David Bowie Stretford superfan Louise Moody is being dubbed the ‘Keen Genie’ after building a £20,000 shrine to the ageing rocker.
Louise, 24, has spent £5,000 having tattoo pictures of the star’s face and Space Oddity designs on her body – even though at 67 he is 43 years her senior.
She has also splashed out on Bowie clothes, signed photos and magazines cuttings of her idol which adorn her walls at her Manchester home.
Project designer Louise who lives with her boyfriend Tom, 21, even regularly goes on nights out dressed as Bowie’s iconic character Ziggy Stardust and has styled her bright red hair to match his iconic album.
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Her home is filled with signed pictures, books and magazine cuttings of her idol who she has adored since the age of 11.
“David Bowie has influenced my life so much – I dress like him, my hair is the same colour as his on one of his album covers,” said Louise.
“I dyed it that colour a few years ago and was gutted when I had to dye my hair brown for my job but since I have moved jobs and have been able to dye my hair back. I even started smoking Marlboro lights when I found out he smoked them.
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“I just love everything about him. It is my dream to meet him and I wouldn’t even think about shelling out more than £1,000 to see him live again.
“I think if I met him I would scream and faint, it’s giving me goosebumps just thinking about it, all I ever think about his him and I don’t think there is any other music I have heard.”
Louise’s obsession began when she heard her mum Jane play his greatest hits album over dinner and was captivated by him.
Three years later, she was finally able to see the music legend in person with her mother as they saw him live in concert in 2003.
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While her friends at school would listen to Arctic Monkeys and The Killers and debate the latest number one chart hit, Louise would listen to what her pals would playfully describe as ‘dad rock’.
She now owns every album and single he has ever made and admits that she still holds out hope of meeting him one day.
She said: “I started collecting clippings and t-shirts with the little pocket money I had when I was a kid and my mum surprised me by taking me to see him live when I was 14.
“It was the most incredible experience of my life and since then I pledged to see him again one day, however, he has hardly toured since.
“All of my memorabilia spreads through the house, my books and DVDs go on the shelf but my magazine cuttings are stored in loads of folders, I have even had to put them in folders that I keep recipes and things in because I have so many, I am hoarding them for no reason as I don’t use them.
“If there was a fire in the house the first thing I would save would be my expensive Bowie stuff, my signed picture would definitely be up there. I would get as much as I could get really.
“In my old room, the walls were lined with pictures and posters of him – a lot of people say it’s strange that a young girl can have such an obsession with an artist in a completely different generation but I fell in love with him the minute I heard his music.
“I have written letters to his fan club but never heard back – at the time I was only a teenager and it really upset me but it never lowered my hopes of one day meeting him.”
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The super fan admits to styling her whole image around The Starman hit-maker dressing and has her hair styled like him.
Even on fancy dress nights, she will always don her bright tights and thunderbolt jewellery as Ziggy Stardust.
But her years of listening to David Bowie on repeat and lining her walls with her idols face has turned her partner of eight years off his music.
“My boyfriend doesn’t like David Bowie,” she admitted.
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“He definitely puts up with it because I love him but we have been together for eight years and if I’m honest I think I may have put him off Bowie. Sometimes when we listen to him he says ‘please Louise for once can we listen to someone else’ – but he doesn’t mind too much.
“When I come home with more Bowie memorabilia, my boyfriend goes mad, he always says ‘Oh God not more Bowie stuff!’ but I can’t help myself – if I see anything with his face on it I must have it regardless of the price.”
Story via Cavendish Press
