Gail Ann Dorsey: Singer-songwriter and bass player performs with the David Bowie ‘Blackstar’ Symphony concert

Known mostly in the rock and pop music world for her skillful bass guitar-playing, Gail Ann Dorsey has a career of her own with solo albums and other projects. Although she’s also performed with numerous bands, Dorsey reached a new height of fame while touring with David Bowie, when she became known for her terrific rendition of “Under Pressure,” the song originally composed by Bowie and members of Queen.

A devoted fan of that band as well as Bowie, Dorsey performs with John Cameron Mitchell and saxophonist band leader Donny McCaslin, along with local symphonies, in touring performances of Bowie’s last album “Blackstar.” The ensemble performs with members of the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall June 26 and 27.

Along with several “Blackstar” Symphony concerts, Dorsey is currently playing bass with Joan Osborne and her band.

“We’re doing a bunch of Bob Dylan music, which is fun. We’re going to Rhode Island on Thursday, and New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,” said Dorsey in a phone interview from her home in Kingston, New York, which is “right next door to Woodstock.” Dorsey talked about her musical career, the upcoming concerts, and, of course, working with David Bowie.

Although Dorsey did work on four Bowie studio albums, she did not work on “Blackstar,” Bowie’s 26th studio album, released on the day of his death, January 8, 2016.

“I was like the rest of the world; I knew nothing of that record,” she said. “I did know he was working on something, but I didn’t know what it was. And I didn’t know he was ill, either. I was just shocked with everybody else when he passed away. I felt between his birthday, his death and the record, the whole combination; no one could do that better than he. That is what it means to really embody being a true artist, and live it to your last breath, basically.”

In referencing the popular online meme that suggests a cultural collapse after Bowie’s passing, Dorsey agreed.

“I don’t know if it was this was a coincidence, but I feel like that. I feel like something shifted, for sure. And it’s really taken quite a turn at this point.”

Young American
Born in West Philadelphia, Dorsey took to music at a young age, begging her single mother for a guitar. By her teenage years, she adapted to playing bass, since most of the calls for musicians on record store message boards needed bass players. Dorsey often hid in the back and ducked out early from bar gigs, since she was underage.

Also interested in filmmaking, Dorsey attended California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita on a full scholarship, but left after three semesters. As her musical interest and talent grew, her repertoire expanded.

Her London years, where she moved at age 22, included her first record label deals, three solo albums, and after returning to the US, later tours with Gang of Four, Tears for Fears, Boy George, Indigo Girls, Lenny Kravitz, The National and several others. Now, at 63, Gail Ann Dorsey is a musician in-demand, and probably the most prominent out lesbian Black bass guitarist in the world.

But it wasn’t until six years after he’d seen Dorsey on a British TV show that David Bowie called her up to tour with him. How she ended up singing “Under Pressure” is explained below. But first, Dorsey shared how she ended up performing with the “Blackstar” project.

Next days
“The last album I worked on with Bowie was ‘The Next Day,’” she recalled. Earlier studio albums with Bowie included “Earthling,” “Heathen” and “Reality,” as well as five live albums.

“It was the first album that came out that was done in secret, which I worked on. The same as ‘Blackstar,’ which was in this peak. No one knew it was happening, and then suddenly it existed. After ‘The Next Day,’ David would just speak to Donny occasionally, but then not very much. I was working on some other projects in the city and he would stop into the studio.

“But what happened after he passed away and ‘Blackstar’ was released, of course there were many tribute bands or celebrations, with alumni from different eras of Bowie’s band, different musicians who’d worked with him over the years; and some who hadn’t, but who wanted to get together and play his music in celebration.

“That’s how I met Donny, when a particular group of alumni from different Bowie bands got together in New York City to do basically more of a birthday celebration. It’s not really a tribute band, in a sense. But we wanted to play his music on the weekend of his birthday. And since he died –other than one or two years during COVID, when we didn’t do it– we’ve done it every year since he’s passed away on that same weekend in January, just to have a big party and play his music. And Donny was a part of that.

“Then I actually started working with Donny,” Dorsey said. “I sang on two of his albums. And I’ve done some shows with him where I just basically jumped in and used his band to play some of my music sometimes, and sing a couple of Bowie tunes.”

On tour
Asked when she began performing with the “Blackstar” project, Dorsey said, “Our first show was in 2023, I guess. It’s so funny, I’m starting to lose track already, because I was back and forth living in Paris for the beginning of the 2020s. But I think the first one was in September of 2023. That was with the Charlotte, North Carolina company. It was our first time we ever did a full concert.

“And since then, we’ve done not an awful lot, but this year it’s really starting to pick up, which is great. I think it’s taken a while for it to sink in as to what it is, really. Because it’s not a tribute band. I’ve often been asked to be a part of a lot of different tribute bands, and to sing ‘Under Pressure.’ But I don’t want to do that anymore because that’s done. I did it with the man himself.”

