Bowie May Be Gone, But You Can Catch the Next Best Thing

Seven years ago this week, the world lost a true original and a performer with epic talent. David Bowie died on January 10, 2016, at age 69, and though he seemed both timeless and ageless, the legendary artist was felled by cancer.

While those of us fortunate enough to grow up with his music will likely not see the likes of Bowie again in our lifetime, the next best thing will be coming soon to a theater near you. On Friday, January 6, performer David Brighton brings his “Space Oddity” show to Riverhead’s Suffolk Theater, where he and his band will channel the full Bowie experience, from the costumes and vocals to dance moves and music, giving fans an opportunity, once again, to see the Starman in all his glory.

As a performer, Bowie left behind a treasure trove of material. From his first hit “Space Oddity” in the late 1960s to those loose-fitting suits that he donned in the 1980s “Modern Love” era and beyond, the Bowie catalog has provided Brighton, who even looks a lot like the original, ample opportunity to tap into the artist’s many incarnations over the years. His show appeals to a wide spectrum of various age groups who were fans of Bowie’s different eras.

“That’s the great thing about Bowie,” Brighton said in a recent phone interview. “Because his career spanned 50 years, it spanned generations.”

The story of how Brighton came to adopt Bowie’s persona and turn it into a career began back when he was a teenager up in Los Angeles and first discovered the music, as many young people do, on the radio.

“When I was in high school, I heard ‘Panic in Detroit’ on this classic rock station. I had never heard a song like that and there is no other song like that,” recalled Brighton, whose parents and siblings were more interested in classical compositions than music created by rockers from the U.K. “I started buying early Bowie albums and then went back and bought everything he had done since.

“He reinvented himself on every album. That’s where it started for me. Not that he hadn’t been around, but that song, ‘Panic in Detroit,’ was unique and haunting and that’s where it started,” he said.

Still, it would be some time before the young man from L.A. would transform himself into Bowie. As an adult, Brighton pursued his own musical career by writing originals and playing lead guitar for various bands.

“I played with groups that had record deals and groups that didn’t have record deals,” said Brighton. “There was some success and some famine, which is how the music industry is.”

But when Brighton got married, he realized he had to find a way to make a consistent living. Imitation inspiration struck one New Year’s Eve when Brighton and a group of musician friends performed at a party, not as Bowie and his band, but as a different blockbuster group from England.

“We dressed in ridiculously bad Beatles wigs and did stand-up comedy and played Beatles songs,” explained Brighton. “It was this enormous hit, and the place went insane. I learned there were spin-offs of the Broadway show ‘Beatlemania’ touring the world. I found I could make a living playing George Harrison, and as much as I wanted to be on the road, I could be on the road.”

As George Harrison in “The Stars of Beatlemania,” Brighton traveled the globe. But it was in Las Vegas when he first saw “Legends in Concert,” a stage show with a full slate of performers recreating the acts of famous singers, that he decided to shift gears.

“I had worked with the Fab Faux and every Beatles touring group. When I saw this show, I thought, this is interesting,” said Brighton. “It was never a world I considered getting into, but they didn’t have Bowie. Bowie is my favorite artist, of course, and in the studio, producers would say, ‘You sound too much like Bowie.’ I wasn’t doing it on purpose. Then I tried not sounding like Bowie and they said, ‘Now you sound too much like someone not trying to sound like Bowie.’”

Figuring maybe it was meant to be, Brighton went all in with the idea.

“I saw ‘Legends’ and I thought, ‘What if I apply what I’ve learned in Beatles’ productions and do it as Bowie, building it in between Beatlemania tours?’” recalled Brighton. “I knew outstanding musicians in L.A. and the thing about Bowie’s music, for musicians, it’s a lot more demanding than other types because you have to be able to play every type of music — rock, European funk, electronic, punk, pop. I was fortunate enough to get musicians who had played with groups like America, Berlin, The Doors, Dweezil Zappa, all these incredible musicians and we built the show over years and started performing around 2001.

“I did not start out at ‘Legends,’ but I was impressed with the level of their performers. A lot of the people could perform as well as the person they were imitating. So I built my own show and went around the world with it,” he added. “Eventually, ‘Legends’ contacted me and I would be in their show for two or three months at a time, then I’d go back out on the road with my band.”

Today, Brighton is billed as the world’s best David Bowie impersonator. He even performed alongside Bowie himself in a TV commercial for Vittel Mineral Water.

“It was the most surreal experience,” said Brighton. “Being chosen for it was very interesting. I was in New York for a week getting fitted for costumes and wigs they were making for me. I thought, ‘I wonder when I’ll meet Bowie?’ Days were passing, then he walked in and said, ‘Hi, I’m David,’ shakes my hand and we immediately started working. We were in trailers getting changed and even though we were standing next to each other, there was no time for conversation after that.”

