With the world still mourning the Thin White Duke, one person who must have been particularly shaken is long-time fan and Bowie tribute artist Jeff Duff.
Jeff has been performing Bowie's songs for decades. A singer, cabaret performer and former member of '70s band Kush, Jeff's flamboyant glam-rock style has always mirrored Bowie's. Not just a fan of Bowie, Jeff was also his neighbour in Sydney for a few years meeting him several times.
When he found out his idol had passed away, Jeff was obviously devastated. “I just wandered over to where he used to live and paid my respects, out the front of his house,” he remembers. “I was amazed that nobody else was there. People are a little slow.”
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Jeff says one of the strangest things about Bowie's death was suddenly having to refer to him in the past tense at his shows. “I'm used to it now, but it was very sad. He was an innovator, so unique.”
When Bowie passed, Jeff was doing shows and working on his upcoming autobiography. Dedicating the book to his biggest influence, Jeff says: “I started reading the dedication I wrote for him on stage one night after he had passed, and I just broke down crying. I couldn't finish it!”
Bowie's music has always been special to Jeff, and his band Bowie Unzipped evolved from his earlier Bowie show 'Ziggy', a ten-person production. Bowie Unzipped also features Jak Housden of The Whitlams, keyboard master Glenn Rhodes and drummer Jess Ciampa. “We can take Unzipped all around the country much more easily and economically [than 'Ziggy']. Also, I get to sing all the songs this time.”
Jeff is particularly fond of Bowie's last album, 'Blackstar', released just a few days before his death. “I've been listening to 'Blackstar' a lot, and we do the track 'Lazarus' for both shows.” He adds that his favourite Bowie track to sing is an older one from the '90s called 'Hallo Spaceboy', which he opens the show with.
Jeff says the first time he met Bowie in London was a career highlight (as well as meeting Andy Warhol), but says there was a time when he only wanted to do his own material.
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When Jeff returned to Australia in the late '80s and was working on his own albums, a manager approached him after a gig and told him he looked a lot like David Bowie. He asked Jeff to do a Bowie tribute show. “I said no at first, but I really did love David Bowie's music, so I was talked into it.”
If there's one element Jeff shares with his hero, it's their wild, androgynous styles. Back in the '70s with the onset of glam rock and all that glitters, Jeff said he was frequently arrested for his outlandish costumes and his behaviour on stage. “I was probably one of the first guys in Australia to wear makeup on stage, to do things nobody had done before, so I led a kind of parallel life to David Bowie in that way.”
Jeff thinks the world is an even more conservative place now. Plenty of artists aim to shock, but Jeff has seen it all before. “If I did some of the things I was doing in the '70s today, I would probably get thrown in jail.”
Bowie Unzipped play Judith Wright Centre (Brisbane) 23 April and The Gov (Adelaide) 7 May.
