Bowie at its East Storehouse, showcasing a reported archive of more than 90,000 items. The museum’s exhibition is described by organisers as a wide-ranging survey of Bowie’s career and cultural impact.
Woodmansey’s memories convey both the creative energy of Bowie’s early rise and the darker aspects that accompanied fame. He described the periods when Bowie drank modestly and focused on work, contrasted with later scenes on tour when the demands of the Ziggy image and substance use made the singer harder to reach. He also recalled lighter moments: the band’s improvisational spirit during performances, and the way they quickly moved past backstage disagreements.
The drummer said he learned to apply stage make-up after initial resistance and that the theatrical presentation helped the group connect with audiences. He also described the practical support Bowie promised to new band members in the early days — food, rent and a flat in Beckenham — which helped sustain them through the years of obscurity that preceded stardom.
Woodmansey’s comments add to the record of Bowie’s complicated relationship with fame, performance and substance use. Documentaries, interviews and contemporaries’ accounts have long noted Bowie’s shifting personas and periods of heavy drug use in the 1970s. The V&A exhibition aims to present extensive material from Bowie’s archive, including costumes, recordings and other personal items that illuminate those transitions.
Woodmansey continues to perform and participated this year in a Ziggyfest event on Heddon Street, where he spoke about his experiences in Bowie's orbit. His recollections underline the tensions faced by performers whose stage creations become inseparable from their private lives, and they offer firsthand detail as public interest in Bowie's legacy is renewed by the V&A’s new display.