The Ziggy Stardust Companion explains where David Bowie got the name Ziggy Stardust:
STARDUST came from an eccentric American Country and Western singer called Norman Carl Odom who went by the stage name "The Legendary Stardust Cowboy" (also known as "Ledge" to his friends) and who was on the Mercury label with Bowie in 1969. His one claim for fame was a novelty song called "Paralysed" which reached the Top 200 of Billboard (and which Bowie bought!). He appeared on the TV show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as a serious act but the audience thought he was very funny, and devastated he walked off the stage and cried.
"He was a kind of Wild Man Fisher character; he was on guitar and he had a one-legged trumpet player, and in his biography he said, "Mah only regret is that mah father never lived to see me become a success." I just liked the Stardust bit because it was so silly." - Bowie (1990)
Below is a short clip of the aforementioned Laugh-In appearance.
Legendary Stardust Cowboy - "Paralysed"
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