Mick Ronson’s widow thinks he should never have launched a solo career.
The guitarist – who died in 1993 aged just 46 – was encouraged to push for a career in his own right after his collaborator David Bowie ended his Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars era in 1973, and Suzi Ronson believes it was a mistake and her spouse should have taken time to work out his next steps for himself.
She told MOJO magazine: “He wasn’t ready to get thrown in there. It’s unfortunate that Mick didn’t have the sense to say, ‘No, I’m not doing that, I’d rather do this.’
“But he was as exhausted as David was. He needed to take some time off, relax and figure out what he was going to do next…
“It would have been a lot better if they’d given him a couple of productions and let him find his own way. And it breaks my heart.
“I wish I could have said to him, ‘Don’t do the solo thing.’ “
In summer 1992, Mick was invited to join David on his album ‘Black Tie White Noise’, and though he was “really unwell” with liver cancer, the musician was determined to record their cover of Cream’s ‘I Feel Free’.
Suzi recalled: “Mick was really unwell that day.
“He was in a lot of pain, but he really wanted to do it.
“David was very nice, very sweet to him.
“But it did cross my mind that it might be Mick’s last ever recorded guitar solo.”
Around the same time, Mick was producing and arranging ‘Your Arsenal’ for Morrissey and his wife thinks he still had “so much more to give”, having found his niche in the studio.
She said: “Mick wasn’t sad or mad or bitter, he didn’t know he was going to die.
“Morrissey’s record was one of his best-sellers. Mick was getting offers.
“He’d been taught a lesson and he was over it.
“He was only 46. He had so much more to give, doing the things he was so good at.
“And he would have got credit and he would have got paid.”