David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album marked with blue plaque

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/mar/27/david-bowie-ziggy-stardust-blue-plaque

Version 0 of 1.

David Bowie's landmark album Ziggy Stardust was celebrated with a blue plaque in central London .

Former Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp, a longstanding fan of the pioneering musician, unveiled the plaque at the spot where the cover of the 1972 release was shot.

The location in Heddon Street, just off Regent Street, is now a pedestrianised area brimming with bars and restaurants.

The album – fully titled The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars – helped to establish Bowie as one of the world's best known rock stars. It featured just one top 10 hit, Starman, but established him as a visionary and showcased his changes of image.

Kemp, who became hooked by music after seeing Bowie in his Ziggy guise on Top Of The Pops, described him as a "Messianic rock star".

The album cover was shot in January 1972, five months before the record release, with Bowie resting his foot on a step outside 23 Heddon Street, which photographer Brian Ward used as a makeshift studio.

Bowie wore a green jumpsuit, later featured in a performance on BBC music show The Old Grey Whistle Test, but hand coloured to appear blue on the sleeve.

Bowie has said of the shoot: "It was cold and it rained and I felt like an actor."