David Bowie Keyboardist Mike Garson: ‘He Was a Chameleon’

I suppose he’s lucky he didn’t die.
He could have. That was a wrong diagnosis by the doctor in Czechoslovakia. There were days where he’s taking a muscle relaxer for a pinched nerve when he’s having a heart attack.

Did you talk to him in the months following that?
No. He kept quiet. I sent him a couple of emails asking how he was doing. Then he called me to do some charity show.

The first thing you guys did was “Life on Mars” at Fashion Rocks. He came out with a black eye and his arm in a cast. Do you know what the deal was with that?
He created that. I’m trying to remember. … He also had something wrapped around his head. He almost looked like a pirate or something. I don’t know what he was up to. I was so focused on “Life on Mars” because he changed the key again on me a day before. It was the worst key for the piano. It was E or B, anything you would hate. I think it started in B and then ended in E, or vice versa. It was just sharps and had all kinds of chords we don’t like to play on the piano.

You also played with him at the Alicia Keys event in New York, which was the last time he ever played in public.
He didn’t allow them to film that. It was a charity show and he wanted to remain anonymous. He’s humble that way and he liked to give his time and money to charity. It was an amazing show. We did “Changes” and Alicia asked me to play piano. Some of it was just piano and voice, which was beautiful. He thanked me and said if he didn’t do that, he might not have started singing again, or even write. He was sort of gun-shy.

He announced big comeback show at the Highline Festival, but then pulled out. Do you know what happened there?
I think he just changed his mind. My only guess would be that maybe he wasn’t feeling well, but that would be a pure guess.

He wasn’t really seen again until 2013. Do you know why he walked away for so many years?
The only thing I know is that when we were three quarters of the way through the Reality tour, he said to me one day, “Mike, after this tour, I’m going to be a father and live a normal life. I’m going to be there for Lexi when she grows up. I missed it the first time.”

So even before the heart surgery, he was thinking about walking away?
He told me this. Everyone thinks, “Why isn’t he doing this? Why isn’t he doing that? Is he too old? Is he afraid?” He told me this and it’s totally simple: “I want to be a present father.” That’s what he did.