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I AM GEORGE HARRISON'S SON
The Star, Section 2, July 18, 2002
ON RETURNING from one month’s leave, my desk at the office had just one
note on it: Bowvayne called. He has a story you’ll be interested in.
Please call his agent in London.
Oh boy, I thought. Some weird children’s book writer I had interviewed
12 years ago when I was young and naïve had tracked me down.
Being a seasoned journalist by now, I did what anyone in my position
would do: I let the note lie on my desk until I could decide what to do
about it.
I didn’t have to make that decision because a day later I got a call
from the said writer. He would be in Kuala Lumpur the following week and
he wanted to see me.
My first instinct was to pass the story to a young reporter who had the
time to go listen to some wacky author.
But Bowvayne had remembered me after 12 years and he had bothered to
track me down. Being the sap that I am, I thought, what the hey, go meet
the guy, see what he has to say, give his new book whatever publicity it
deserves.
Plus, the last time I had met Bowvayne he had conjured some fantastic
story about his background and the origin of his name; it was a story so
full of charm and magic and even a wizard!
If nothing else, the man sure could cook up a tale.
Two of his books that I had read – All Manner of Magic and
Skin Deep – were indeed good stories, full of magic and always with
some clever moral behind it all.
Bowvayne didn’t fail me.
I sat there thinking I’m gonna ask the smart questions and get past all
those whimsical, magical wizard stories this time.
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Bowvayne: "Last year, on Nov 29, my father died before I got to meet him. My father was George Harrison." |
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He starts by telling me that he has been avoiding the press for the
past seven months. “Last year, on Nov 29, my father died before I got to
meet him. My father was George Harrison.”
He holds up a book on Harrison, as if saying the name was not good
enough.
My jaw has dropped by this time. He is just so full of surprises, this
Bowvayne.
A star is born
A baby boy was born in August in 1964 in Northampton, Britain. At five
days old, he was left at a nursing home. He was adopted when he was seven
weeks old.
He was not like the other “normal” children who were out playing in the
field or riding their bicycles.
He always had a penchant for writing. At age six, he had already
written his first book, titled The Empire of Ants.
When he was eight, his adoptive parents divorced. His adoptive mother
remarried and migrated to Australia with her second husband.
The boy had problems fitting in at school. He was the smallest kid in
class and he used to get into fights daily.
The boy grew into a teenager. It was at this time that the teenager
started getting curious about his natural parents. His adoptive mother
found she couldn’t handle the rebellious teenager that he had become. This
led her to say things like: “Thank God, you’re not my son.”
Statements like this only served to pique his curiosity all the more.
When the teenager had saved up enough money, he flew to London with his
best friend Chris Strange (whose father helped pay for the air fare).
Going from one agency to another, the young man finally found what he
wanted. The adoption society handed him his birth certificate which had no
name listed under name of father. The adoption society also handed him
some letters written by his natural mother.
The contents of one of the letters will forever remain in his memory.
According to Bowvayne this is what the letter said: My beautiful baby boy,
this letter is for you. I don’t suppose you’ll ever forgive me but I was
more afraid of my family than losing you. I have sent a copy of this to
your adoptive parents. You should know that your father is the musician
George Harrison. But most of all I want you to have a beautiful life.
Everything in its place
Imagine the shock of reading a letter like that.
Instead of thinking it a bad joke or that perhaps his mother was
tripping when she wrote it (it was the 1960s after all!), Bowvayne thought
it all finally made sense.
His creative talents that seemed to come from nowhere; he claims that
everyone has always commented on how much he looked like Harrison.
“Oh God,” thought Bowvayne, “this is why I’ve been his child, this is
why it hasn’t worked out all these years with my family in Australia. This
is why none of it made any sense.”
Who’s Bowvayne?
Having had two Christian names and four surnames, at the age of 19, he
met singer Donovan. It was Donovan who introduced him to Celtic traditions
and myths. That’s where he stumbled upon the name Bowvayne. It apparently
means “mystical.”
Finding it fitting for him and his future, the young man adopted the
name and Bowvayne was born. He decided that everyone would call him
Bowvayne from then on. He still refuses to reveal his real name.
Having read the letter from his mother so many times, Bowvayne knew it
by heart. But how does one go up to a mega rock star and claim to be his
son? Isn’t that something every con artist has already tried and failed
at?
So, Bowvayne did the next best thing. He decided that he was going to
be as famous as he possibly could.
“Even though I wanted to write records I thought that I was always
competing and comparing myself with George. I went into books and TV
because he was singing. I thought if I did something different that was a
good thing.”
He published his first novel, The Forbidden Jewel (Seagull), in 1987 at
age 23. It was a children’s book which included a foreword by Kate Bush.
She wrote: “If you like adventure, fantasy and magic, then this is the
book for you …”
The book was dedicated to Bowvayne’s friend Donovan who encouraged him
in those early years.
His second book was a bestselling novel, All Manner of Magic, published
in 1990 by Times Publishing.
