DaDavid Bowie is a musical Genius.
BBorn David Jones in 1947 he worked as a commercial artist for an ad agency.
His Striking His striking appearance was enhanced when as a child he was stabbed in the eye bye a compass.
Changing one of his blue eyes to green.
In 1963 formed his own group David jones and the Lower Third.
He Changed his Name To David Bowie To avoid confusion with The David Jones of the Monkees.
He spent a period with Mime artist Lindsay Kempe.
Who would be cited later as a major influence in his introduction of theatrical rock on stage.
In 1966 he was signed up by the Pye record label and released two unsuccessful singles.
Moving to Decca in 1967 he recorded the album "The World of David Bowie"
Which included the Songs Love you till Tuesday and The laughing Gnome!
David Bowie in the 1960s.
He Made a film called Love you till tuesday and a promo film for the Laughing Gnome too.
Between 1968-1969 Bowie realised that a radical change of style was needed in order to succeed further.
With the release of "Space Oddity" in 1969 things were about to change.
Click Here to watch the his first tv appearance
with Space Oddity
This single reached the top 5 in the UK.
Bowie rather than follow this up "retired" to run an arts lab in Beckenham south london.
His record company prevailed on him to record again and he succumbed to the pressure by recording
"The Man Who Sold The World" album in 1970.(Considered to be one of his finest works).
The cover of which showed him lying on a couch wearing a dress! it became no secret that he was bisexual.
He then gained a new contract with RCA and in 1971 released the album "Hunky Dory" to massive critical acclaim.
The album contained the Brilliant "Life on Mars" which would later be released as a single.
Bowie's close friend for many years was Marc Bolan and the Glam Rock scene was just starting,
which took rise in him wearing outrageous clothes and glam gear.
At this time David had written a song for Mott The Hoople fronted by his friend Ian Hunter.
"All the young Dudes" reached number 2 in the UK in 1972.
Bowie sang backing vocals and produced the track now regarded as a classic.
David Bowie's next album and project was
"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars"
Released in 1972 this was a million seller and contained even more brilliant material.
The single released from this was "Starman" which peaked at number 2.
The performance of this song on Top Of The Pops is just brilliant.
He toured the U.S to much critical acclaim and upon returning to Britain in 1973 he released the LP "Aladdin Sane."
Spawning the hit singles "Drive in Saturday" and the " Jean Genie".
After a sellout UK tour he announced his retirement onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon in London England.
The World was stunned.
Bowie however had decided only to retire from being Ziggy Stardust, the persona he had created but not the rock star.
He never worked with The Spiders again.
From this period on Bowie was continually changing his persona and writing more classic material.
He released the Album " Pin Ups" pictured with Twiggy on the front cover.
It was a collection of cover versions of old songs and spawned the hit single "Sorrow".
More hits followed with"Young Americans"," Rebel, Rebel"
The Albums, Diamond Dogs, Station To Station and Lodger were big sellers.
His colaboration with John Lennon in 1975 on the single "Fame" gave him a U.S number 1.
He starred in the 1976 film "The Man Who Fell To Earth" which was very successful.
In 1977 he reunited with Marc Bolan on his TV Show "Marc"
which was Bolan's last performance as he was killed in a car crash two days later.
David was traumatised by the loss of his friend
.
He appeared on the "Bing Crosby" show in the same year dueting with Bing on "The little drummer boy".
"Ashes to Ashes" in 1980 became his only solo number 1 in the UK to date.
The Fantastic video of him dressed as a clown also included a cameo appearance by his Mum at the end.
In 1985 he reunited on stage with Mick Ronson and Ian hunter of Mott The Hoople
to play All the Young Dudes for Live Aid.
David a joint number 1 hit that year with Mick Jagger "Dancing In The Street".
In 1995 he was the first artist to release an enhanced CD single.
In 1996 he won a Brit award for his outstanding contribution to british music.
(Very well deserved).
David is the only act so far to reject being inducted into the Rock'n'Roll hall of fame.
He has starred in numerous films along the way and has
influenced more people than you can count.
Mr Bowie's record sales are estimated at over 400 million!
He continues to this day still writing and performing.
His list of accolades are too long too list here but he is regarded as one of the greatest talents of the 20th century
David Bowie is Glam Rock's greatest star.
Long Live David Bowie!
Click on the link below to see David Bowie perform