Director Bruce Gowers, who penned Queen’s visionary ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ music video and nine seasons of the ‘American Idol’ reality show, died on Sunday (15/1) of complications from an acute respiratory infection. He was 82 years old.
A specialist in live events and television specials, Gowers has also directed and/or produced Emmy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, MTV’s Music Video and Movie Awards, ESPY, People’s Choice Awards and many more.
Gowers was born on December 21, 1940 in New Kilbride, Scotland where his parents worked during World War II. He attended the BBC Training College and began his career with the BBC, where he worked as a technician before landing roles in producing and directing programmes.
He moved to the United States in the 1970s and met his future wife, Carol Rosensteinna, while filming the music video for Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night.” He has also made music videos for Elton John, The Pretenders, Santana, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, Christopher Cross, Genesis and Fleetwood Mac during his career.
However, the great milestone of his career was the video for Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, filmed at Elstree Studios, London in November 1975.
Gowers’ short video was the first clip shown on the BBB’s popular “Top of the Pops” music show, which until then had only featured lip-syncing from studio artists. The backlash caused by images of him helped Freddie Mercury’s band achieve stardom and influenced all the big artists to produce videos to accompany their songs.
This initiative ended up generating enough clips for the launch, six years later, of a specialized channel: MTV.
“It changed the way music was perceived; everyone was making videos and bands would see their sales and chart positions go up if their videos were good,” the director recalled to the Daily Mail in 2018. “The only What bothers me is that they’ve been using my video for 40 years and have never paid me a cent or thanked me.”
Gowers claimed to have earned just $590 for the work, which was commissioned by EMI.
However, the video positioned him as one of the leading directors in the genre and opened several doors for him, who also directed famous videos for Michael Jackson (“Rock With You”), Prince (“1999”), John Mellencamp (“Jack and Diane”), The Rolling Stones (“Fool to Cry”), Rush (“Limelight”, “Tom Sawyer”), Ambrosia (“How Much I Feel”), 10cc (“I’m Not in Love”), Bee Gees (“How Deep Is Your Love”), Supertramp (“Goodbye Stranger”), Chaka Kahn (“I’m Every Woman”), Peaches and Herb (“Reunited”), Journey (“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ ‘”) and The Tubes (“Prime Time”).
In 1986, he won a Grammy for his work on Huey Lewis and the News’ “Heart of Rock and Roll” video. Eight years later, he received a DGA Award for directing the special “Genius: A Night for Ray Charles.”
With that calling card, Gowers directed a total of 234 episodes of “American Idol” from 2002 to 2011, work that earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 2009.
In addition, he has also directed comedy specials for Richard Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy and Paula Poundstone and musical specials for Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
In a statement, his family said Gowers “always brought boundless enthusiasm, energy, passion and joy to his work. He loved and was loved by the teams he worked with and was known far and wide for his generosity as a fellow , constantly encouraging and promoting the talented people on your team”.
Recall below the main work of Bruce Gowers.
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Source: Terra
Jason Root is a writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth coverage of famous people in entertainment, sports, and politics. He has a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines and bringing readers an inside look at the lives of the famous. He has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley.