Mick Ronson (1946-1993) was a member of David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars.

Born in Kingston-upon-Hull, he was a classically trained musician who originally wanted to be a cellist, but picked up the guitar after hearing the music of Duane Eddy. He joined several bands through the ‘60s and ended up as a session musician working for Elton John when he joined David Bowie’s new backing band – then known as the Hype.

He would work with Bowie from 1970-1973, performing on five of his albums, arranging the strings for Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes and co-producing Lou Reed’s Transformer.

After Bowie retired the Ziggy Stardust character onstage in 1973, Ronson left his band and pursued a solo career (he’d return to Bowie for the Black Tie/White Noise album). He soon joined Mott the Hoople and worked extensively with Ian Hunter. He’s also worked with Roger Daltrey, John Mellencamp (on the song “Jack & Diane”), Morrissey (producing Your Arsenal) and Bob Dylan (on his Rolling Thunder Revue.

He died in 1993 of liver cancer at the age of 46.