"He was this extraordinary creative genius" — Alan Edwards on working for David Bowie for 40 years

Media icon Alan Edwards spoke at length about his experience working with singer David Bowie, amid the release of his new book, titled I Was There: Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll.

Edwards is the founder of the PR agency, The Outside Organization, and has over 45 years of serving clients from the music industry. The PR agent has worked with multiple musicians, including Britney Spears, Prince, The Rolling Stones, and the Spice Girls.

Speaking to NME about his new book and his relationship with various musicians, Edwards called one of his most prominent clients, David Bowie, a "creative genius". He also recalled anecdotes from working with Bowie for over 40 years.

"He was this extraordinary creative genius, but also a pure, disarming, nice gentleman.”

David Bowie passed away on January 10, 2016, a month after Alan Edwards last met the musical legend. In the June 7 episode of Loose Women, Edwards recalled his last meeting with Bowie, revealing that he hugged him in the streets. The PR mogul felt Bowie was "consciously saying goodbye" to him.

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Alan Edwards recalls the first time he saw David Bowie when the singer was still a kid

In his interview with NME, Alan Edwards recalled the first time he met David Bowie when he was still a kid and doing Ziggy Stardust.

“I recall how I first saw David Bowie live as a kid, back when he was doing Ziggy Stardust. I saw him in this venue with about 150 people, and it was early days but it already felt like he was from another planet. At that point I had no idea I was going to work for him for nearly four decades."

Edwards mentioned that he first met Bowie personally just after his stint in Nagisa Oshima’s 1983 war epic film, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Bowie's label dropped him by that point for not producing content that was good commercially, explained the PR giant.

Edwards revealed he discovered how humble and down-to-earth the legend was in real life when he began touring with him. He recalled the time when David would turn up at his office and make coffee for everyone.

“It was when I went on tour with him that it started to sink in how down-to-earth and charming he was. He’d turn up at our office in Tottenham Court Road and make coffee for everyone."

Alan Edwards also revealed the secret behind how David Bowie avoided being recognized in public after becoming a celebrity. Edwards said Bowie would wear a cloth cap and carry a Greek newspaper in his hands when in public, which would make people think it was not him. The people would assume he was Greek and not approach him at all.

"He told me his secret to not being recognised was to wear a cloth cap and have a Greek newspaper under his arm. That way if anyone ever questioned whether it was him, they’d look closer and think, ‘Well it can’t be… he’s obviously Greek’."

The PR agent continued:

"It was the same for interviews. We’d get the train a lot of the time, no first-class or anything, and you’d be amazed how many people would do a double take, then think: ‘Can’t be him, he’s just a guy sat with us going to Manchester."

Alan Edwards illustrated Bowie's hilarious tactic with an example of an incident that the PR official wrote about in his new book. Edwards recalled one time when Bowie had nothing to do after giving a radio interview, so the singer presented the radio station's traffic reports.

The singer sat at the station telling people there were "delays on the M25". Alan Edwards believes that even to this date, no one knew it was David Bowie informing them about the delays he revealed in his NME interview.

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Alan Edwards felt people did not notice how "funny" David Bowie was

In the same NME interview, Alan Edwards was asked if he discovered a new side to David Bowie after working with the singer for nearly four decades.

The PR mogul responded it was not the case, as David Bowie was always himself. He recalled incidents when he got calls from the singer at night because he was excited about small things.

"In a weird way no, because he – like any great star – simply was who he was. He was David Bowie, always. I’d be getting calls at night with him being excited because he’s got a new idea, or he’s decided he wants to design wallpaper, or he’s learned about this thing called the internet and knows it’s going to change the music industry."

However, Alan Edwards admitted that one thing people rarely noticed about Bowie was his sense of humor. The PR official thought Bowie never appeared to be like a "boy next door" kind of artist, but more of an "exotic character."

“I guess one thing that people didn’t see was quite how funny he was. Particularly because he was one of those artists who never seemed like the boy next door — he was this exotic character who didn’t quite fit in London or LA or Berlin… he was only him."

Another lesser-known facet of David Bowie that Alan Edwards spoke about is his love for writers and his academic take on journalism. As per Edwards, Bowie was always passionate about young, up-and-coming people in any creative field.