Listen: Duran Duran share cover of David Bowie's 'Five Years'

They unveil the new cover to mark David Bowie's birthday

Duran Duran cover David Bowie's 'Five Years'
Author: Scott ColothanPublished 8th Jan 2021
Last updated 8th Jan 2021

Duran Duran have marked what would have been David Bowie’s 74th birthday by sharing a cover of his classic song ‘Five Years’.

The opening track on David Bowie’s 1972 masterpiece ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’, the harrowing and emotionally wrought ‘Five Years’ is about an impending apocalyptic disaster set to bring about the death of Planet Earth in five years’ time.

Despite being more electronic tinged synth heavy than David Bowie’s original, Duran Duran retain the song’s intensity with Simon Le Bon screaming authentically in the climatic chorus.

Listen to Duran Duran’s cover of David Bowie’s ‘Five Years’:

And here's David Bowie's timeless original:

Commenting on the cover, Simon Le Bon said: “My life as a teenager was all about David Bowie.

“He is the reason why I started writing songs. Part of me still can’t believe in his death five years ago, but maybe that’s because there’s a part of me where he’s still alive and always will be.

“When we got the Ziggy Stardust LP and put the needle in the groove, our first taste of its perfection was the song ‘Five Years.’ I can’t begin to explain how honoured I feel for Duran Duran to be given the opportunity to perform this icon, and to place our name alongside Bowie’s for this commemoration of his music.”

Huge David Bowie aficionados, Duran Duran have previously covered ‘Fame’, ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Starman.’

This coming Saturday at 2am (9th January), Duran Duran will perform live for the A Bowie Celebration: Just For One Day! livestream concert.

Presented and devised by longstanding David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson, the star-studded online event is being held to celebrate David Bowie’s 74th birthday and honour the 5th anniversary of his untimely passing and performers include Bowie alumni alongside an array of A-list stars.

Artists performing include Boy George, Corey Taylor, Taylor Hawkins, Joe Elliott, Billy Corgan, Ian Astbury, Lzzy Hale, Ian Hunter, Taylor Momsen, Perry Farrell, Gavin Rossdale, Brody Dalle and child internet drumming sensation Nandi Bushell.

Alumni taking the stage to honour Bowie include Grammy Award-winning saxophone phenom David Sanborn, Bowie’s longtime record producer and musician Tony Visconti, Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and a career-spanning list of artists including Bowie’s final touring band of Mike Garson, Gail Ann Dorsey, Earl Slick, Sterling Campbell, Gerry Leonard and Catherine Russell.

Tickets for the event cost £18.34 and are available now. A Bowie Celebration will donate $2 (around £1.47) per ticket purchase to the Save the Children organisation, a charity that was deeply important to Bowie.

Duran Duran will headline American Express presents BST Hyde Park on Sunday 11th July 2021 in what will be their first London show in six years.

The childhood homes of famous rock stars, including David Bowie:

Joe Elliott’s childhood home

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott was born and raised at 61 Crookes Road in Sheffield. Ahead of Def Leppard's homecoming gigs at The Leadmill and Bramall Lane in May 2023, Joe visited the property. He wrote: "The house I was born in, grew up in, met Sav & Tony Kenning for the very time in that upstairs room you can see above me …. Sigh …. Memories!!"

Ozzy Osbourne’s childhood home

One of six children, Ozzy Osbourne spent his formative years in this small two-bedroom terraced house on Lodge Road in Aston. Ozzy told Huffington Post in 2014: "I've been back to that house a few times over the years and I can't believe there were eight of us living in a two-and-a-half-bedroom house. It is tiny! I have wardrobes bigger in my house."

John Lennon’s childhood home

Now a lovingly restored Grade II listed building preserved by the National Trust, John Lennon lived at 251 Menlove Avenue in Liverpool with his Aunt Mimi from 1945 to 1963. It featured on the cover to Oasis single 'Live Forever' in 1994 and in 2000 it was adorned with an English Heritage blue plaque.

Paul McCartney’s childhood home

Sir Paul McCartney's childhood home at 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, south Liverpool. It became a listed building in 2012 and is owned by the National Trust. The Trust markets the house as "the birthplace of the Beatles" as it was where McCartney and Lennon penned the earliest Beatles songs.

