When Michael Danced with David Bowie

One of my recent eBay purchases was the January 1975 issue of Rock 'n' Soul Songs, which I bought for the J5 centerfold (hey, you've got to get your mid '70s J5 photos from wherever you can!)

The centerfold is great -- watch this space for a scan in the near future -- but even better is a little half-page article about a party Tito and Dee Dee hosted for Al Green.


Among the star-studded guest list was glam-rocker David Bowie, who by the mid 1970s was enjoying some crossover success on the R&B charts. At first I thought this article was just another mildly interesting account of yet another party I would have liked to have attended but wasn't invited to, until I got to the last paragraph.


Michael and Al Green teaching David Bowie how to do the robot??? How I wish we had video footage of it! I guess we'll have to settle for Bowie's appearance later that year on Soul Train where he performed his hit, "Fame." It looks like he wants so much to break into the robot -- he definitely has the stiff dance moves for it -- but just can't bring himself to do it in front of the Soul Train Gang. But with their audible enthusiasm and encouragement, you'll see him, near the end of the performance at about 2:54, do one of the classic robot moves that Michael had perfected for "Dancing Machine" two years earlier.