The life of Mick Ronson, the Hull Spider from Mars by David Bowie's side in Ziggy Stardust era

Also a talented songwriter, arranger and producer, the musician is the focus of a new biography - and his story begins on a council estate in Hull.

“Mick Ronson is best known for his work with David Bowie but a lot of those stories and narratives are very David Bowie focused,” says co-author Creed. “Mick was the side man but he was incredibly influential on Bowie.

“He gave Bowie what he needed and we felt Mick had never really had enough acknowledgement nor had the other Spiders from Mars… It was the three Yorkshire Spiders (the group initially consisted of Mick Ronson on guitar, Hull-born Trevor Bolder on bass, and Driffield’s Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey on drums) that brought Bowie this amazing international success and Mick in particular was instrumental in that. We wanted to shift the narrative from a London-centric focus to redress the balance and give a justifiable Yorkshire perspective on how this all happened.”

The Mick Ronson Story – Turn and Face the Strange sheds light on how the city of Hull and its culture shaped Ronson and gave him a thorough grounding as a musician. It comes five years after authors Creed and Garry Burnett co-wrote the critically-acclaimed stage show Turn and Face the Strange, celebrating the life and music of Ronson, for Hull City of Culture 2017.

The pair had recorded people’s memories of Ronson, who died of liver cancer aged 46 in 1993, after putting a call-out for stories. “We had a fantastic response but of all these wonderful stories, only a fraction could go into the stage show,” Creed says. “We were left with what we felt was an absolutely wonderful resource about Mick Ronson and we always wanted to do something more with them.”

When lockdown came, the duo set about writing in earnest, speaking to many more people about Ronson’s life and career and his work with Bowie. The result charts the story of how a boy from Hull achieved international rock god status, featuring interviews with fellow musicians, friends and fans.

Ronson played music from an early age. Creed recounts a story told by a neighbour of how at little over six-years-old, he picked up an accordion and played by ear the theme tune of a film he had only just seen with his mother.

In his youth, he learnt to play piano, recorder, violin and, then later, guitar. “He was a bit of a child prodigy with an innate musical sense,” Creed says. “Although he wasn’t classically trained, in that he didn’t go to a conservatoire and study music, he had a good range of musical ability from a very early age. On a council estate, carrying a violin case wasn’t usual and he’d get quite a lot of taunts from the other kids.”

Despite his musical talents, Ronson left school at the age of 14 and went to work on the Co-op grocery van, touring the city’s estates selling produce. He joined his first band, The Mariners, in November 1963, when he was 17.

When Ronson met Bowie in 1970, he had been playing for four years in a Hull-band called The Rats, but he was also working a day-job as a gardener for Hull City Council.

His former bandmate, John Cambridge, who had gone on to play drums on Bowie’s 1969 album Space Oddity, was intent on recruiting Ronson as guitarist for a new Bowie backing band called The Hype, with bassist Tony Visconti.

“Mick Ronson was resistant to the idea of having another go of trying to make it as a musician in London because back in 1966 he had a pretty miserable nine months there,” says Creed. “He managed to get a job with one band but when that folded, he was pretty penniless. There was also pressure from his father to get a proper job and earn a living.”

“Visconti and Bowie weren’t that impressed at first with the idea of a council gardener,” he adds. “But John persisted, came back up to Hull and persuaded Mick to go to London…Mick met David Bowie, they hit it off immediately and started working together. Mick became the essential side man to David Bowie…Their relationship was one of mutual creativity...They were made for each other, had the right chemistry and created fantastic music together.”

Much of Ronson’s time with Bowie was as part of backing band Spiders from Mars, formed in 1971 with Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey on drums and Trevor Bolder on bass. In 1972, Bowie developed the Ziggy concept and started his and the band’s makeover to glam rock.

“It’s a great story,” says Creed, a playwright, theatre director and story broadcaster, who moved to Hull from Brighton for university in the 1970s. “You’ve got these northern, working class lads from Hull, an industrial port city, which in the seventies wasn’t the most culture conscious place, meeting up with this sophisticated London bohemian.

“It’s quite a culture clash…Most of the time that culture difference was incredibly positive. It delivered these amazing songs from that period on the Hunky Dory album, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane.

“Very occasionally, it combusted, particularly over the issue of bisexuality. When David Bowie declared that he was bisexual, the rest of the Spiders from Mars, thought oh, almost by association, particularly with the glam rock costumes they were wearing, that the label could be applied to them.

“They weren’t happy about that because they were heterosexual. Given the culture at the time, they knew it wouldn’t read very well particularly in the north and it didn’t at first in Mick’s home city and his family got a bit of abuse because of it.

“I think the story is right at the centre of this massive shift in social attitudes. What Bowie did was legitimize the diversity of gender and cross gender and gave the whole glam rock movement massive support and credibility and pushed it into the mainstream.

“What’s fascinating is these three Yorkshire musicians, Mick Ronson in particular, are a part of that driving change but along the way there are points where they felt distinctly uncomfortable.”

Aside from his stint as a musician with Bowie, Ronson released five solo studio albums and performed in bands with Ian Hunter, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan as well as working with many other musicians.

His achievements are acknowledged at a number of sites in Hull, including with a garden of reflection and a sculpture in East Park, where he worked before finding musical fame. He remains a role model for many musicians in the city, leaving behind a legacy of music still enjoyed today. “Those songs Mick arranged and worked on with Bowie survived 50 years and are still being played by radio stations around the world,” Creed says.

“There’s something about Hull culture and Northern culture,” he adds. “Hull isn’t great about bigging itself up and I think what Mick had was a great sense of modesty, he didn’t do the big showman.

“He treated everybody equally whoever they were, would never talk down to anybody, was incredibly friendly, everybody says how polite and kind he was. These are not values you necessarily associate with a rockstar and I think a lot of that culture was shaped by his family and the working class culture of Hull. He just got on with the job and did so magnificently.”

The Mick Ronson Story: Turn and Face the Strange is published by McNidder and Grace and is out now.