Brighton was also tapped to perform with Bowie in a short 2004 film to promote his album, “Reality,” and was cast to portray him in the Warner Brothers film “The Watchmen.” He also appeared as Bowie on VH-1 television as well as in pop star Shakira’s concert video. Brighton has not only mastered Bowie’s stage presence over the years, he also physically resembles him as well.

“It’s pretty weird, and probably why I can emulate his voice, I have facial similarities. It’s a physical thing,” he said. “I didn’t even know it before I started, but when I got the right wigs and costumes, it was a surprise.”

There aren’t a lot of performers out there who were as multi-faceted as David Bowie, and beyond just looking like him, Brighton shared some of the skills he needed to master in order to replicate the artist’s full range of talent on stage.

“He was such an incredible singer, I’m not sure if people realize it,” said Brighton. “He could do rock, he was crooner and a soul singer. He had a chameleon-like voice and range beyond what people realize. In the ’80s, in the ’70s and the ’60s, he was all over the map. I work hard to imitate his vocal stylings and I’m not a trained dancer, so I had to learn his performance skills. And of course, he was a brilliant songwriter, one of best in the history of popular music. That, I admire, and that’s what drew me in originally.

“If I had known how difficult it would be to put this show together, I would’ve run the other way screaming,” he said. “I studied videos and the recordings and photographs. You try to get it inside him and assimilate it on stage. It’s insanely hard because his repertoire of skills exceed anyone, except maybe Prince. He was an actor, a singer, a mime and a musician. When I did the TV commercial with him, I got to see up close what made him a superstar. His bag of tricks is more than I even knew. Off screen, he was doing vaudeville tricks, and the director said, ‘There’s a reason he’s a superstar.’

“He was also incredibly generous with me and my band while he was alive,” Brighton added. “On all his official Facebook pages, they would talk about us and say nice things. When he was touring, I got a call and they said, ‘We want to come see your show.’”

Mastering Bowie’s vocal and dancing abilities on stage is one matter, the other is replicating the intricate costumes that he was famous for wearing in his performances.

“Finding people who would replicate his costumes accurately was not easy,” admits Brighton. “The first costume makers I drove crazy. I’d say, ‘It’s not quite right,’ and eventually they didn’t talk to me anymore. But when you get on stage, the costumes better be right or fans will see it. My go-to designer, she’s incredible. These people do this for TV and movies, and they know what they’re doing.”

The result of Brighton and his band’s effort is “Space Oddity,” a show that is the closest thing to seeing the real David Bowie on stage. Throughout the evening, costume changes and song sets take audiences through Bowie’s various musical periods. Though sometimes, the show is focused on a specific part of Bowie’s career.

“We’re always swapping things around. Sometimes we do a whole show of Ziggy Stardust or the “Diamond Dogs” album, and some hits as well,” said Brighton. “Other times we are sampling his 50-plus year career with as many costume changes as we can do. We tend to plan shows in advance because Bowie’s catalog is so enormous. In a city we’ve played a lot of times, we don’t want to play the same show twice.”

When asked if fans tend to gravitate more toward Bowie’s Ziggy era, his middle period represented by the “Let’s Dance” album, or his electronic music from the 1990s and early 2000s, Brighton said, “The answer is, ‘yes, and yes and yes.’

“When I meet Bowie fans and ask what era’s their favorite, with each I might get a different answer. There are the ‘Labyrinth’ fans,” explained Brighton, referring to the 1986 film starring Bowie. “There are rock fans and the fans that love ‘Modern Love.’ They all enjoy the whole show, but with certain songs it’s a religious experience, like ‘Under Pressure.’ There’s no era where people look at us and say, ‘Huh?’ For some reason, Bowie fans are an interesting breed. They delve into every era and are all in.”

With the seventh anniversary of Bowie’s death this week, Brighton recalled his emotions upon hearing the news in 2016, noting that his passing deeply affected him.

“That was a difficult thing. It was an earthquake,” said Brighton. “I was shocked to find out, and the way I found out was that my phone started ringing, my other phone texting, email pinging, social media and it never stopped.

“It’s not just that people were upset, and it sounds crass, but sadly humans want something they can’t have and appreciate things that are gone sometimes,” he said. “We had been working, but suddenly, it was more than we could keep up with and all over the planet, rather than parts of it. At first, it was very cathartic and people were crying in the audience. It was like a healing process for us and everyone. It was very difficult, but also beautiful. This was a great artist and he was appreciated.”

David Brighton’s “Space Oddity” will be performed at Suffolk Theater on Friday, January 6, at 8 p.m. The show also features Paul Nelson (lead guitar and vocals), Switch (lead guitar and background vocals), Trent Stroh (bass guitar and background vocals), Monica Schneider, Jennifer Blackwell and Brooke Lambkin (keyboards, vocals and percussion), and Ty Dennis and Ryan Brown (drums). Tickets are $45 to $65 at suffolktheater.com. Suffolk Theater is at 118 East Main Street, Riverhead.