David Bowie (1947 - 2016) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, and actor regarded as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century popular music. [1] Across a five-decade career he moved restlessly between styles and personas, from the glam-rock character Ziggy Stardust to the experimental soul and electronic music of his later work. [2] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. [3]
Early life and education
Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in the Brixton district of London. [1] He grew up in Bromley and studied art, music, and design at Bromley Technical High School, later attending institutions in London including the City Literary Institute. In the mid-1960s he adopted the stage name Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees, and spent several years releasing singles and performing with little commercial success. [2]
Breakthrough and Ziggy Stardust
His 1969 single Space Oddity, released around the time of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, gave him his first major hit. [1] In 1972 he created the flamboyant, androgynous character Ziggy Stardust for the concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, a landmark of the glam-rock movement that transformed him into an international star. [2] The persona, which he retired at the height of its popularity, established the pattern of theatrical reinvention that would define his career.
Reinvention and the Berlin era
Rather than repeat a successful formula, Bowie continually changed direction. He explored Philadelphia soul on Young Americans and adopted the austere Thin White Duke persona for Station to Station. [1] In the late 1970s he moved to Berlin and, working with Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti, recorded the experimental albums Low, Heroes, and Lodger, works that drew on electronic and ambient music and proved widely influential. [2] The 1983 album Let's Dance brought him renewed commercial success on a global scale.
Acting and other work
Bowie also pursued acting, appearing in films including The Man Who Fell to Earth and Labyrinth and on stage as the title character in The Elephant Man. [2] Trained in mime and drawn to visual art, he worked as a painter and art collector, and treated his concerts, videos, and album personas as integrated artistic statements. [1]
Later years and legacy
After a period of reduced activity in the 2000s, Bowie returned with the album The Next Day in 2013. His final album, Blackstar, was released on his 69th birthday, two days before his death from cancer in Manhattan on 10 January 2016. [1] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and is remembered as a pioneering artist whose embrace of change reshaped ideas of identity and performance in popular music. [3]
