Suzi Ronson - The Girl from Beckenham

 

Hi, everybody. I was born a few years after World War II and brought up in a nice house in a typical suburb of Southeast London, Bromley in Kent. My parents both worked. My father was a long-distance lorry driver and my mother was a shop assistant. They got married shortly after the war simply because that's what everybody did. The government gave generous allowances and my brother and I both had free milk at school, a third of a pint in a glass bottle with a silver top. 

 

I don't think my parents expected too much of me after school. I think they thought I would grow up, have a bit of fun, get married and have some children. The swinging 1960s changed all of that. I mean we had the best music in the world. It was a great time to be a teenager. Fabulous fashion and the pill. [audience laughter] Twiggy was my fashion model of the day and everybody wanted to look like her. She was a tall, skinny girl with a flat chest and flat hair, and I wanted to look like her too, but no chance. I was completely out of style. My hair was thick and frizzy and I couldn't do anything with it. I wore horrible glasses and I was had a waist and hips. I even tried Coca Cola cans in my hair to try and make it straight, but it didn't really work. I wasn't good at school and I didn't like school. 

 

So, when I was 15, I went to the Evelyn Paget College of Hair and Beauty in Bromley to study hairdressing. I passed the course and was transferred to the Evelyn Paget School in Beckenham, which is where I met Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones was my quarter to three shampoo and set on a Thursday afternoon. [audience chuckles] Sometimes she would have a little trim and a chocolate kiss rinse and I think I permed her hair once.

 

As I would do her hair, she would chat to me about her son David. She would say, “You know, he was always been an artist and he sings in a band.” It was the same kind of conversation week after week, and I would nod and smile. She seemed so proud of him. I didn't really take much notice until one day she said, she mentioned the song, Space Oddity. [audience laughter] I looked at her and I said, “Space Oddity. I've heard that on the radio. Are we talking about David Bowie?” She said “Yes, I'm his mum.” [audience laughter]

 

I mean who knew? And there was a buzz about David in Beckenham. He paid at the three tons, albeit folk songs but he had the hit Space Oddity. I hadn't heard much more from him, so I thought he might be a one hit wonder. [audience laughter] First time, I saw David he's walking down Beckenham High Street in a dress. He's with this girl with skinny black pants on. I met the girl. Mrs. Jones brought her into the salon. It was Angie, David's wife. I liked her immediately. She was so cool and fabulous and she looked so great. I mean, she certainly didn't shop in Beckenham. [audience laughter] 

 

I heard a bit about her life. She did David's Lights, and they used to run around London and go to all the clubs. It just sounded so glamorous. Didn't see her for a while. And then, when she came back, it was Christmas week. She's coming for an appointment Christmas week. Every self-respecting salon in the land is busy Christmas week. So, I took her to one side and I said, “There's no appointments, Darling. Here, take my number, give me a call, I'll come to your house and do your hair.” 

 

Well off, I went to Haddon Hall, which was the name of their home. It was about a mile out of town. A huge mansion that had been divided into flats and they had the middle floor. I'm curious. I've heard about her life, I'm curious about the way she lives. So, I walked into the house, into this massive living room which was completely overwhelming. But it wasn't that so much. It was more the way it was decorated. A dark blue carpet, dark blue walls and a silver ceiling. It was so calm. There wasn't much furniture, a couple of couches, a chair or two, some cushions on the floor and the rest of the room was completely covered with record albums and musical equipment. 

 

David and Angie were sitting by a large bay window and they were discussing the merits of cutting his hair short. He had this long, blonde, wavy hair at the time. They asked me my opinion. I said, “Well, you know, no one else has got short hair. Nobody. You'd look really different.” So, he comes over with this magazine cover and there's this Kansai Yamamoto model and she's got this short red hair. And he said, “Can you do that?” Well, as I'm saying, yes. I'm thinking to myself, it's a woman's hairstyle [audience laughter] and how am I going to actually do that? But inside, I'm excited, because this is a time to be creative. I mean, fantastic looking bloke, tall and slim, long white neck and a beautiful face. I thought, if I can pull this off, he's going to look great. [audience laughter] 

 

So, I guess it took me about a half an hour. I chopped his hair off. After I'd finished, his hair wouldn't stand up. It just flopped. I'm looking at it, I'm panicking and I can see he's not looking too happy. So, I said, “As soon as we tint the hair, it's going to change the texture. It's going to look great. I can promise you, it's going to stand up.” I was praying I was right. [audience chuckles] 

 

I went and experimented with color, and I found the color red hot red with 30 volume peroxide to give it a bit of a kick. But there was no product in those days. You didn't have gels or fixatives. There was nothing to help me make it stand up. So, I used God. It was anti-dandruff treatment that I'd used on the old girls at the salon that set hairlike stone. [audience laughter] 

 

The second he looked at himself in the mirror with that short red hair, any doubts he had completely disappeared. Angie and I looked at him in awe. He looked fantastic. He gained a couple of inches with the height. A huge wave of relief washed over me. I'd done, I’d done it standing up. I was so relieved. I'm packing to leave and she says, “Well, how much do we owe you?” I said, “Oh, £2, please.” [audience laughter] 

 

They called me and I went up to see them at a place in London. The band were playing and I went to see. I still wasn't sure what kind of a following he had. He played folk music. I wasn't quite sure. I walked in, the place is packed. It's a college. The kids are about my age, but they're not like me. I mean, they're well educated. Everything that I wasn't. Lights went down, some music came on and the band took to the stage. It was a real oh, my God moment for me.

