The Spiders from Mars were rock singer

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

backing band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

in the early 1970s, and initially consisted of

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musici ...

on guitars,

Trevor Bolder Trevor Bolder (9 June 1950 – 21 May 2013) was an English rock musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his long association with Uriah Heep and his tenure with the Spiders from Mars, the backing band for David Bowie, a ...

on bass guitar, and

Mick Woodmansey Michael "Woody" Woodmansey (born 4 February 1950) is an English rock drummer best known for his work in the early 1970s as a member of David Bowie's core backing ensemble that became known as the Spiders from Mars in conjunction with the rel ...

on drums. The group had its origins in Bowie's earlier backing outfit the Hype, which featured Ronson and Woodmansey, but

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

on bass. They were briefly signed as a band on its own, known as Ronno. With Bolder taking over bass, they were subsequently named via the landmark 1972 Bowie

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, ''

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was co-pr ...

'', and were billed as such on the accompanying large-scale

Ziggy Stardust Tour The Ziggy Stardust Tour was a concert tour by David Bowie during 1972–73, to promote the studio albums ''Hunky Dory'', ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' and ''Aladdin Sane''. Bowie was accompanied by his backin ...

. Bowie had originally wanted keyboardist Rick Wakeman to join the band (Wakeman had played piano on Bowie's second album and on ''

Hunky Dory ''Hunky Dory'' is the fourth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 17December 1971 through RCA Records. Following the release of his 1970 album, '' The Man Who Sold the World'', Bowie took time off from recording and tourin ...

'' and was active with the band

The Strawbs Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known ...

); however, Wakeman declined and instead joined

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Yes. Wakeman would feature uncredited on the album, and would collaborate with Bowie again on " Absolute Beginners". The Spiders from Mars were present again on Bowie's 1973 album, '' Aladdin Sane''. Another leg of the tour followed that year, with the final show captured in the film, ''

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was co-pr ...

''. The group joined Bowie's stage persona, Ziggy Stardust in the theatrical style of the material's presentation. Ronson's guitar and arranging during the Spiders from Mars era not only fit into this style, but also provided much of the underpinning for later punk rock musicians. In 1975, Bolder and Woodmansey reformed the band without Ronson, and were joined in this lineup by

Mike Garson Michael David Garson (born July 29, 1945) is an American pianist, who has worked with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, St. Vincent, Duran Duran, Free Flight and The Smashing Pumpkins. Early career Garson went to Lafayette High School in Broo ...

, Dave Black, and Pete McDonald. Their self-titled album, released in 1976, was their only album before the group disbanded. The band's name came from the UFO sighting on 27 October 1954, where a stadium crowd thought they had witnessed Martian spacecraft which cast off a thin filament material, later hypothesized to be webs from migrating spiders. The band's name did not come, as sometimes believed by Bowie fans, from the Martian aerographic features often labelled as '

spiders Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ...

' and 'baby spiders'.

Band members

Primary lineup *

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musici ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, saxophone (1972-1973; died 2016), harmonica (1972-1973) *

– lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards. string arrangements (1972-1973; died 1993) *

– bass guitar (1972-1973; died 2013) * Mick “Woody” Woodmansey – drums (1972-1973) Touring musicians * Nick Graham - keyboards (1972) *

Robin Lumley Robin Lumley is a British jazz fusion musician, keyboardist, record producer, and author who was a member of the band Brand X with drummer Phil Collins, guitarist John Goodsall, and bassist Percy Jones. He is a second cousin of the actress Joan ...

– keyboards (1972) * Matthew Fisher – keyboards (1972) *

– keyboards (1972-1973) * John Hutchinson - rhythm guitar (1973; died 2021) * Ken Fordham – saxophone (1973) * Brian Wilshaw - saxophone, flute (1973) * Aynsley Dunbar – additional drums (1973) *

Warren Peace Geoffrey Alexander MacCormack, better known as Warren Peace, is an English vocalist, composer and dancer best known for his work with David Bowie in the 1970s. Musical career A long-time friend of Bowie since their schooldays in Bromley, Peace ...

– percussion, backing vocals (1973)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (1971) * ''

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (often shortened to ''Ziggy Stardust'') is the fifth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 16June 1972 in the United Kingdom through RCA Records. It was co-pr ...

'' (1972) * '' Aladdin Sane'' (1973)

Live albums

* '' Live Santa Monica '72'' (rec. 1972, rel. 2008) * '' Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture'' (rec. 1973, rel. 1983)

References

David Bowie English rock music groups English glam rock groups Protopunk groups Musical backing groups {{UK-rock-band-stub