APRIL

11 Arrives in New York on the SS France to live in America for nearly two years. Checks into the Sherry Netherlands Hotel on 5th Avenue.

During his stay in New York Bowie spent time putting together a new tour band and seeing live music, particularly black artists such as The Temptations, The Spinners and Marvin Gaye at (normally strictly black) venues in Harlem such as the Apollo Theatre.

Bowie also sees Roxy Music and Todd Rundgren at the Carnegie Hall and attends the after show party.

JUNE

8-10 Rehearsals at Port Chester Capitol Theater for the elaborately staged Diamond Dogs US tour, before the 600-mile journey to Montreal.

This tour was originally planned to appear in a city for 5 or so nights and then move on to another city. The set cost $200,000, props $75,000.

Bowie wore this Yves Saint Laurent suit as the Halloween Jack during the June and July dates of the tour.

JULY

UK promoters turn down the chance to stage the Diamond Dogs tour at the Empire Pool, Wembley, because of the amount of money asked for by MainMan. Tickets would have had to have been about £7.00, unacceptable then as a reasonable price.

8-12 Philadelphia Tower Theatre

The Tower Theatre show on the 11th was nearly cancelled at the last moment when Bowie's backing band, after hearing that the shows were to be recorded for an LP - which became Bowie's first live LP release, David Live, refused to play without an increased fee in line with the normal recording rates.

The normal show fee of $150 for a member of the group was increased to $5,000 after Bowie relented much to DeFries' chagrin.

It was recorded without Tony Visconti who was held up when his car broke down travelling from New York. This resulted in various instruments not being recorded exactly as Visconti had wanted. This made the mixing much more difficult.

A few days after the Philly shows, Bowie and Tony Visconti travelled to Manhattan's Electric Ladyland recording studios to mix the LP together. The hectic schedule was due to a MainMan-DeFries initiative to secure the record's release for the Christmas market.

New York, Madison Square Garden shows videotaped by MainMan.

After the last Madison show, a small party was held at the Plaza Hotel. Amongst the regular friends and MainMan crew were Rudolf Nureyev, Mick Jagger and Bette Midler, who disappeared with Bowie into a closet for half an hour.

The end of tour party for the road crew was held at the Ice Palace Discotheque.

The sets for the shows at Madison Square Garden had to be unloaded in the street outside the venue because the trucks were too big to clear the back entrance.

AUGUST

Drummer Tony Newman and bass guitarist Herbie Flowers leave the tour group (which Bowie retained for the second leg of the tour in September) replaced by Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark.

Bowie returns to London for a weekend and plays uncredited (and unverified) on Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock'n'Roll and Ron Wood's I've Got My Own Album To Do.

Young Americans sessions

11-23 The first recording sessions for the Young Americans album. Bowie had booked studio time at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound studios. He liked the studios for their Gamble and Huff recording connections, but he was particularly excited by the sound he heard there during an Ava Cherry session.

Tracks recorded:

Young Americans

Right

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Who Can I Be Now

It's Gonna Be Me

Can You Hear Me

After Today

John I'm Only Dancing Again was begun then completed in the November sessions. It was dropped later from the tracklisting and released as a single in 1979.

A backing track was recorded for Bruce Springsteen's It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City but remained unfinished until the Station To Station sessions, and unreleased until 1989 when it was included along with After Today on the Ryko Sound + Vision anthology.

Who Can I Be Now and It's Gonna Be Me were later dropped from the tracklisting and remained unreleased until the Ryko reissue of Young Americans.

SEPTEMBER

Drummer Willie Weeks and bassist Andy Newmark leave to fulfil recording commitments.

The September dates of the 1974 US tour was still technically the Diamond Dogs tour, but now mixed with the new soul feel Bowie picked up in Philadelphia was renamed Philly Dogs Tour. Backing singers now included - along with Warren Peace and Ava Cherry - Luther Vandross, Anthony Hinton, Dianne Sumler and Robin Clark.

2-8 Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre. One show filmed by the BBC for Cracked Actor.

Bootleg: Portrait In Flesh

13 Knock On Wood / Panic in Detroit single released (highest UK chart position No. 10)

Rock 'N' Roll With Me / Panic in Detroit live single released in the US (RCA).

OCTOBER

5 St Paul Civic Center

8 Indianapolis Indiana Convention Center

11 Madison Dane County Coliseum

13-14 Milwaukee Mecca Arena

16-20 Michigan Palace, Detroit

22-23 Chicago, Arie Crown

30-31 New York, Radio City Music Hall

29 David Live double LP released.

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

David Bowie and Elizabeth Taylor announce that they are to appear together in a film, The Bluebird of Happiness, which was eventually made without Bowie. When he viewed the script he considered it to be, 'Too dry and boring'.

1-3 New York, Radio City Music Hall

6 Cleveland Public Hall.

After the show, Bowie stayed up all night in the hotel bar dancing and miming.

8 Buffalo Memorial Auditorium

11 Washington DC, Capital Centre

14-16 Boston Music Hall

16 BOWIE FINDS HIS feature by Bruno Stein published in New Musical Express.

18-19 Pittsburgh Civic Arena

22-24 Philadelphia Spectrum Theatre.

Reported in Disc Magazine

Young Americans sessions

Recording resumes at Sigma in Philadelphia.

Tracks recorded: Win, Fascination

While drinking at the Artemis Club, Bowie, Mike Garson, Warren Peace, Ava Cherry and two bodyguards were held for identity paper checks. The police asked Bowie for proof of his age. Bowie replied, "You don't believe I'm twenty-one years of age? Incredible! That's quite flattering actually. Why, everyone knows that I'm at least fifty!"

Mike Garson, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Visconti and Bowie

25 Bruce Springsteen drops in on Sigma sessions. Reported the next day in Bowie meets Springsteen by Mike McGrath in The Drummer.

25 Long Island Nassau Coliseum

28 Memphis, Mid-South Auditorium

30 Nashville Municipal Auditorium