Photo: Myriam Santos
Gail Ann Dorsey is a multi-instrumentalist, best known for her 20-year collaboration with David Bowie as his bass player on multiple tours and nine albums. In addition to playing bass, she sang several duets with Bowie and sang lead on Bowie’s version of the Queen song “Under Pressure” live onstage. But her work as a session player has also had her sharing stages and studios with Tears for Fears, Lenny Kravitz, Gang of Four, Boy George, Concrete Blonde, and others, not to mention her own three solo albums: The Corporate World (1988); Rude Blue (1992); and I Used to Be (2004). The native of West Philadelphia returns to Provincetown this Women’s Week to perform with our own Zoë Lewis, and she took some time to chat with us about her amazing musical journey.
Provincetown Magazine: I’ve read that you wanted to be a musician from a very young age. Maybe this is hard to pinpoint, but why was music so important to you from the get-go?
Gail Ann Dorsey: My earliest memory of being in the world is the impact that music had on me. Music connected with me on a very deep emotional level as a child and still does to this day. It was a language, a vibration that spoke to me better than words, and innately connected with and understood my deepest feelings. There was little else other than music and anything to do with art that interested me as a child and throughout my youth. From painting, to acting, to cinema, dance (something I am sadly terrible at!), poetry, creative writing, all of these forms of expression were things that I wanted to learn about, to understand, to try my hand at. At this point in my life, I have come to recognize and appreciate that I was born knowing exactly what my purpose was in this lifetime, and that I was given the determination, the guidance, and the gifts to live it.
PM: While there have been a lot of women singers in all styles of music, instrumentalists were more often male when you started out and probably to this day. Do you think things have gotten better for women players? And if so, to what do you attribute that change?
GAD: It is remarkable how far the presence of female musicians, in particular instrumentalists, has exploded around the world! It is very different from the early days of my career, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it. Things have definitely gotten better for females, and those who identify as female in popular music today in terms of demand, visibility, the highest level of creativity, individuality, and skills. Women are out there kicking ass all around the world! There were very few female musicians in bands, especially as drummers or bass players like myself when I was starting out. I think it is important to be able to see and be inspired by role models, an image not unlike oneself doing the thing you most want to do. I like to think, and hope, that I have been an inspiration role model for other female musicians to forge ahead against the odds towards their dreams and destinies. It has taken some time, and the journey is far from over, but the ball is rolling now, and female musicians are finally claiming respect and equality in music and many other art forms predominantly dominated by men.
PM: When David Bowie called you up to join him on that first project, what were you doing and what was your initial reaction?
GAD: I was in Bath, England at Neptune’s Kitchen with Roland Orzabal, one half of the duo that is Tears for Fears. That was Roland’s home studio, and I was there working on a solo album project Roland was going to produce for me. We were getting up, going into the studio with a drummer, and writing songs every day. One day, out of the blue, David Bowie tracked my whereabouts, and called me at the studio! My initial reaction was to think one of my British friends was playing a trick on me, as I had been living in London for 11 years at that time, but I soon realized it was real, and I just shut up and listened to what he had to say! He wanted me to do a six-week tour for the Outside album that was released in 1995. Obviously, I said yes, and planned to return to my album project after the tour, but “the tour,” and other continued projects with Bowie, never ended for pretty much the next 20 years.
PM: What’s your favorite—or a favorite—moment of working with Bowie?
GAD: The preparations for, the rehearsals for, and the performance of his 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1997. That was a truly magical experience for me, and one that I remember the most. It was like I had died and gone to heaven! A magnificent dream.
PM: You have recorded and released your solo albums with a record contract, and also more recently, without one. Is going without a record company something you’d recommend to other musicians, in retrospect?
GAD: I think that how an artist makes their way into the public’s awareness is randomly unique, and record labels definitely had a prominent and coveted place in “breaking” an artist into the mainstream or indie world, but with any affiliation with a corporate entity that exists solely for profit, there are, or can be, artistic compromises that will have to be made. It depends on the artist and what path feels best for them to take; what is available, what is appealing, what is doable. It can be harder work these days without the support of the record company model (and that model has also changed drastically!), but the good thing about 2024 is that there exist many options to create and control your own creative direction and career. Artists have tools to control their careers that didn’t exist 30 years ago. I say going independent is best if you can sustain it and still remain 100% connected to the creative side of the work.
PM: Have you been to Provincetown before? (If so, what strikes you about it. If not, what are you looking forward to seeing/doing here?)
GAD: I have been to Provincetown maybe 4 or 5 times in my lifetime, and I absolutely love it! I remember on my first visit going to one of the famous little breakfast spots in town and sitting next to the great Janis Ian, who is one of my idols! When I get there, I always say to myself, why don’t I come here more often! I never learned to swim, and I’m not much of a “beach” person, although I love absorbing the energy and wisdom of the ocean… but I do love fish, and I can’t wait to get a clam chowder at The Lobster Pot! I wonder, is the sandal guy still there who makes a drawing of your feet, then hand-makes you an amazing pair of leather sandals?? The best sandals I have ever owned!!
PM: How did you meet Zoë Lewis and what sparked the idea to play in Provincetown for Women’s Week?
GAD: I met Zoë Lewis quite a few years back on one of my first visits to Provincetown when I opened for her at The Unitarian church. It’s been such a long time, I can’t recall the actual year, but it was the first time I became aware of her as an artist. I immediately fell in love with her infectious energy, and not to mention her incredible musical talents. I do recall that time was a period in which I was intentionally clearing some space from my work as a session bass player to concentrate on my own music. I was going out to perform with my own songs playing acoustic guitar again (my first instrument). I really wanted to play Women’s Week in Provincetown and my manager was able to get me that opening spot with Zoë. Funny, but here I am again in that same place, making the transition from session bassist to solo artist, and I am super thrilled to have the opportunity to share an evening with Zoë again!
Gail Ann Dorsey will perform with Zoë Lewis at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, 236 Commercial St., Provincetown, on Saturday, October 19 at 8 p.m. For more information and tickets ($37) visit zoelewis.com.
—Rebecca M. Alvin
