Las Vegas Weekly

December 22, 2009 · 1:32 PM

Exclusive Interview: Zowie Bowie’s Chris Phillips is going his own way

By Robin Leach

Chris Phillips and Marley Taylor perform at the gala opening of Zowie Bowie Presents the Vintage Vegas Show at Monte Carlo's Lance Burton Theatre.

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

First came the shock that the eight-year love match between Zowie Bowie stars Chris Phillips and Marley Taylor had unraveled and that she’d become romantically involved with a musician in Viva Elvis. The break-up rocked the Strip showbiz rumor mill.

Now just two weeks later, it was shaken even more with Marley’s startling decision to step down as Chris’ partner in their Sunday Vintage Vegas show in the Lance Burton Theatre at the Monte Carlo. The sudden and surprise decision was made just 45 minutes before they were due to go onstage together this past Sunday!

For the first time in an exclusive interview, Chris, now to be known solely as Zowie Bowie, has talked about the major changes in their professional and personal lives.

Chris told me: “Let me immediately point out that there are no sour feelings. This is a natural evolution of what had been brewing for a while. It’s strange, but I had an eerie premonition of what was about to go down on Sunday night, so it didn’t come as a total shock when she called an hour before curtain up. I knew she’d lost the passion for the Vintage Vegas show.”

Interestingly, the two will continue as partners in their Friday and Saturday night hip-hop shows at the Monte Carlo through the end of their current contract through September. The split affects only the weekly Vintage Vegas. Chris told me it will be easy for them to sing as a duo in their free Pub shows, as it’s music and song without “love, engagement and marriage dialogue” and yesteryear songs.

“We’ve managed to come to terms about this and the direction I can now go in,” Chris continued. “We are both happy about it finally coming to a head, and we have been able to work this out so I can go my own way and take a stab at making a solo debut without worries. It’s all good, honestly. We didn’t plan it this way, but it had been a long time coming, and we didn’t want to face it. This all makes sense now.

“I can now expand the Vintage Vegas show. I can add in a few guests and some showgirls to really give it the feel of the true Vegas era of lounge singers and showroom big bands. I’m processing all that now and engineering what I can do. But Sunday, although very awkward, was my unexpected big band solo start with a lot of flying by the seat of my pants to pull it off! I could have joked that the audience could get half their ticket price refunded, but nobody asked for their money back, and I wound up doing the show must go on and got a standing ovation to boot. Of several minutes, no less!

“Yes, it did come out of the blue, but I think subconsciously we both knew it was ending. She said, ‘Chris, go do your thing,’ and I didn’t put up a fight. It’s all making sense now, and I’m comfortable being in my own shoes. It may seem odd to some people looking at it from the outside, but we are slightly odd ourselves.

“Marley has chosen a different path. I love her and support her and wish her happiness. For me going out on my own is awesome, and again it’s something I’d subconsciously wanted to do for a while, too. It is my total committed passion. I’ll give it the best shot possible. Sunday just felt so natural to carry it on my own, so it had to come to this to make it work. We’re both now getting what we want, and we’re both happy.”

Vegas DeLuxe wishes them both well and continued future successes.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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