NEW YORK (AP) – A brief “60 Minutes” piece on the late David Bowie that aired Sunday was the result of a 15-year journey of missed connections involving three of the newsmagazine’s correspondents and a rock star gone underground.
Bowie talked about his artistry and getting old in interview clips from 2003 that were never aired before Sunday on “60 Minutes.” The rock star died of cancer at age 69 on Jan. 10.
Robert Zimet, an editor at “60 Minutes,” proposed an in-depth profile of Bowie for the newsmagazine in 2000, and correspondent Ed Bradley was assigned.
Before much was done, the 2001 terrorist attacks happened. Then the Iraq War. A rock-star profile wasn’t a priority.
The idea was resurrected as Bowie prepared his “Reality” album and tour in 2003, and Zimet and producer Peter Klein traveled to Woodstock, New York, to record some material and conduct preliminary interviews. Bradley was to follow but the correspondent, who died in 2006, became ill and had to cancel.