Leslie Conn played a small role in
David Bowie's career as his first manager and the producer of his first single.
Conn was a small-time manager, handling such unknown acts as
the Barry Sisters, Shirley Sands, and Derry Hart.
Bowie, then going by his real name of
David Jones, and
Conn were put in touch around the beginning of 1964 by a washing-machine manufacturer named John Bloom, whom
Bowie had written in search of a backer.
Conn took on
David Jones &the King Bees, as
Bowie's group of the time was billed, and produced their first single, "Liza Jane," also taking the writing credits although it was a rearranged version of a spiritual.
Conn arranged to have the sub-
Rolling Stones-
Pretty Things track released on the Decca subsidiary Vocalion, but it flopped.
Bowie left
the King Bees shortly afterwards, and
Conn hooked him up with
the Manish Boys, another R&B group that he handled. At this point,
Bowie and the group were just faces in the crowd, and
Conn did make some effort to get them media exposure, playing up their outrageously (for the time) long hair and using that pretext to get them onto BBC TV, where
Bowie was described as president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men. They also got a slot on a package tour with
Gerry & the Pacemakers,
Marianne Faithfull, and
the Kinks. There was also a
Manish Boys single, produced by
Kinks producer
Shel Talmy. But
Bowie wasn't making much headway, and in 1965, still known as
David Jones, he and
Conn amicably terminated their association.
Conn did, however, do some backing vocal chants on
Bowie's 1965 single (billed to
Davy Jones) "Baby Loves That Way."
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi