1. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over 70 albums, and appeared in stage productions, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, and several films.
15 Facts About Dana Gillespie
1. 2.
Dana Gillespie was born in Woking, Surrey, the second daughter of Anne Francis Roden and Hans Henry Winterstein Dana Gillespie, a London-based radiologist of Austrian nobility.
3.
Dana Gillespie's older sister, Nicola Henrietta St John Gillespie, was born in 1946.
4.
Dana Gillespie was the British Junior Water Skiing Champion in 1962.
5.
Dana Gillespie began a personal and professional relationship with the singer David Bowie in 1964 when he was 17 and she was 14.
6.
Bowie ended contact with Dana Gillespie following his split from his first wife Angie Bowie.
7.
Dana Gillespie looked back on her time with David Bowie fondly.
8.
Dana Gillespie recorded initially in the folk genre in the mid-1960s.
9.
Dana Gillespie performed backing vocals on the track "It Ain't Easy" from Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
10.
Dana Gillespie's version of "Andy Warhol" was not released until 1973, on her album Weren't Born a Man, which was produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson.
11.
Dana Gillespie is notable for being the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar, which opened at the Palace Theatre in 1972.
12.
Dana Gillespie appeared on the Original London Cast album of the show.
13.
Dana Gillespie is a follower of the late Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
14.
Dana Gillespie performed at his Indian ashram on various occasions and has recorded thirteen bhajan-based albums in Sanskrit.
15.
In 2024, Dana Gillespie was one of four artists competing in a special selection for the final of Una voce per San Marino 2024, the Sammarinese national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, with the song "The Last Polar Bear".