Ahead of the ten-date Lust For Life tour (featuring Clem Burke, Glen Matlock, Katie Puckrik, Kevin Armstrong, Luis Correia and Florence Sabeva) where she will appear as their special guest, I catch up with Suzi Ronson. Suzi was a small-time hairdresser in Beckenham before being swept up in a world which saw her become stylist for David Bowie and the originator of the iconic Ziggy Stardust hairdo as well as falling in love with the late Spiders From Mars guitar icon, Mick Ronson, who she would go on to marry.

You’ve got the Lust For Life tour coming up in February/March this year. Can you tell us about your role in that?

I’m going to be telling a story! A bit like a Moth story when I did that. I think I’m doing it right before the Lust For Life band go on. I’ve got a couple of stories but I think the one I’m going to use is my journey from a little hairdresser in Beckenham, meeting Mrs Jones (David Bowie’s mother) and getting involved with David and going on the road with him. That basically is what it’s going to be about. It was quite a journey that’s for sure!

You mentioned the hair salon in Beckenham and then being introduced to David Bowie. What were your first impressions of David?

The first time I saw David he was wearing a dress walking down Beckenham High Street. So when we all ran out to have a look we were like [mouth wide open]  it’s a man in a dress! But when I first met him, he was quite shy really. I mean he wasn’t particularly… Angie was the one who would talk all the time. David was quite quiet. But very determined. Very conscious of what he was doing I think – all the time. He was really ambitious. He was so ambitious, David. I didn’t realise quite how ambitious until I started doing research for my book and I realised that since he was 15 years old, he’d been playing like five nights a week every week anywhere that would take him. And I mean that is dedication for you. I was surprised when I read that. I think it’s that old adage where people say to you, “Oh, it’s overnight success.” But, of course, it’s anything but that. David had been doing this for years before I met him. I just happened in on the pivotal moment I think.

Working as David’s stylist which you went on to be, were you surprised to find just how influential your ideas would be in shaping British pop culture in the early 70s?

No, I mean if you told me that some fifty years later we’d still be talking about this haircut I would never have believed you! I think when the punks came in and they still had that sticking up hair-do which I think was my influence from David. And it changed. I mean David’s hairstyle was originally inspired by a Kansai Yamamoto model But that wasn’t the haircut he ended up with. That was just a little froo at the front. But it developed and evolved and in the end it was definitely my haircut. That long – what was it?  – the mullet I suppose is what it ended up being! And the colour!

And, as you say, it had that enduring impact across one different fashion and youth cult to another so it didn’t just come and go.

It didn’t. I still get asked about it. David was asked once what he’d most like to be remembered for and he said, “Always having great hair.” And he was right! I mean he had great hair. He really did. And a great face. I mean I saw 200lb truckers wearing that hair-do and it didn’t look quite the same. David certainly was the perfect person to do this hair on, yes. It helped he was tall and skinny!

And if we can just talk a little bit about Mick as well, one of the dates on the tour is going to be Hull on 1st March. That’s going to be a rather special night surely, in Mick Ronson’s home city?

It’s always a special night when I’m in Hull. It always is. I went to see Turn & Face The Strange (Mick Ronson tribute) there a year or so ago. I mean, I would go every year but I’m not in England all the time. It’s a great show. They took such care to do that show. I think it’s a really good show. And they love Mick in Hull. I think he would be shocked at just how revered he is in Hull still. His old band-mates still play and talk about Mick. And, yes, it will be an interesting evening and I always get a bit emotional when I go to Hull. Because I go and visit him, of course, in his grave and it’s a bit emotional. And it’s also a bit terrifying because they knew him. And I kind of do that accent at some point coz (adopts strong Hull accent) I can take Mick off quite well now. I can talk a bit Hull like. And I’m always a bit nervous to do that up there!

And given it’s the Lust For Life tour, will you be sharing any particular memories of Iggy Pop as well?

