Aladdinsane

The Sound & Vision of Bowie, widely acclaimed as the best Bowie tribute in the UK. The band have played theatres, festivals and venues throughout the UK for over 12 years, with Paul Henderson performing as David Bowie, with audiences commenting how eerily close his voice, moves and mannerisms are to that as Bowie.

Paul Henderson was born in Sunderland but spent most of his childhood growing up in Peterborough when he discovered Bowie, which led to buying and playing everything and watching everything available countless times. Paul started in music playing in local bands in the late 80’s and then embarking on his own material during the mid-90’s to 2002. Being a lifelong fan of Bowie, Paul got to see him on tour numerous occasions and very briefly met him in 1997 during his Earthling tour.

Paul first caught national attention when he appeared on Stars In Their Eyes in 1993, the first series hosted by Mathew Kelly, where he performed Space Oddity, dressed as Bowie’s legendary Ziggy Stardust. From there he performed at conventions around the country as Bowie. After 1995 Paul embarked on playing his own material and spent the late 90’s recording his own songs. Around 2002 a friend asked Paul “why don’t you put a Bowie tribute together”. Paul replied saying “I would enjoy it too much and everything else I am planning will end up on the back burner”, and so it did as the start of Aladdinsane was in the midst.

Aladdinsane was the classic album that David released in 1973, which was the first album Bowie album Paul got as a child from his parents, hence why he chose the name for the band. Paul then embarked on finding the musicians required to cover a vast range of David Bowie’s single and classic album tracks.

The line-up of the band changed during the 2000s and now with Steve Beeston on keyboards, Carl Stones on guitar, Franco Caprio on bass, Rick Cook on drums and Paul as Bowie with 12 string acoustic, make up the sound of Aladdinsane the band it is today. Having played at some wonderful theatres and travelled to places like Bahrain, Qatar and Berlin where Paul played an acoustic set at Hansa studios where Bowie recorded Heroes, he said it is like an ongoing rollercoaster. With so many songs to choose from you can hear many hits like – Space Oddity. Changes, Ashes to Ashes, Heroes, Let’s Dance, Drive In Saturday, Jean Genie, Life On Mars, Fame, Starman and Diamond Dogs to list but a few, including some classic album tracks from Bowie’s vast repertoire.

Paul changes outfits during each show which can stem from any of Bowie’s tours from 1976 to 2003. The songs are mixed in no chronological order so that the audiences are left wondering what is next after each song giving the show a more exciting feel.