 

I mean, David was Ziggy Stardust. He had full makeup on. His hair was flaming on his head. They all wore costumes. The band had this flat, velvet pastel color suits tucked into their boots. David had a similar a look on. When they played, the place rocked. They were so good. This wasn't folk music, that's for sure. They were amazing. What a great band. I went home thinking to myself, well, my God, I didn't expect to see that. I think Angie Corman said, “Come to the house, we'd like to talk to you.” So, I went up to Haddon Hall. And Freddie Burretti was there. Now, Freddie had helped design the costumes with David. I went up. He was so fey and fabulous. I was entranced to his mannerisms, the way he talked. I mean, he was fantastic, Freddie. I'd never met a gay man before. [audience laughter] 

 

At some point during that evening, David leans over and kisses Freddie full on the mouth. Well, I didn't know which way to look. [audience laughter] I looked at Angie and she's laughing and I'm thinking to myself, I'm completely out of my league here. I wasn't like these people. I didn't know who Nietzsche was. I'd never heard of Lou Reed. I certainly didn't know who Andy Warhol was. I'd never seen guys kissing before. I was from Beckenham. [audience laughter] 

 

Angie takes me to one side later that evening and says, “You know, David and I have decided we want you to come on the road with us. So, you're to go tomorrow to Mayman offices in London and discuss your wages with Tony Defries, David's manager.” So, the next day I go up to the offices in London, heart in hand, and I talked Tony. And by the end of the afternoon, I've got the job. I'm driving home and suddenly sinking in, I'm going to go on the road with a rock and roll band. I mean, it's like a dream come true. I couldn't believe it.

 

I went to Evelyn Paget's the next day and gave him my notice. [audience laughter] My boss said to me, he said, “Suzanne, you should think carefully before you give up a well-paying, secure job.” [audience laughter] I looked at him and said, “Yes, I have.” [audience laughter] After this, of course, my confidence knew no bounds, because I've done David's hair. So, I met the band at the flat and I cut Woody's hair, the drummer, who was a bit like a short blonde Bowie. I cut Trevor's hair off and sprayed his sideburn silver. The only holdout was Mick Ronson. He didn't want to look like David. 

 

So, then I started on the road with them and we even did Top of the Pops. David, they played Starman. During the chorus, David draped his arm around Mick Ronson's shoulders. I think it shook Britain to the core, certainly shook my mum and dad. [audience laughter] It was great. David was always so ambitious. He wanted to do rock and roll theatre. So, we started Finsbury Park, the `Rainbow Theatre. We were there like 18-hour days. There was scaffolding and mime artists, dry dice and fantastic lights. It was an amazing show. We were all sworn to secrecy, no press, no cameras, no nothing. But we made such a big deal of it and it made the show so appealing. By the time it opened, everybody came. 

 

I think the only person that didn't like it was Elton John. He walked out halfway through saying, “That's not rock and roll. He's never going to make it now.” [audience laughter] Well, I could feel the momentum gathering. We're driving around the country in a bus and fans were following us. It was a really great time. Everything was going so well. I was with David all the time throughout that period. I would be with him before the show, doing his hair, his costumes, getting me everything he wanted. I was his personal as well as his hairdresser. 

 

He did many costume changes, and one was during the Caton solo. He would come to the side of the stage, I would have a Gitane cigarette and a glass of wine, and he would take them and I would change. While Micky is wailing 10 seconds and 10ft from where we were, it was exciting, but we had it down to an art. We went to America and we really traveled in style in the States. We stayed at the Plaza Hotel in New York and the Beverly Hills in California. We were in Ziggy's world and no one wanted to go anywhere else. I mean, I never wanted to go home. 

 

We had a great head team. This group would go ahead of us to a different town. It was Cherry Vanilla, famous groupie and Lee Black Childers of Warhol fame. They would go into a town and they'd go to the clubs and create a big fuss and get the people to come to the gigs. And it was very successful. Oh, I met Iggy Pop in California. We went to the Beverly Hills Hotel, and he said, “I want you to dye my hair blue.” I said, “Okay.” So, I dyed his hair blue and I said, “You might want to wash it a couple of times before you go back in the pool.” [audience laughter] Well, of course, he completely ignored me and dived in the pool, and there was a blue streak from one end of the other at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool. I think he was asked to leave after that. 

 

I even went to Japan with David and I met Kansai Yamamoto and picked up some fantastic costumes of his. It was great being in Japan. I was being noticed. Suddenly, I was the one. I was suddenly cool. Everybody wanted to know me the girl with the thick hair and the glasses, suddenly I'd become the one to be. I went back home after one of these tours. I walked down Beckenham High Street. I looked in the window of Evelyn Paget's. My God, it looked so small. Thank my lucky stars I wasn't there anymore. Beckenham hadn't changed, my family hadn't changed, but I'd changed so much. I was a million miles from where I'd been before. 

 

The last show that David ever did was at Hammersmith Odeon. He just stood on the stage and said, “This is the last show we're ever going to do,” and played Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide. It was sad to say goodbye to Ziggy. I think we were all sad to say goodbye to Ziggy. But I didn't go home. I went to Italy and fell in love with Mick Ronson, the guitar player, and moved in with him to London. It was a great ending for me. I am thankful for my luck. I'm so grateful that I met Mrs. Jones and Angie, so grateful I gave them my telephone number. Otherwise, somebody else might have lived my life. [audience chuckles] Thrilled that I met and married the guitar player, the late, great Mick Ronson and had a beautiful daughter with him. 

 

I met so many interesting people throughout that time and heard so much wonderful music. I'm so grateful for David for taking a chance on me and taking me on the road with him. My haircut's on British currency now the Brixton £10 note. [audience laughter] Who would have thought I could have done that? [chuckles] Thank you.