David Bowie’s producing partner Tony Visconti slams claims Harry Styles is the ‘new Bowie’

David Bowie’s producing partner Tony Visconti has criticized claims that Harry Styles is the ‘new Bowie’ after he won two Grammy awards this weekend.

The 78-year-old American record producer, musician, and singer has worked with countless artists since the 1960s, including the late, great David Bowie.

His longest involvement with an artist was Bowie, from 1968 until his last album Blackstar in 2016, and his work on this particular album was cited at the Grammy Awards when Bowie won Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

On Sunday night, Harry Styles beat out an impressive group of others to claim Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year for Harry’s House at the ceremony in Los Angeles.

And after some fans claimed that he was destined to be the “new Bowie” with his breakout success since leaving One Direction, Tony shut down the idea by arguing that Harry “isn’t worthy of shining.” [Bowie’s] shoes’.

On his Facebook page Monday, Tony wrote to his fans: ‘What’s the difference between the Grammys and Las Vegas? Nothing!’

With hundreds of comments and likes on the initial post, Tony took aim at Harry’s live performance on Sunday, where he performed As It Was.

Slamming, Tony wrote: ‘Did someone just tell me that Harry Styles is the new Bowie?

‘From what I saw tonight, he is not worth shining his shoes.’

Bowie fans agreed with Tony, writing: “There will NEVER be someone who is the new David Bowie, he is in a class of his own, he will always be one of a kind.”

Another wrote: ‘Amazingly I love Harry. “Fine Line” kept me company during the pandemic and “Golden” is a great pop record, but it doesn’t come close to Bowie.

Harry Styles has previously cited stars of the Bowie era and Bowie himself as some of his inspirations for making music.

He has also mentioned Prince, Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury in particular as inspirations both musically and in terms of clothing.

Legendary Work: The 78-year-old American record producer, musician, and singer has worked with countless artists since the 1960s, including the late, great David Bowie.

Unhappy: And after some fans claimed that he was destined to be the “new Bowie” with his breakout success since leaving One Direction, Tony shut down the idea by arguing that Harry “isn’t worthy of shining.” [Bowie’s] shoes’

Styles beat out an impressive field of others to claim the Best Album award, including Voyage by ABBA, 30 by Adele, Un Verano Sin Ti by Bad Bunny, Renaissance by Beyonce, In These Silent Days by Brandi Carlile, Music of the Spheres by Coldplay, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar, Special by Lizzo and Good Morning Gorgeous by Mary J. Blige (Deluxe).

It comes after music fans accused the Grammys of being “rigged” after Harry Styles’ long-standing connection to awards show producer Ben Winston resurfaced online after the star will take home the biggest prize of the night.

The As It Was singer won Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year for Harry’s House at the ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

But having beaten out the likes of Beyonce to win the top spot, Twitter went into a frenzy after Styles’ connection to producer Ben Winston was pointed out.

Inspiration: Harry Styles has previously cited stars of the Bowie era and Bowie himself as some of his inspirations for making music.

In the middle of the broadcast, The Recording Academy, which boasts 3.7 million followers, posted a tweet that read: “Fun fact: the voice at the beginning of “As It Was” is the daughter of our own producer from the # GRAMMY, @ Ben Winston!

The revelation sent music fans into a meltdown with many claiming the awards show was “rigged from the start” despite the producer. not have participation in the selection of the winners.

Accepting the honor, he said: ‘Man. I’ve been so, so inspired by every artist in this category with me.

“At many different times in my life, I’ve listened to everyone in this category when I’m alone.

Winner: Styles beat out an impressive field of others to claim Best Album, including ABBA’s Voyage, Adele’s 30, Bad Bunny’s A Summer Without You, Beyonce’s Renaissance, Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days, Music of the Spheres by Coldplay, Mr. Morale by Kendrick Lamar & the Big Steppers, Lizzo’s Special and Good Morning Gorgeous by Mary J. Blige (Deluxe)

Critic: On his Facebook page Monday, Tony wrote to his fans: ‘What’s the difference between the Grammys and Las Vegas? Nothing!’ With hundreds of comments and likes on the initial post, Tony took aim at Harry’s live performance of As It Was on Sunday.

“And I think on nights like this, it’s obviously very important for us to remember that there are no such things as the best in music.”

He continued: ‘I don’t think any of us sit in the studio thinking about making decisions based on what one of these is going to get us.

This is very, very kind. I am so, so grateful. I’m going to pass it on to my collaborators who are… this doesn’t happen very often to people like me. And this is so, so nice. Thank you very very much.’

Compared: Styles (pictured left at the Grammys on Sunday) has also singled out Prince, Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury as inspirations both musically and in terms of clothing (Bowie pictured right in 1973)

But there was a damper on the initial celebrations after it was pointed out on social media that Styles is, in fact, an old friend of Grammy producer Ben Winston.

Winston, who also executive produced The Late Late Show with James Corden, has been producing the Grammys telecast for CBS since 2017.

And her relationship with Styles goes back more than a decade.

Criticism: Styles has come under fire for his connection to Grammy producer Ben Winston (pictured together) after the star took home the night’s biggest award.