With that came a visit to Kuala Lumpur where this writer met him and
was given this fantastical verse:
My name’s Bowvayne
No-one knows from whence I came
I’m elf-born
Lord of the unicorn
Trapped for a time
In human form.
Fame and fans
Then came the bestselling “Mythbusters” trilogy in the 1990s – First
Cases (Dynatron), followed by Nut Cases (Elfshot) and Real
Life Adventures in the World of the Supernatural (Puffin Books).
In the years 1993 to 1996, Bowvayne and his mythbusting team were
featured in UK TV Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast where they would go
in search of ghosts, monsters and UFOs.
He admits they never found any conclusive evidence of ghosts or
monsters or even UFOs, but they sure had fun trying!
In 1996, Bowvayne was presenter of a TV show called It’s
Preposterous for Channel 9 in Australia.
With the books and the TV shows between 1984 and 1994, Bowvayne was
travelling between Australia, Britain, the United States and South-East
Asia.
He had “made it.” He was receiving fan mail from kids and adults from
all over the world by now.
In his shadow
Always at the back of his mind was the shadow of Harrison.
“I resolved to show George I could be anything I wanted to be. From
1984 to 1994, I wouldn’t make a single decision about anything, as my
friends and former girlfriends will remember, without first thinking ‘Will
this impress George?’
“In some ways it was pathetic. I should have done things for myself.
But I wanted to show him, to please him. I imagined him being the most
‘put-upon’ of the living Beatles, one of the most put-upon people on
Earth, with every lunatic and psychopath coming up to him with some tale.
“I felt I wanted to separate myself from them and amaze the fellow by
having several bestselling novels to show him before I wrote to him.”
Bowvayne says he was also constantly aware of Harrison’s own family –
his wife Olivia and son Dhani – and did not want to “somehow spoil that
for him.”
Finally, in October 1992, Bowvayne with two bestselling books under his
belt, decided to send him a copy of both books. The note attached simply
read: I am a relation of yours, although we have never met.
There was no reply, of course.
In 1994, Bowvayne was with his friend Matthew Deal, a songwriter and
drummer. They were at Bowvayne’s house in West Sussex. In a fit of
frustration, Bowvayne said to his pal: “I’ve got all the success in the
world and I feel I’ve done it; I’ve really made it and still George didn’t
try to contact me. I’ve got to move on, stop trying to impress George and
get on with my life.”
With that he burnt the letters from his mother and some fan mail too.
The last original letter tying him to Harrison went up in flames.
“It just got to be too much,” says Bowvayne. “The shadow was too large;
he was too big an act to follow. At the time I just felt he wouldn’t be
bothered whatever I did because I could still be a crackpot. I might
simply be a famous crackpot. So, I just let it all go. It fundamentally
changed my whole life. For a long time I didn’t write books anymore.”
A new chapter
The writing started again a few years ago. His latest novel Felix in
4-D is currently being edited. The book is about a boy who discovers
he can see six-dimensionally. Bowvayne hopes that it will be out next
year.
In January 1999, Bowvayne was run over by his girlfriend (they have
since split up). He had two broken arms. But he also had a very good and
loyal friend in his writing partner Bruce Harley. They began composing
songs together. Bowvayne would hum a tune and sing it with lyrics. Harley
would return the next day with the music parts all down. It went on like
that till Bowvayne’s broken bones healed and by then there was enough
material for an album.
It is titled Molten. The songs fall into the pop rock genre. “I am
influenced by people who have a lot of variation in their records, where
you get a lot of variations in just one song. Each song is different from
the next and it challenges you.”
The album was produced by Aussie music legend Joe Camilleri of The
Black Sorrows. The first single, Hot For You, has been remixed by
dance producer Mobin Master, who has two Aussie club chart No.1s.
Is his music influenced by Harrison and the Beatles then?
“You can’t help but be influenced by someone if he is good but I never
wanted to mimic him. A mimicry of him would be like a young child trying
to write like me, it would be a pointless exercise.
“Before I knew he was my natural father I was already impressed with
him. I had written 300 lyrics by the time I was 12.”
Molten
Bowvayne believes his CD will do very well in Malaysia and Australia.
“It is very poppy and has just enough of whimsy from my books.
“It is about a fellow who has a few relationships that are not very
good so he decides to go to the realm of the elves and find himself an
elven princess; raunchy but cute.”
According to Bowvayne a couple of the songs were poems, and when he
started writing the songs it all came out in a creative rush.
His CD will be sold in Australia, and hopefully Britain, Malaysia and
Italy. His trip to Kuala Lumpur was actually to sell his CD to a local
recording company. A tour is planned as well.
“The CD is a labour of love; one of those beautiful, wonderful
incidents. I hope it sells millions of copies but the dream is making it
and with such fantastic players too. And I can say I made it with a
beautiful friend who is not with me anymore (Harley passed away last
month) and I have made it with a lot of good players.”
Bowvayne is so confident of his music that he is willing to bet with
anyone that Track 1 will be a hit. It’s that catchy, he says.