Dorsey has participated in less formal concerts, like The Cutting Room Show in New York, held on Bowie’s January 8 birthday, with guest stars like Michael C. Hall (“Hedwig,” “Six Feet Under”).

“That’s a blast,” said Dorsey. “It’s just fun. We’re just having a party in a small club. It’s always sold out, and people come from all over the world. It really is a party to sing along.”

She did acknowledge a few YouTube videos exist, including one of her singing a terrific version of “Lazarus” from the “Blackstar” album.

“That’s always going to happen. But it’s meant to be a live thing. If you’re not there, you’re not there.”

Top-notch
Dorsey shared how McCaslin’s project is more than a tribute show.

“When Donny approached me about ‘Blackstar,’ I thought this was something that I think David would really appreciate, in terms of an extension of ‘Blackstar,’ which, in my opinion, is a masterpiece. It’s an incredible piece of writing. It’s not very long, but it’s very deep, and very experimental. It’s also very fresh. A lot of people backed away from it because they were thinking it was dark, and it made them sad.

“But if you look at it just from a creative perspective, it’s a masterpiece. Who could come up with that in their last days of life? There’s no fat on it. It’s just an absolutely beautiful piece of music. The genius of Donny coming up with the idea, to have orchestrations added to the music, makes it grow. It’s not just a bunch of chords, notes on the violin underneath string pads, underneath the band playing the song. The orchestrations, the several arrangers, have just enhanced the piece. It’s like a tree was already there and now it’s just grown new branches.”

Among the nine arrangers is Jamshied Sharifi, who is also working with Dorsey on her own new music.

“The people involved are top-notch,” said Dorsey. “It was very difficult in the beginning to figure out who’s going to sing, because that’s always the issue. There is no other David Bowie. There’s nobody who can really stand in those shoes. We wanted to be sure that the vocal part of it was not... how do I want to put it? The singers who were chosen are not there to be the star of the show. That’s not the point.

“And that was difficult in the very beginning getting it started. Donny would call and say, ‘This is what’s going on business-wise.’ Because it’s his baby, really. And he would ask me things because I’ve had a longer relationship with David. He’d just want to feel what I would think David would think. Does it feel good to make this turn or that turn, or try and go in this direction or that direction?

“A lot of the people who were interested in putting on the show or financing it wanted to know who was going to sing. They wanted a famous person, and we fought very strongly. I thought it was very important that it was not the point. When you hear the music itself, when you hear the orchestrations, you hear the songs, the lyrics. That is the star of this show.”

Nevertheless, between Dorsey and “Hedwig” creator John Cameron Mitchell, there’s plenty of star power for eager audiences. In addition to performing the full “Blackstar” album, some of Bowie’s hits like “Life on Mars” and “Space Oddity” will also be performed.

“We’re there to serve the music and to enhance the brilliance of the original reason we’re there, which is the man, David Bowie, and what he has contributed creatively to this planet.

“For me, as a singer, that part of my life, that part of what I do, it’s magnificent to sing with a symphony,” said Dorsey. “It’s like a dream. How many singers get that opportunity? I feel very blessed.”

Dorsey, who learned guitar by ear as a child, and does not read sheet music, marveled at the skills of each city’s orchestra musicians, who usually rehearse in one day. Previous tour cities include Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Charlotte, Charleston, the National Symphony at Kennedy Center, and St. Louis this year alone.

“And we have Nashville just before San Francisco, and then I think Denver just came in for the fall,” added Dorsey. “And I have to say, Detroit kicked ass. They’re all magnificent that they can even just learn it in a couple hours, then do a show and be perfect.”

Inside ‘Under’
Although not on the concert’s current set list, the creation of the song “Under Pressure” is almost mythical, and deserves some background.

In July 1981, in Montreux, Switzerland, Queen was recording their “Hot Space” album at Mountain Studios while Bowie was in another room recording vocals for the theme song to the film “Cat People.” Bowie hung out with the band, a jam session ensued, and when John Deacon came up with the now-iconic bass line (but forgot it after they broke for dinner), they collaborated for a few more hours. Mercury’s scat singing was originally supposed to be filled in with actual lyrics, under Bowie’s more structured concept, but that never happened. The song became a hit single in October 1981. It’s considered by music critics to be one of the greatest songs of all time.

Queen and Bowie never performed the song together live, despite sharing the stage in 1985 for Live Aid. Annie Lennox later performed the song with Bowie in the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute and fundraiser concert at Wembley Stadium after his death from AIDS.

So, being a devoted Queen fan since her teen years, Dorsey has said that she was quite nervous when, while on tour in 1996, Bowie casually walked into her dressing room and asked her if she wanted to sing Mercury’s part in “Under Pressure.” She balked at first, but Bowie said, “I’ll give you two weeks.”

