2016 got off to a sad start when David Bowie, the legendary musician and artist, died on Jan. 10.
Music photographer Andrew Kent is paying homage to Bowie with a new book, David Bowie: Behind the Curtain, that chronicles two years of the artist’s early career, when he assumed the persona of the Thin White Duke.
After being introduced by Rolling Stone magazine’s reporter, Cameron Crowe, in 1975, Kent travelled around the globe with Bowie during his Isolar tour in support of the Station to Station album in 1976. Kent’s pictures capture not only the showman in public, but the rare private moments of solitude and candidness of the young ever-morphing Bowie.
Bowie's Thin White Duke persona, smoking a Gitanes cigarette,1976.Andrew KentTwo super-fans Trixie (L) and Polly (R) who attended nearly every show on the North American Isolar tour, react to Bowie on stage in Los Angeles,1976.Andrew KentBowie performing on stage prepares to make a lunge into Kent's camera. Andrew KentBowie gets his face into the lens during the Isolar tour, 1976.Andrew KentBowie celebrates his birthday and the end of the Isolar tour at L’ange Bleu in Paris with (from left to right) Iggy Pop, Romy Haag, Coco Schwab, and Pat Gibbons.Andrew KentBowie with his assistant, Coco Schwab surrounded by eager fans seeking autographs and handshakes as he arrives at his hotel in Helsinki, Finland. Andrew KentRolling Stone magazine's 18 year old reporter Cameron Crowe holds a sign he wrote stating, " Sorry I'm not David Bowie". He created the sign for the fans that were attempting to access their icon at the hotel in Seattle.Andrew KentBowie and his wife, Angela, with President Gerald Ford’s son, Steven, at a party in Los Angeles celebrating “Fame” being certified a gold record, 1975.Andrew KentFive year old Zowie (Duncan Jones) plays with his action figure in an airport lounge between stops on the Isolar tour.Andrew KentBowie pauses in front of an armed guard, during a walk around East Berlin, 1976.Andrew KentBowie prepares his makeup in his Paris hotel suite prior to an impromptu photo. shoot.Andrew KentBowie called Andrew Kent to his hotel suite at L’Hotel in Paris for an impromptu photo shoot in the street outside.Andrew KentBowie has a glass of white wine and a cigar on the balcony of his suite at L’Hotel in Paris, 1976.Andrew KentBowie reading in bed at L'Hotel in Paris.Andrew KentBowie's slick combed back hair of the persona of “The Thin White Duke.” Andrew KentBowie on stage during the Isolar tour, 1976.Andrew KentBowie runs off stage towards his crew, during a stop on the Isolar Tour at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, 1976.Andrew KentIggy Pop blows out the candles on his birthday cake as Bowie and Pat Gibbons look on at a restaurant in Basel, Switzerland train depot prior to departing for the Soviet Union.Andrew KentIggy Pop flashes a Polaroid he'd just taken in Moscow's Red Square. Bowie and his tour manager, Pat Gibbons, are in the background.Andrew KentBowie takes a walk around Moscow's Red Square at sunset.Andrew KentBowie and Iggy Pop as they make their way unnoticed through a market off Moscow's Red Square, 1976.Andrew KentHundreds of dedicated fans waited for hours anticipating Bowie's arrival into Victoria Station, London, U.K.Andrew KentBowie returned to London from Paris by train arriving into Victoria Station. The local superstar was welcomed by throngs of fans hoping to catch a glimpse or get their records signed.Andrew KentBowie at Wembley Auditorium during the European leg of his "Station to Station" tour, London, U.K. 1976.Andrew Kent
