Mike Davies, Peterborough Examiner 2025
Just like his musical hero David Bowie, Michael Bell has made a career of reinventing himself.
The Peterborough native took a shot at a musical career in his early days in a number of bands like the local act Strobic Axe before launching his first theatrical show “Changes All Bowie” in the 1980s.
In 1989 he turned his focus to the publishing business starting the entertainment focused magazine The Wire. At its peak he had five offices in Peterborough, Belleville, Kingston, Oshawa and Midland publishing a 52-page biweekly edition. As the internet slowly ate away at advertising revenues The Wire was struggling when the COVID-19 pandemic dealt it a death blow.
“It was a tough business,” said Bell, of the days leading to him pulling the plug in 2020. “I’m glad COVID took me out. I was trying to get out anyways. I had a couple of tire kickers on the paper but COVID came and just forced my hand. Despite losing the potential sale of a 30-year brand I was glad because I was done. It was nothing but uphill at that point. It’s not like back in the old days when print and radio were it and nobody could afford TV. You could sell ads.”
Bell returned his focus to music.
Following Bowie’s death in 2016, Bell resurrected his tribute as “Bowie Lives” in 2018. In addition to Bell’s uncanny ability to emulate Bowie’s vocal style and stage presence, the show incorporates Bowie’s flamboyant costumes, intricate arrangements, and multimedia visuals. The set list spans Bowie’s career from the hits like “Space Oddity,” “Heroes,” and “Let’s Dance” to deep cuts.
He’s taken the show on the road five consecutive years and will bring his fall 2025 tour to an end with a Dec. 6 performance at Showplace Performance Centre at 7:30 p.m. Lakefield’s Marsala Lukianchuk will make a guest appearance as Annie Lennox for a duet of “Under Pressure.”
Bell, 65, was first attracted to Bowie’s music as a youth when he heard the song “Fame.” After hearing the “Young Americans” album he went out and bought the entire catalogue and began reading every magazine article he could find on Bowie.
“I really appreciated the fact he was playing all kinds of different genres because I have always listened to all kinds of different music,” said Bell. “I love the fashion and dressing up and being outrageous. People who went to high school with me can attest to that or saw me in Strobic Axe. I’ve always been a bit of a weirdo right up to this day. I really identified with the guy in a whole bunch of different ways as young artists do when you’re looking for someone to emulate.”
As the various bands he was in failed to secure that elusive recording contract Bell’s agent suggested around 1984 he try the emerging field of tribute acts.
The show featured actors and had no band, they used recorded backing tracks, and performed in Toronto’s A club circuit for six months.
“I hated it. Nobody got it. Real Bowie fans kind of freaked out because there was somebody doing Bowie. For the most part it was too heady and went over everybody’s head including my own,” he said. “I vowed never to do that again.”
In 2015, at 55, he started performing again.
“It was always my intention once when I was ready and my kids were grown and gone and my wife was near retirement that I’d go back out and do it all again but this time armed with the finances to do it and the experience and all the contacts,” he said.
Bowie Lives is Bell’s way of keeping the music he loves relevant. He features an eight-piece band of professional players.
“To not only keep it alive for the folks who are huge fans but hopefully introduce it to people who may be folks who go to shows but don’t really know Bowie. I hear it more often than not in the lobby after a show people say, ‘I had no idea those songs were his.’”
He’s grown the show from a $5 club act to a $70 theatre ticket. In 2022 he played Peterborough Musicfest.
Now Bell is branching out to develop other tribute shows. He’s launched a Michael Bublé and Adele twin bill featuring himself singing Bublé songs and local singer Lizeh Basciano as Adele. They will bring that show to Market Hall Performing Arts Centre on New Year’s Eve. He’s also developing a Talking Heads and Blondie show where he does David Byrne and plays bass in the Blondie band. He’s hoping to bring it to theatres in 2026