Yeah, that’s the other story I’ve got. I’ve got an Iggy story. I met Iggy at the Dorchester Hotel. David, Lou and Iggy were doing a press conference for the American press and it was the culmination of a couple of weeks where they’d all played in London. David had played at Aylesbury. Both Lou and Iggy played at the Scala. I went to the Lou one. I wish I’d gone to the Iggy one because the reviews from that night were like completely outrageous. So I wish I’d gone to that one but I was exhausted, I couldn’t go to them all. And I met him there and then I met him in California. And his hair – he wanted something different so we dyed it blue. And I said to him as I left, “Don’t go in the pool. Don’t wash your hair for a couple of days. Let the colour have time to set.” Well, he paid me no attention whatsoever. He goes in the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel and left a streak of blue from one end to the other. So those were my two most memorable moments with Iggy.

And if we can move on to another key figure in rock and roll. One of Mick’s long-term collaborators was Ian Hunter who wrote that wonderful tribute ‘Michael Picasso’ when Mick passed away.

Oh my god. I can’t listen to that song. I can never listen to that song. What an amazing song.

It still always brings a tear to my eye when I hear it.

I can’t. I can’t. When Ian does a show he always says, “Suzi, time to leave!” Because I can’t. I’d just sit there and I’d just bawl. It’s such a sad song but it’s such a great song. Ian’s a really good writer.

It must have been incredibly moving hearing that for the first time.

Yes, I mean yeah… Lisa and I for years we would go and see Ian. They’re still friends of mine today. And Lisa and I we’d just look at each other and go, “No please, don’t do this song.” But an incredibly moving song, yes. Brilliant writing. And Mick well deserved it. He was an amazing person, Mick.

Yes it just seemed to capture both the friendship and Mick’s personality in that song.

Yes. Brilliant title. What a title – Michael Picasso. What a great title.

And personally, I became more aware of Mick’s work with Ian Hunter when I was a teenager in the 80s than I did with Mick’s work in the Spiders really.

That first record was just destroyed by managers. The Ian Hunter record that first one they did together, ‘Once Bitten Twice Shy’ – what an amazing record that was. We all thought – hold on, here we go! Managers… Record companies… They were not going to allow that to continue. And it just ended up… I’m amazed that we’ve remained friends to be honest after what went on during that time with Tony Defries and Fred Heller – and they should check their egos at the door but they did not. Especially Tony and they just wanted it all under their control and it’s just ridiculous. Ridiculous really because that should have been a hit record and it should have been a hit touring band. Because they looked fabulous together. It was all working out because Mick had done the Mott thing. I don’t know what went wrong there but that was a massive failure! And then he and Ian decided to work together and do a record. They still couldn’t be a band because we had two different managers and two different record companies and neither one of them wanted to be, you know kind and nice and ‘let’s make something work’. They just didn’t do that. But the record itself, I thought, was fantastic.

Absolutely. And it’s so nice to hear that the friendship has endured all of that.

Yes! I’m seeing Ian in a couple of weeks. I still cut his hair! Isn’t that funny. I still cut his hair!

And finally, is there anything else you want to tell us about the tour before we wrap up?

Oh, come and see it! I think it’s going to be great. That band sold out last year. I didn’t see it – I was in New York – but apparently it was amazing. The whole tour was great. And Katie (Lust For Life band lead singer – Katie Puckrik) I met her and I saw some videos of her and I thought, “Damn, this girl is really good.” I kind of missed her not living in England. I kind of missed what she was doing before. And Glen (Matlock) is an old friend of mine so that’s going to be really nice. And there’s Clem (Burke). I don’t know Clem and I don’t know Kevin (Armstrong) but by all accounts that band are really hot and I can’t wait to work with them. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

And I think you’re going to be a fantastic addition to the tour as well!

Ooh, I hope so. I’m a bit nervous. But I hope so!

Tickets for the Lust For Life tour available via: https://www.lustforlifetour.com/

Suzi Ronson’s book Me and Mr Jones: My Life With David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars is published by Faber on 4th April this year