David Bowie

Pop rock, Celebrity

1947 – 2016

 Credit »
139

Who was David Bowie?

David Robert Jones, known by his stage name David Bowie, was an English musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, actor and arranger. Bowie has been a major figure in the world of popular music for over four decades, and is renowned as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice as well as the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work.

Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low —the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. These so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters, and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. He has not toured since the 2003–04 Reality Tour and has not performed live since 2006. Bowie's latest studio album The Next Day was released in March 2013. He died of liver cancer in 2016

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Born
Jan 8, 1947
Brixton
Also known as
  • David Robert Jones
  • David Jones
  • Ziggy Stardust
  • Davie Bowie
  • Davis Bowie
  • Bowie
  • David Robert Hayward-Jones
  • David Robert Haywood Jones
  • Thin White Duke
  • The Thin White Duke
Parents
Siblings
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Buddhism
  • Atheism
Ethnicity
  • Irish people in Great Britain
Education
  • Ravens Wood School
Died
Jan 10, 2016
New York City

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Modified by Alexis7881
on March 08, 2021

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"David Bowie." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/david_bowie>.

Discuss this David Bowie biography with the community:

2 Comments
  • staceyg.06407
    He is immortal. His work will endure through many future generations.
    LikeReply9 months ago
  • Joao Marques
    Joao Marques
    And...thats all Folks???
    LikeReply5 years ago

Browse Biographies.net