“My dream in the next two years is to have an album on a fantastical
theme, like Lord of the Rings meets rock and roll but it would be released
as a novel and on the same day have the songs come out with some narration
parts too.”
With so many creative avenues, what does Bowvayne hope to achieve?
One ambition of his is to act in the part of his favourite childhood
hero – Dr Who.
His other dream is a simple one, really. He just wants to be a role
model. “To encourage kids to work hard at anything because by working hard
you can have your dreams come true. That’s a very positive message that
doesn’t come across often enough.”
Not all dreams come true, though. Bowvayne knows that. One of his
dreams was to meet Harrison.
Meeting George
In January of 1999, on his way to the physiotherapist, Bowvayne met his
current partner Emily. Later that year, she told him of a friend of hers,
Ben Fitzsimmons, who knew George Harrison and had even gone to the
Adelaide Grand Prix with him.
On Bowvayne’s birthday on Aug 17 last year, he mustered all the courage
he could and decided to send a package to Harrison. In it were copies of
his books – Mythbusters and Skin Deep – as well as a demo
copy of Molten, some photographs of him and a long letter.
According to Bowvayne, on meeting him, Fitzsimmons was struck by the
extraordinary likenesses between Harrison and Bowvayne, including
mannerisms, even before Bowvayne revealed his “secret” to him. “It was Ben
(Fitzsimmons) I read the letter to and he gave it his personal blessing
and he personally delivered the letter to George when I heard he was sick
in August 2001.”
Fitzsimmons was trying to help with the introductions between Bowvayne
and Harrison and according to Bowvayne a meeting was arranged for the
Australian F1 Grand Prix in Melbourne in March this year.
But it was not to be. George Harrison died on Nov 29.
“When George died in November, a dream died too,” says Bowvayne.
“Despite doing so much for him, to impress him, particularly up until
1994, I don’t think I ever imagined myself as being a Harrison. I’m not
looking for that, especially now.
“I just wanted to look him in the eye, having sent him the letter in
August, just sitting in a country pub somewhere, or at his house and say
‘thank you.’ I hope he liked the album Molten; some of it is very moving.”
Now, Bowvayne hopes to meet Harrison’s wife Olivia and son Dhani one
day in the near future.
He claims he does not want a penny from the Harrison estate.
“It would be a beautiful thing to meet Olivia and Dhani but most of all
I’m glad I finally spoke out like this simply because I want them to know
I’m a sincere soul who will always be proud of George Harrison, my
father.”
Truth or dare?
Since Harrison’s death, Bowvayne claims he has been hounded by the
British press.
According to him, George Harrison must have hired a private detective
to track him down after he sent him the letter. It must have been this
detective who alerted the British press.
Bowvayne has managed to evade them so far, but now that his album is
coming out, it’s time for the truth to be revealed too.
“It will be hard for me when this news comes out,” says Bowvayne, “I
would have kept it a secret, but when George passed away that part was
stolen from us.”
He is fully aware of how much it all looks like a big marketing ploy to
sell his new CD. He says it is a risk he has no choice but to take seeing
that the truth has to come out. The timing is bad, admits Bowvayne, but
you can’t stifle the truth.
“At no point would this story have been in the public domain until
George died. I had my hotel door kicked in, was chased down the street by
the British media in both Adelaide and Melbourne, had my rubbish bins
searched, my girlfriend and baby returned to her mother’s because the
press were at my apartment, ringing the buzzer all day. This in the days
and weeks after George’s passing. No thought to how I might be feeling.
“Witnesses to all this (among many) include my girlfriend Emily, one of
Australia’s most famous rock stars Joe Camilleri, Matt Deal and George’s
friend Ben Fitzsimmons.
“There was a similar situation in Britain, but again I gave no direct
quotes nor confirmed the story. Now I’m here in KL talking to you.
“Anyone that really knows me will realise I don’t give an owl’s hoot
whether people believe it or not! I needn’t prove anything in the
entertainment industry and I had never intended to use this information in
any way. Only George’s untimely passing has forced the issue,” says
Bowvayne.
Why break the story in Malaysia?
Bowvayne repeated several times that he wanted the story to be told
“tastefully” and since he was coming to Malaysia to see the recording
company here and he had met this writer before, it made sense to “break”
the story here.
Plus, he wanted to talk to a journalist who knew Bowvayne the writer,
not Bowvayne the man who claims to be George Harrison’s son.
Tripping the light fantastic? The man has already made his name in
Australia and Britain as a mythbuster, an author and a TV personality. He
is now launching his first music CD. Why commit career suicide now?
It is not up to us to believe or not. The claim has been made. It’s now
up to George Harrison’s family if they agree to a DNA test.
Bowvayne says he is willing to take a blood test to find out the truth.
● Anyone wanting to contact Bowvayne, can do so through his agent Beth
Macdougall (mga.mga@virgin.net).
Copyright Star Publications (M) Bhd
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