Bruce Gowers is an English television and music video director. He is presently the director of live episodes of American Idol, having returned to the show for its 2009 season. He had resigned in the 2008 season after a dispute with now-departed executive producer Nigel Lythgoe.
Bruce Gowers' first video was for Queen for their song "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was the "First Video Clip" directed for the purpose of being a music video, in music history. The band had asked him to get their Queen II album cover to come to life. This video established Gowers as an important director for this medium.
Gowers transferred these talents to children's videos with his long-running video series Kidsongs, for home video and public television. Gowers was also the director of the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and the television special Delirious with Eddie Murphy. He also directed the 59th Emmys, was nominated for an Emmy for the 2007 Idol finale, and won an Emmy Award at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards for his American Idol work in 2009.
Bruce Gowers Videos
Selected music videos directed by Bruce Gowers:
- Queen: "Bohemian Rhapsody" (1975)
- Queen: "You're My Best Friend" (1976)
- Queen: "Somebody to Love" (1976)
- Queen: "Tie Your Mother Down" (1977)
- Genesis: "Robbery, Assault and Battery" (1976)
- Genesis: "Ripples" (1976)
- Genesis: "A Trick of the Tail" (1976)
- Michael Jackson: "Rock with You" (1979)
- Michael Jackson: "She's Out of My Life" (1980)
- The Jacksons: "Can You Feel It" (1980)
- Prince: "Controversy"
- Prince: "Sexuality"
- Prince: "1999"
- Huey Lewis and the News: "The Heart of Rock & Roll" (1984)
- Tony Christie and Peter Kay: "Amarillo" (2005)http://www.filewiz.co.uk/paam/karl_lucas.pdf
- Rod Stewart: "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
- Rod Stewart: "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"
- Rod Stewart: "I Was Only Joking"
- Rod Stewart: "Hot Legs"
- John Cougar (Mellencamp): "Jack and Diane"
- John Cougar (Mellencamp): "Hurts So Good"
- John Cougar (Mellencamp): "This Time"
- John Cougar (Mellencamp): "Ain't Even Done with the Night"
- KISS: "World Without Heroes"
- Rose Royce: "Love Don't Live Here Anymore"
- Rod Stewart: "You're Insane"
- Electric Light Orchestra: "Rockaria!"
- Mike Oldfield: "In Dulce Jubilio"
References
Fast Facts
-
Won an Emmy Award
In 2009 for his work on the TV show American Idol
-
Directs
The kids' video series Kidsongs
-
Directed
the U.S. version of the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
-
Invented Music Videos
Bruce Gowers created the first music video.
-
Grammy Hall of Fame
Very likely, Bruce Gowers' video for Queen's song Bohemian Rhapsody got it inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
