Best-known as one of
David Bowie's guitarists (during one of his most successful periods commercially -- the mid-'70s),
Earl Slick has gone on to play on a variety of other projects before returning back to
Bowie in the early 21st century.
Slick (then only 22 years old), came out of virtually nowhere to serve as
Bowie's first proper replacement for
Mick Ronson after
Bowie had spilt up
the Spiders from Mars. Although
Bowie supplied most of the guitar work for his hit 1974 release,
Diamond Dogs, he sought the then-unknown
Slick to replicate his and
Ronson's previous guitar parts on tour. Not only did
Slick duplicate them, but the incredibly versatile guitarist managed to expand on them and inject his own style into the tunes, resulting in one of the greatest rock guitar albums of all time (albeit usually woefully overlooked), David Live, recorded at a stop at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia.
Slick remained with
Bowie for his next two studio albums, which saw the singer transform into his "
Thin White Duke" persona and take on the funk genre, resulting in the classic full-lengths
Young Americans (1975) and the more experimental
Station to Station (1976), as well as the hit singles "Fame" and "Golden Years."
Leaving
Bowie's band just as the singer decided to pack his bags and relocate to Germany,
Slick continued on as a "gun for hire," as he appeared on
Leo Sayer's Top Ten 1976 release,
Endless Flight (which spawned the schmaltz hits "When I Need You" and "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"), ex-
Mott the Hoople singer
Ian Hunter's 1977 solo outing,
Overnight Angels, and also releases by such obscure hard rock outfits as Bad Boy and
Tonio K. Also during this time,
Slick attempted briefly to launch a solo career, resulting in such releases as Razor Sharp and Earl Slick Band. Up next for
Slick was one of the high points of his entire career -- working alongside
John Lennon on what would become
Lennon's final all-new studio recording, 1980's chart-topping
Double Fantasy. After
Lennon's death the same year,
Slick returned to the studio with
Lennon's widow,
Yoko Ono, and appeared on what would become her highest-charting solo release, 1981's harrowing Season of Glass (
Slick's guitar work would also appear on the posthumously released compilation of
Lennon leftovers, 1984's
Milk and Honey, as well as CD box sets for both
Ono, 1992's Onobox, and
Lennon, 1998's Anthology).
The early to mid-'80s saw
Slick return briefly to
Bowie's band (for the sold-out Serious Moonlight world tour in support of 1983's
Let's Dance), and also virtually replacing
Brian Setzer in
the Stray Cats, as he joined up with ex-
Cats Lee Rocker (bass) and
Slim Jim Phantom (drums) in the trio Phantom, Rocker & Slick. The short-lived outfit issued a pair of moderately successful albums, 1985's Phantom, Rocker & Slick and 1986's Cover Girl, before disbanding.
Slick would appear on other artists' releases throughout the late '80s/early '90s, although he took a break from the music biz to sort out his personal life (allegedly to kick a serious drug problem).
Slick returned stronger than ever, as he founded his own record label, Slick Music Inc., which specializes in solo releases by
Slick (2000's
Lost and Found), as well as archival releases by other artists (
Fanny,
Kasim Sulton, etc.). In 2000,
Slick accepted an offer to rejoin
Bowie full-time, as he toured steadily with his previous employer and appeared on his 2002 studio effort,
Heathen.
David Bowie, The Cure's Robert Smith, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and others joined him for Zig Zag, which appeared on Sanctuary in fall 2003. ~ Greg Prato