Plaque marks Ziggy Stardust photoshoot

DAVID Bowie’s landmark album Ziggy Stardust was celebrated with a blue plaque yesterday.

Former Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp – a long-time fan of the pioneering musician – unveiled the plaque at the spot in London where the cover of the 1972 release was shot.

The location, in Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, is now pedestrianised and full of bars and restaurants. The album – which has the full title of The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars – helped to establish Bowie as one of the world’s best-known rock stars. It featured one top ten hit, Starman, but established him as a visionary.

Kemp – who became obsessed by music after seeing Bowie in on Top Of The Pops – described him a “Messianic rock star”.

The cover was shot in January 1972, five months before the album’s release, with Bowie resting his foot on a step outside 23 Heddon Street, which photographer Brian Ward used as a studio.

Bowie wore a green jumpsuit, later featured in a performance on BBC music show The Old Grey Whistle Test, but it was hand-coloured to appear blue on the sleeve. Bowie said of the shoot: “It was cold and it rained and I felt like an actor.”