When David Bowie and his band strutted their stuff on the stage of Edinburgh's Empire Theatre in 1973, few, if any, among the thousands in attendance were aware the star's alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, had been born just yards away from the venue.
As capital rock 'n' roll connections go, it's an alluring one, but easily verifiable.
Prior to becoming a global icon, the Changes singer, who sadly passed away from cancer on this day in 2016, had been no stranger to Auld Reekie.
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Rewind to the start of the 1970s, when Bowie had yet to become a household name, the future music legend shared a flat in Drummond Street, a stone's throw from the Empire Theatre in Nicolson Street.
The flat, which has been described as "dingy", was owned by dancer and mime artist, the late Lindsay Kemp, who invited Bowie and then wife Angie to come and stay with him.
At that time, David Bowie, who had already scored a first commercial hit with Space Oddity, but was still relatively fame-free, had a flowing, shoulder-length mane of hair and wore hippyish clothes - but all that was about to change.
Kemp, who wore make-up as standard as part of his stage act, is said to have heavily influenced Bowie's transformation - leading to the creation of the alien stage character Ziggy Stardust.
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Speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News in the week of David Bowie's untimely death six years ago, local musician James McDonald Reid, who also briefly lived alongside Kemp and Bowie in Edinburgh, recalled the very first time the singer unveiled his new guise.
Weeks after arriving in the capital, Bowie, in what is believed to have been a career first, wore make-up on stage at the Edinburgh College of Art.
James, who opened Bowie's set that day, recalled: “I believe the gig at the art college was the very first time he had worn make up on stage, and that is all down to him meeting and being influenced by Lindsay.
“Then within months I saw him play a show in London and he was completely transformed from the long-haired hippy I had first met in Edinburgh into this incredible stage performer.”
James added: "“During the art college gig he was more of a folk-orientated artist but he soon changed all that and became the worldwide star we all know today."
Over the next 18 months, David Bowie's act underwent a massive shift, in both the style of music he made and how he presented himself on stage.
The invention of the glam-influenced Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and their string of chart hits that followed would make him a nationwide success and a fashion icon to boot.
By then based back in London, Bowie returned to Scotland's capital as a bona fide superstar on May 19, 1973, for a packed out show at the Empire Theatre (now the Festival Theatre).
The set list included a string of now classic songs, including Changes, The Jean Genie, Life On Mars, Ziggy Stardust, and Moonage Daydream.
