David Bowie Representatives Deny Licensing Songs for Musical

Representatives from David Bowie's camp have issued a press release denying reports that the singer has given his permission for a musical based on his music to go forward. The U.K. newspaper The Guardian today (Nov. 27) reported that Bowie had approved the licensing of his music for the production 'Heroes' with a planned March 2012 opening at the IndigO2 venue, inside London's former Millennium Dome.

This afternoon, however, Ultimate Classic Rock received an email from the Mitch Schneider Organization, Bowie's public relations firm, with the following statement:

"Neither the David Bowie Organization, nor its co-publishers EMI Music and Chrysalis, has issued a license for a Bowie musical at the O2, as has been reported in the U.K.  There are no negotiations pending for a long-running musical featuring the music of Mr. Bowie."

'Heroes' would have been the first full-scale musical dedicated to the music of Bowie, and even the musical's writer, Deep Singh, seemed surprised to have the go-ahead from Bowie, who is notoriously protective when it comes to licensing his music.

"We could not really believe it when they gave us permission," Singh told The Guardian. "His people had warned us that it was very unlikely that he would be interested and that he had been asked many times before."

Apparently he had good reason to be skeptical. 'Heroes,' which was reportedly going to be a charity event, would have included 20 Bowie tunes, including classics like 'The Man Who Sold The World,' 'The Jean Genie,' 'Let's Dance' and, of course, the title track.