Me and Mr Jones

Fascinating inside story of Suzi Ronson's involvement in the Mainman circus from 1972 to 1977

Review

Published by Faber; ISBN 978-0-571-37185-3

You know Suzi Ronson - Mick Ronson's widow. Suzi Ronson (or Suzi Fussey as she was then) first became involved in the Bowie entourage in late 1971 when she was working as a hairdresser in Beckenham. Quite by chance she was styling the hair of a certain Mrs Jones when the customer started talking about her son who aspired to be a pop star. A few weeks later she was back, this time with her daughter-in-law Angie Bowie. This led to Suzi styling Angie's hair, and then on to David and the other Spiders.

We get the sense that Mainman (Bowie's management at the time) was a rather chaotic organisation but as Bowie's star rose Suzi became more and more involved in creating the iconic image that was to be Ziggy Stardust. Could she quit the "day job" and become a fully paid-up member of the team? It never seemed to be clear, with some saying yes and others no until suddenly she was 'in'. Oh, and there was a certain guitar player (Mick Ronson) whom she was increasingly drawn to.

This is a fascinating insight into the creation of one of the 70's most important pop stars. As Bowie went from virtually nowhere into an overnight pop sensation Suzi Ronson saw it all. Of course, it couldn't last and in July 1973 David famously "retired" the Spiders. Suzi was there at Mick's side as he attempted to launch a solo career and, after a brief stint in Mott The Hoople, worked in Ian Hunter's first solo album. A chance meeting with Bob Dylan led to an opportunity to join the Rolling Thunder Review. Were they going on the road or not? Again, chaos seemed to reign (yes - no) until suddenly the tour was on.

There was some production work which kept Mick busy but finally he got his "green card" which meant he could work in America. And there the book ends, rather suddenly I thought. Thus we get nothing about his reuniting with Hunter in 1979/80 and nothing about his production work in the 1980's.

But minor niggles aside this is a fascinating read. Fans of 1970's "glam rock", Ziggy-era Bowie and Mick Ronson will enjoy it immensely. Recommended.