Millions of online video views and listens later, “That one song single-handedly changed my life,” said Dorsey. “It’s funny; I’m a very stressed-out person, so it’s the perfect theme song for me. And also, Queen, my favorite band of all time! Just to think that I would ever have had any opportunity to get anywhere near doing a Queen song, and let alone have it basically change the course of my professional life, changed my creative life forever.”

Break free
After sharing some mutual stories about attending Queen concerts in our youth, Dorsey admitted that she wasn’t aware at the time that Freddie Mercury was gay.

“It just didn’t dawn on me,” she said. “There were so many freaking white guys from England that I was seeing on TV. With Bowie and Queen, I thought, ‘more long-haired guys in unitards.’ But it wasn’t on my radar at first. And then, later on, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, really? Of course.’ It was when his mustache came, I was like, ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake! How could I not see that?”

To be fair, Dorsey wasn’t aware of her own sexuality at the time, either.

“I didn’t really come out until I was about 18,” she said. “I had seen Queen when I was 14, 15, 16. At Cal Arts in college I realized it. I was obsessed with Lindsay Wagner. And she still, to me, was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Over the years, Dorsey has performed with some other prominent out women musicians, including Indigo Girls, Sara Lee (Gang of Four), Ani DiFranco and Kate Pierson of The B-52s.

“When I left the UK and came back to New York in 1994, Indigo Girls were at the top of the charts,” Dorsay recalled. “That was when they were huge. I went out on the road with them. And then I played Michigan Women’s Festival. I know all of Le Tigre, I know all of those women. And I do contribute to those things occasionally as well. Last year, I did Women’s Week in Provincetown.”

Now single after ending a romance in Paris, Dorsey is focused on new music as well as touring. But a little more background has to be explored, specifically her 1980s solo albums, “I Used to Be,” “Rude Blue” and “The Corporate World.”

She gained a good deal of success, despite record labels’ mismanagement. Asked when she first saw herself on MTV, Dorsey mentioned her song, “Wasted Country,” from 1988.

A few other standout songs from her solo work include “Wishing I Was Someone Else,” and “Carry Me Off to Heaven,” in which she sings dual vocals.

Hang on to Yourself
Asked if the non-gendered lyrical subjects are intentional, Dorsey said, “I’ve always been that way almost intentionally, just to leave it open. Not that I was ever in the closet, but I was never, ‘I’m coming out as a gay artist and this is who I am.’ I’m more, if you know, you know. It doesn’t matter. I’m not against advocating it or being a champion of gay rights. I’m there. But it’s just not a thing that I was putting in the front, not on my name tag.”

Asked about the recent spate of politicians and fans critiquing musicians like Bruce Springsteen for making political statements, Dorsey said. “I don’t feel pressure, but I will damn sure speak up if I have an opportunity. If someone asks me, I will speak up.

“Also, it’s about just being a Black woman as well. I grew up at a time in the early ’60s to the ’70s in Philadelphia that were very racist, very segregated neighborhoods. There were fine lines drawn. And I never believed in that, and neither did my mother. We were kind people, we didn’t believe in excluding anyone.

“But it was this whole thing of the kids wanting to explore and wanting to play music, which is a good thing about music, because it brings everybody together. That’s one thing that really obliterates those boundaries. And that’s what I love about being part of any musical community. But I was so frustrated that I couldn’t go to the library because it was in the white Italian section. And if I went, I would get beat up. And I had people chase me and I had bottles thrown; got called [the N-word]. I had the whole thing. Now I’m 63 years old and I don’t want to go through that again.

“And things have improved, yes. But to see it slipping back, I’ll have to speak my mind. I’ve got nothing to lose at this point. I’ve worked as hard as I could and stayed open and brave, because times get hard.”

In between the “Blackstar” tour dates, Dorsey’s upcoming projects include a new record.

“I don’t have a whole album finished yet, because I’ve just been so busy trying to balance that with touring,” she said. “I need more time to work on my stuff. But at the same time, I need to work. I have to try and balance how much time I can squeeze out basically financially to finish my own project. I’m going to put out a single very soon.

“I’ve been doing solo shows over the last year, just going out playing local clubs; nothing too far away, but mostly Philly and Boston, Massachusetts, Maine. And I will eventually finish this album. I have four songs ready. I do have a whole concept of a record in mind, or close to it.”

As to gender specificity in lyrics, Dorsey mentioned, “One of the songs on the new album is called ‘For Her.’ It’s my lesbian wedding song. I’m hoping every lesbian couple’s going to want to play it!”

‘Blackstar Symphony’ $99-$325, June 26 & 27, 7:30pm, Davie Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave.

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