In March 1975, a suaver than suave David Bowie appeared on the newly- solo-hosted Cher Show to promote his new album Young Americans. Teaming up with the pop icon herself, Bowie and Cher delivered a six-and-a-half-minute medley of instantly recognisable hits that will most certainly live forever in the holy grail of television history.
The amalgamation rested heavily on the duo’s exceptional pop sensibilities to tie together the somewhat eclectic collection of tunes. But the performance was a triumph of showmanship as the pair sang and dance their way through no less than twelve songs of differing genres and pace, all blended seamlessly without missing a beat. Watch below and enjoy the splendour of two of the world’s greatest pop icons doing what they do best. Not to mention their coordinated hair colour – it’s simply wonderful!
Cher & David Bowie | 'Young Americans Medley [Live on The Cher Show, 1975]
The ‘Young Americans Medley’ included the following:
Young Americans (David Bowie)
Song Sung Blue (Neil Diamond)
One Is The Loneliest Number (Three Dog Night)
Da Doo Ron Ron (The Crystals)
Wedding Bell Blues (The Fifth Dimension)
Maybe Maybe, Baby (Buddy Holly)
Day Tripper (The Beatles)
Blue Moon (The Marcels)
Only You (And You Alone) (Ringo Starr)
Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers)
Young Blood (Bad Company)
Young Americans (reprise)
In 1974, traveling across America on his massive Diamond Dogs arena tour, Bowie became fascinated by soul music. This fascination that would play out on his ninth studio album, Young Americans, which he recorded over eight very creative days with record producer, Tony Visconti and selection of fine musicians, including prodigal rhythm guitarist Carlos Alomar, who became Bowie’s most frequent collaborators and musical directors in the decades following.
Released this week in March, 1975, Young Americans was massively successful in the US, with the album reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and single Fame – recorded with, John Lennon who also worked with Bowie on his cover of the Beatles’ Across the Universe that appears in the track listing – giving Bowie his first US number one hit.
David Bowie | ‘Fame’
Despite Bowie himself expressing mixed feelings about Young Americans throughout his lifetime, commentators consider it one to rank amongst his most influential records – revisit it on streaming below!
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