David Bowie’s longtime pianist Mike Garson recalls their last conversation

Saturday marks 10 years since David Bowie’s death and his longtime pianist Mike Garson is opening up about the last time he spoke with the rock legend.

Garson tells Gold Derby that their last conversation was quite hopeful, despite the fact that Bowie was secretly battling cancer.

“It was only a few weeks before. He reached out to me, talking about continuing the trilogy of the Outside album,” Garson says, referring to Bowie’s 1995 album, and planned sequels that never happened. “He never gave up hope. … He was dying, and yet he was saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ So, of course, I got excited.”

Garson also recalls the last message he got from Bowie, noting he knew it was the end even though he was unaware of Bowie’s illness.

He says he had just listened to Bowie’s discography which left him “awestruck,” prompting him to send Bowie an email. Garson says, “And within three seconds, he emailed me back, saying, ‘Mike, we did a great body of work together.’”

Garson said the “finality” of that statement had him telling his wife “that’s the last time I’m going to hear form him.” “I don’t know if it was just my intuition,” he explained. “I did not know he was dying then, because he kept [his illness] secret from everyone. … But we had a very special connection.”

Garson is set to headline a trio of shows, Bowie’s Piano Man: A Decade in the Stars, at the Sun Rose West Hollywood in Los Angeles Jan. 8-10. The shows will celebrate Bowie’s birthday and the 10th anniversary of his death, and will feature guest appearances by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Bowie touring bassist Carmine Rojas and others.

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