Geoff MacCormack is, without any exaggeration, the person that many people believe is Bowie’s Mystery Guest.
When I began this hunt, one of the first people that I contacted was Angie Bowie, the woman stood next to Bowie’s Mystery guest in the photo. This is what she told me:
It’s Geoff MacCormack.
Tony Zanetta – Zee – also said:
It’s Geoff MacCormack.
I’ve had a stream of emails from readers that are also desperate to solve the mystery. About one in three will tell me:
It’s Geoff MacCormack.
Who is Geoff MacCormack?
Geoffrey Alexander MacCormack is one of Bowie’s oldest friends. They met in the late 50s at Burnt Ash Primary School in Bromley, London, long before MacCormack embarked on a career in advertising. He was always ready to show his artistic talents should the chance arrive. When Bowie was asked onto the John Peel Show in June 1971, he brought along with him a gaggle of friends, including MacCormack and Dana Gillespie, to participate. Geoff (credited as Geoffrey Alexander) belted out the second verse of It Ain’t Easy, a song which would feature on the Ziggy Stardust album. Incidentally, this concert was also the first time that Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Boulder backed David Bowie.
Geoff MacCormack was to receive a call from Bowie in early 1973 and a few days later, MacCormack in the USA, as a back-up singer for The Spiders from Mars. Later that year MacCormack (now billed as GA MacCormack) recorded Aladdin Sane and accompanied Bowie back from Japan on the Trans-Siberian Railway. MacCormack was also onstage on the 3rd of July 1973 when Bowie announced his retirement.
Is Geoff MacCormack Bowie’s Mystery Guest?
No. Aside from the obvious physical differences, on the night of Ziggy’s Last Supper, MacCormack was dressed differently to Bowie’s Mystery Guest in his shimmery aqua shirt. Tony Zanetta later pointed this out to me in another email:
Oh dear….. afraid I may be wrong. I just looked at some other photos from the party. Geoffrey was in white. This evidently is not Geoff MacCormack after all.
Sadly, as I don’t know who took the photo Zee is referencing, so I can’t license it for use here. However, you will find it online.
Finally, I need to leave the final word on the matter to MacCormack himself…or rather his PA:
“I have just shown this photograph to Geoff, and you are correct, it isn’t him. He has seen this photograph before and he has no idea who this chap is. We can see how he could be mistaken for Geoff”.
So there you have it. Bowie’s Mystery Guest is not Geoff MacCormack.
MacCormack’s time with Bowie was far from over. He was re-incarnated as Warren Peace, co-wrote “Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me” for Diamond Dogs and became an Astronette for Ziggy’s last outing at The 1980 Floor Show. He toured extensively with Bowie through the mid-70s and contributed to the Station to Station Album. David and Geoff remained close friends until Bowie’s death in 2016.
To read more of MacCormack’s adventures with Bowie – and to see some of the best shots of Bowie ever taken, check out his book: From Station to Station: Travels with Bowie 1973 – 1976.
