There are few people who were as intrinsic to the music scene of the late 20th century as Ava Cherry — the hidden hand who guided David Bowie through his most iconic years. Navigating her way through the channels of the entertainment industry with $200 in her pocket, an infectious personality and love in her heart, Cherry was the name behind it all. A musician, model and artist in her own right, she has left countless footprints in the sands of rock history — and sat down with Hot Press to talk all about it.

"I am so excited, I've been everywhere in this world but I've never been to Ireland," she said, calling in from her Chicago home. The star will be making her first trip to these shores this week to participate in the Dublin Bowie Festival; honouring the 50th anniversary of Bowie's seminal 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. 

It's a project that would define an era, going down as one of the most recognisable albums of the decade – and, arguably, of all time. Countless have loved it, bought it, streamed it — all pressing as close as possible to Bowie's indelible energy. Whether soaring through the cosmos alongside 'Starman,' or wandering through the twilight city hand-in-hand with 'Five Years,' it's a collection that above all makes the listener feel less alone, a visceral journey through the mind of a burgeoning icon.

It's personal to everyone, but for Cherry, the album marks the beginning of the rest of her life.

"I was young, probably 17, and I moved to New York," she began. "I got an apartment and I started working at a salon.

"I was working at this place called Genesis, and I had just gotten a manager. So my manager comes up to me, and he showed me this album, with David and his green hair and the telephone box. He told me, 'This guy is going to be huge, I'm telling you right now.' I know now that I was destined to be with David, because I took the album, listened to it, and just fell in love with it. I fell in love with him, before I even met him. It was so ethereal. I listened to it over and over again and fell in love with him through the record."

Her's is a story that provides the closest thing possible to proof of fate. Woven throughout her early life were signs, hints and pushes. It's as if there was a tiny, cosmic thread that tied the two together — an idea that Cherry believes with her whole heart.

"The salon asked me to dye my hair platinum blonde, and I was the only Black girl at the time going platinum blonde," she laughed.

And so naturally, upon meeting Bowie for the first time, the first thing she noticed was his hair; firetruck red against an electric blue suit. "My legs felt like jelly. I had listened to that album 50 times and I never imagined that I would meet him so soon after."

Bowie had invited her to sing background on his upcoming tour, an opportunity that would not only allow Cherry to get close to him, but also kickstart her burgeoning music career. Unfortunately, the tour was cancelled, leaving Ava scrambling.

"I remembered this guy that I had met, who had asked me if I wanted to spend the summer with him in Monaco. I really didn't like him like that, but I had put on my thinking cap. I thought, 'I'm going to go, because that's where David Bowie is.'"

From Monaco she travelled to Paris, armed with a modelling portfolio and little else. There, she stayed with a friend, a figure that would end up becoming a one man support network — offering housing, food and advice on breaking into the industry. "I felt as though all of this was meant to happen, because how does this person just come up and fall into my lap? Do all of this for nothing? I felt like it was fated, like he was a part of my destiny."

She lived there for eight months, patiently awaiting an audience with The Starman. It came one night, when she heard that he was at a bar just across the street.

"He took my hand and just said 'Let's go.'"

And from there, the two found their lives once again, and forever more, intertwined in music.

Though her relationship with Bowie introduced her to the key players in the industry, it was a relationship that proved to be mutually beneficial — they each served as a muse to the other. It's here that Ava's influence can be tangibly traced, the hidden face behind some of the rockstar's most iconic moments.

She was a driving force in injecting soul elements into Young Americans, guiding him to the Apollo to find the best possible soul band. The flight suit he was seen gracing the stage with? Stolen from Cherry. Her dad leant him his zoot suits from the 40s, which would come to define Bowie as both a musical and style authority. She introduced him to Aretha Franklin, who he would later present with a Grammy Award.

"I never knew David was gonna be an icon," Cherry said. "I wasn't just his girlfriend, I wasn't just singing backup for him. He would take my advice and ask for my opinion, and a lot of what I said had happened.

"Everybody wants to be the heir apparent to David Bowie," she continued. "I didn't play the instruments, but I was definitely there talking to him and influencing him."

To define Cherry just by her relationship with Bowie would be to ignore a crucial chapter in the singer's history: her own career. Guided by an unwavering commitment to her instinct and an undefinable star quality, she embarked on kickstarting her own musical career. Unfortunately, though hailed as progressive, the industry at the time was only welcoming to a select few.

"The things that I did, I know they were really good. They just didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. Not because of my energy, but because of other stuff — like record companies.

"I recorded my first record with an all-white band, called A Streetcar Named Desire. They played my record called 'Love to be Touched' on the new-wave radio, they played it over and over again. We sent it out on a white label, and then people started asking for pictures of me, so they sent my picture. As soon as they saw I was a Black artist, they stopped playing the record.

"I was signed to Capitol Records twice, by the president Don Zimmerman. And each time, there was no Black promotion or A&R or anything, and so I complained. And he goes 'Oh, don't worry, we'll get Black promotion.' But the second time I was signed, I had this great record, and they still didn't have any Black promotion in place. I don't care how good the record was, I was automatically going to fail without that."

Now, 50 years later, Cherry is here to reinvent herself. "You can't live in the past. As soon as you start to catch up with yourself, you have to start thinking outside of the box. Which is what I'm doing now."

In recent years, she released a memoir, several singles and a deluxe edition of her 1997 album, Spend The Night.

"I think artists should, no matter what, keep releasing music," she explained.

She's also set to head to Germany to record a new song, and is working on a film adaptation of her book, All That Glitters: The Ava Cherry Story. 

But here in Dublin, she is above all excited to pay homage to the man who shaped her role in popular culture.

"When I heard he was gone, I felt so empty inside even though it had been a long time. If they're the person you love the most, you never lose that love.

"It does sometimes feel painful. And sometimes I'll have a little tearful moment, thing about how wonderful it felt. But mostly I try and get through that and think of how wonderful his music is, and how much people love him still. And the fact that I get the opportunity to honour him like this, it really makes me feel good inside. I think he'd be happy. I can feel him smiling."

Ava Cherry will be playing the Dublin Bowie Festival on Friday, April 22nd at Opium, alongside the I Heart Bowie band. Tickets can be bought here.