Ringo Starr’s childhood home

Ringo Starr (aka Richard Starkey) spent his very early childhood years at a terraced house on Madryn Street in Liverpool but moved to at two-up, two-down house 10 Admiral Grove in Dingle when he was 3 with mum Elsie when his parents separated. He lived there for the next 20 years. Pictured is 10 Admiral Grove in 1964.

David Bowie’s childhood home

40 Stansfield Road in Brixton where a young David Jones - aka David Bowie – lived until he was six years old. The house became a shrine for Bowie when the music legend died in January 2016.

Kurt Cobain’s childhood home

Kurt Cobain's childhood home in Aberdeen, Washington. Nirvana fan Lee Bacon bought the house in 2018 for $225,000 (around £170,000) and told Rolling Stone: "My goal is to preserve and restore it for my generation and for my kids."

Kurt Cobain’s childhood home

Kurt Cobain's Led Zeppelin graffiti is still on the walls in his attic bedroom.

Little Richard’s childhood home

The late rock and roll pioneer was brought up alongside his eleven siblings in this detached home in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood of Macon, Georgia in the 1930s and 40s. Now named The Little Richard Resource Center, the home is now open to the public and hosts a number of community events.

Bruce Springsteen’s childhood home

Bruce Springsteen grew up in this home at 39 1/2 Institute Street in Freehold, New Jersey from the years 1955 to 1962. It was while living at this house aged 7 in 1956 that Springsteen witnessed Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show and decided he wanted to be a musician himself.

Johnny Cash’s childhood home

Meticulously restored in 2014 thanks to funds from Arkansas State University, Johnny Cash's boyhood home is in the tiny town of Dyess, Arkansas.

Jim Morrison’s childhood home

Jim Morrison's home in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he lived in his teens while his dad worked at the nearby Kirtland Air Force Base.

Bono’s childhood home

Paul 'Bono' Hewson's parents bought this house on Cedarwood Road, Dublin seven weeks after his birth in 1960 and he spent his entire childhood here. The U2 song 'Cedarwood Road' on their 2014 album 'Songs of Innocence' is a nostalgic musical celebration of Bono's boyhood abode.

Freddie Mercury’s childhood home

Aged 17, Freddie Mercury and his family fled the Zanzibar revolution to live at 22 Gladstone Avenue in Feltham, West London. Pictured is Queen's Brian May and Freddie's younger sister Kashmira Cooke at the unveiling of a Blue Plaque at the house in September 2016.

Lars Ulrich’s childhood home

Lars Ulrich lived in this uniquely designed property in Hellerup, Denmark with his family until he moved to America aged 17.

Mick Jagger’s childhood home

Sir Mick Jagger was brought up in this semi-detached house in Dartford, Kent. His future bandmate Keith Richards lived just around the corner.

Keith Richards’ childhood home

Keith Richards spent the first six years of his life living in this two-bedroom flat above a florists in Dartford, Kent.

Axl Rose’s childhood home

Axl Rose lived at this humble Lafayette, Indiana house from 1962 to 1982 before moving to Los Angeles in his early twenties.

Marc Bolan’s childhood home

The young Mark Field (Marc Bolan) lived at this terraced property on Stoke Newington Common, London from his birth in 1947 to aged 15 in 1962. In 2005, the London Borough of Hackney honoured Bolan with a plaque outside the property.

Elvis Presley’s childhood home

The humble two-bedroom house in Tupelo, Mississippi where The King himself Elvis Presley was born on 8th January 1935. It was built by his father Vernon after he successfully secured a $180 loan.

Jon Bon Jovi's childhood home

John Francis Bongiovi Jr.'s childhood home in Sayreville, New Jersey. Astonishingly, MTV bought the home in 1989 and gave it away in a competition. Jon Bon Jovi was reported to be "angry" at the publicity stunt and the competition winner soon sold the property.

Noel and Liam Gallagher's childhood home

Soon after Liam's birth, the Gallaghers moved to Ashby Avenue and then to Cranwell Drive in Burnage (pictured). With a violent and alcoholic father, Noel and his brothers had an unhappy childhood before mum Peggy left Thomas in 1982 with her three children.

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