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Bowie on Zowie

by Uti Kooffreh Fan Magazine (1973)

It's not going to be easy being the son of someone like David Bowie, especially with a name like Zowie to live with! At present Bowie Jnr is too young to pass comment on his future, so I went along to the family homestead to find out how David felt about being a father, what his hopes were, and why he gave him that name! Father and son were both present at our meeting. Angie, David's wife, was wildly chasing Zowie around the room trying to get him to come and eat - but he wasn't in the least bit interested. I asked David how close Zowie was to him considering how little they saw of each other. "We are quite close. Of course, he's closer to Angie, 'cos she's with him constantly, but when I'm at home he usually heads straight for me, because I spoil him too much and let him get away with murder!!"

Try as I might I just had to ask him what on earth possessed him to lumber his offspring with the title Zowie! He hesitated for a bit and I thought for a moment I'd offended him, then he burst out laughing! "It was pure whim really!" he said, still chuckling away to himself. "Zowie Bowie, was just too good to resist! If when he gets old enough to care about his name he doesn't like it, he can always change it, or give himself a nickname, its OK by me."

What about when he grows up, would David like to see Zowie in the entertainment world? "Well, that would be completely up to him. I'd really like to keep his mind free of influences until he's old enough to decide what he wants to do, and be, and believe in. Really all I'm going to do is give him a very basic code to live by, if he doesn't want to follow it, I'm not going to tell him that he's wrong. I'd really like him to cultivate his own views, I wouldn't dream of telling him he should believe in something, just because I do! The same goes with going into my profession. I won't be the proud father, just because he might choose to do the same thing as me. I'll just be proud and pleased if he's happy and feels that he's getting something out of his life. Mind you, he's only two now, and takes not a blind bit of notice of what anyone says, so I guess I won't have to worry about having too strong an influence on him - I won't get a chance!!"

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