Dana Gillespie
Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, known professionally as Dana Gillespie, is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over 70 albums, and appeared in stage productions, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, and several films. Her musical output has progressed from teen pop and folk in the early part of her career, to rock in the 1970s and, more recently, the blues.
Early life
Gillespie was born in Woking, Surrey, the second daughter of Anne Francis Roden and Hans Henry Winterstein Gillespie, a London-based radiologist of Austrian nobility. Her older sister, Nicola Henrietta St. John Gillespie, was born in 1946. Dana Gillespie was the British Junior Water Skiing Champion in 1962.Career
Gillespie began a personal and professional relationship with the singer David Bowie in 1964 when he was 17 and she was 14. Their relationship lasted a decade; Bowie wrote the song "Andy Warhol" for her, Gillespie sang backing vocals on Ziggy Stardust, and Bowie and Mick Ronson produced her 1973 album Weren't Born a Man. Bowie ended contact with Gillespie following his split from his first wife Angie Bowie. Gillespie looked back on her time with David Bowie fondly.Gillespie recorded initially in the folk genre in the mid-1960s. Some of her recordings as a teenager fell into the teen pop category, such as her 1965 single "Thank You Boy", written by John Carter and Ken Lewis and produced by Jimmy Page. Page also played, uncredited, on Gillespie's 1968 debut LP, Foolish Seasons.
She performed backing vocals on the track "It Ain't Easy" from Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Her version of "Andy Warhol" was not released until 1973, on her album Weren't Born a Man, which was produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson. Her version also featured Ronson on guitar. Subsequent recordings have been in the blues genre, appearing with the London Blues Band. She is also notable for being the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar, which opened at the Palace Theatre in 1972. She also appeared on the Original London Cast album of the show. During the 1980s, Gillespie was a member of the Austrian Mojo Blues Band.
She is a follower of the late Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba. She performed at his Indian ashram on various occasions and has also recorded thirteen bhajan-based albums in Sanskrit.
Gillespie is the organiser of the annual blues festival at Basil's Bar on Mustique in the Caribbean, for 15 days at the end of January and it is now in its 18th year.
From March 2021 on, she had an interview and music podcast series, Globetrotting with Gillespie.
In 2024, Gillespie was one of four artists competing in a special selection for the final of Una voce per San Marino 2024, the Sammarinese national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, with the song "The Last Polar Bear". She was ultimately selected for the final.
In August 2024, she was interviewed by The Times, where she described her life, her relationship with David Bowie and her South Kensington home, where she has lived all her life.
Selected discography
- Foolish Seasons
- Box of Surprises
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Weren't Born a Man
- Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
- Mojo Blues Band and the Rockin' Boogie Flu
- Blue Job
- Solid Romance
- Below the Belt
- It Belongs to Me
- I'm a Woman
- Move Your Body Close to Me
- Hot News
- Sweet Meat
- Amor
- Blues It Up
- Left Hand Roller with Pewny Michael,
- Where Blue Begins
- Boogie Woogie Nights
- Big Boy
- Methods of Release
- Andy Warhol
- Blue One
- Hot Stuff
- Have I Got Blues For You
- Mustique Blues Festival
- Cherry Pie
- One to One, Inner View, Dream On
- Back to the Blues
- Experienced
- Staying Power
- Sing Out
- Sacred Space
- Live
- Eternally Yours
- Mata Mata
- I Rest My Case
- Cats Meow
- Dana Gillespie meets Al Cook – Take It Off Slowly
- Under My Bed
- Deep Pockets
- ''First Love''