BESTIVAL INTERVIEW: Ziggy Gilsenan GETTING ZIGGY WITH IT
Bestival co-founder was named after music legend’s alter ego
ZIGGY Gilsenan admits David Bowie proved a huge influence on her life - even before she was born.
The Bestival co-founder reveals her pregnant mum bumped into the former wild rocker in the early 70s.
She had a huge crush on the Starman hitmaker and they wound up chatting after he rowed with his then wife.
Bowie asked the expectant mother-to-be what she planned to call her impending arrival.
Smitten, she blurted out the new baby would be named after him - or rather his glam alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.
Ziggy grins: “My godmother was going out with a member of Bowie’s backing band, The Spiders from Mars.
“My mum was secretly in love with Bowie and she had met
him a couple of times.
“At one party they were hanging out and he was having an argument with Angie Bowie.
“Mum was about six months pregnant with me at the time and she wound up talking to him.
“He asked her if she had any baby names and my mum being all starstruck told him she planned to call the baby Ziggy. “It was around 1972 and he was doing the whole Ziggy Stardust thing.
“She decided whatever sex I turned out to be I would be called Ziggy, so that came to be. “I couldn’t stand my name for the first 12 years of my life. I wanted to be called something normal.”
Ziggy heads up all marketing, promotion, sponsorship and PR linked to Bestival.
She recalls how the idea for the bash was hatched nine years ago, during a sunshine break hundreds of miles away from the Isle of Wight.
Ziggy says: “Me, my husband John, Robbie and Josie went on a little holiday to Ibiza.
“We were eating dinner in the L’Elephant restaurant in Ibiza Town after sunset, having a good old natter and putting the world to rights.
“The conversation came round to talking about what would be the ultimate party if we created one ourselves.
“We decided it would have a house party feel but take place outside. It would be a festival for like-minded people - people who loved great music and escapism.
“The rest is history.”
The first year was a storming success with 7,000 partygoers attempting to break the record for the World’s Biggest Fancy Dress Party.
Veteran acts like Chas & Dave played alongside chart starlets Basement Jaxx.
Ziggy believes the Island plays a massive role in the continuing success of the annual gathering.
She goes on: “My family have lived in Bembridge since the 60s so I’ve been coming here since I was a baby.
“Putting on something on the Isle of Wight was a natural draw for us all. We had a connection with the Island.
ZIGGY GILSENAN 68
www.styleofwight.co.uk
“When we saw the site at Robin Hill it was obvious it would open up a whole lot of opportunities.
“It’s a very creative landscape and is set up for a lot of people.
“It just felt like the right place to be, a natural home for Bestival.
“The Island is also steeped in musical history. My mum, my auntie and a lot of family friends were at Afton Down back in 1970 when over 100,000 people came to the Island for the festival.
“They tell stories of how they got jobs in ice-cream parlours in Freshwater a few weeks before the festival so they could earn a few quid to justify them being there.
“In fact, my Auntie Mary never went home to Essex. She decided to stay and settled down and is still on the Island some 40 years later.”
Ziggy is confident Bestival will remain one of the biggest draws of the summer for the foreseeable future.
She adds: “Robbie and Josie are wonderful at coming up with these weird and wonderful ideas every year.
“Bestival can spiral off and showcase their creative inspirations.
“We have to keep refreshing, re-inventing and evolving so we’re always giving festival goers and our loyal crowd something new and exciting.
“Each year after Bestival closes we have a group hug and just thank our lucky stars we’ve made it through another one. It’s challenging and we put our heart and soul into it.
“But if you have a field of people dressed as Chinese takeaways and giant lobsters you know there is always going to be a fantastic spirit and a great energy.”
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