DAVID BOWIE is one of
the most inspiring artists of the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and the millenium. From blues to
cabaret to rock to disco. He can do everything. Besides being a musician he is also a good
actor on stage and in movies.
Born in a low-rent section of London, David Jones endured a hard scrabble childhood. His
publicist father and movie-theater usher mother didn't marry until after he was born
a highly scandalous break from convention in 1947; his brother was hospitalized for
psychiatric problems; and a street fight as a teen rendered the pupil of his left eye
permanently dilated. Music, on the other hand, proved a positive force, and the Jones
family encouraged young David's interest in such American rock pioneers as Chuck Berry,
Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley. He learned to play guitar, and later saxophone, while a
student at Bromley Technical High School, played in the band the Konrads, and was
composing songs by the time he dropped out in 1964 to accept a short-lived position as a
commercial artist.
Soon thereafter, Jones joined his first band, an R&B ensemble called Davie Jones and
the King Bees. The group and its two more modish successors, the Manish Boys and the Lower
Third, each recorded and achieved a modicum of regional popularity, but never hit the big
time like many of their contemporaries. Frustrated with the groups' relative lack of
success, Davie Jones renamed himself David Bowie he wanted to avoid being confused
with the lead singer of the Monkees and recorded his first solo album, The World of
David Bowie (1967). His cockney-tinged offering drew some comparisons to English
composer-entertainer Anthony ("What Kind of Fool Am I?") Newley, but generally
the record escaped notice of any kind, and Bowie dropped out of the music scene
altogether. He pondered Buddhism, acted in community theatre, and spent more than two
years as a member of the Lindsay Kemp Mime Troupe.
During this period, Bowie made the acquaintance of Angela Barnet, whom he would marry in
1970. Barnet convinced a friend at Mercury Records to give her beau's music a listen, and
Bowie resurfaced in 1969 with the single "Space Oddity," which was followed
shortly by an album of the same title (released Stateside as Man of Words/Man of Music).
The title track nonetheless became the singer's first hit single the BBC even
played it during coverage of the moon landing and its success proved motivating.
Next up was a hard-edged rock album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970). Although the cover
photo of Bowie wearing a dress raised many an eyebrow, the album's cold, Orwellian look at
the future attracted a small, esoteric audience. (Some critics have since pointed to the
record and to Mick Ronson's guitar work, in particular as the genesis of
heavy metal.) Bowie embarked on his first trip to the United States to promote the record.
Commercial acceptance also evaded his 1971 album, Hunky Dory, which marked a partial
return to Bowie's earthier past with its tribute tunes to Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol. (That
same year, Angela gave birth to their son, Zowie Duncan Heywood Bowie.) Quick on the heels
of Hunky Dory came the album that made Bowie a legend: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
and the Spiders From Mars (1972). The high-concept record about an androgynous
space-rock messiah destroyed by the fanaticism he incites and its associated tour
earned the entertainer legions of his own followers. During this flush of fame, Bowie
discussed his fluid sexuality with the press, and the controversial disclosure both fueled
and occasionally eclipsed his burgeoning musical celebrity.
Bowie kept the albums coming fast and furious. Within the next two years, he released the
conceptual Aladdin Sane (1973), the nostalgically swingin' Pin Ups (1973), the gloomy
Diamond Dogs (1974), and the concert album David Live (1974). He found time between
projects to produce records for such other notables as Lou Reed, for whom he masterminded
"Walk on the Wild Side." In 1975, Bowie scored his first No. 1 single in America
with "Fame" (co-written with John Lennon), off his soul-flavored Young Americans
album. That same year, he relocated to Los Angeles to star in his first fictional feature,
The Man Who Fell to Earth, for director Nicolas Roeg. After the movie wrapped, Bowie
recorded Station to Station (1976) and moved to Berlin, where he created three innovative
albums Low (1977), Heroes (1977), and Lodger (1979) under the supervision of
ambient-electronic music pioneer Brian Eno. During his German residency, Bowie fought a
successful battle to halt his serious drug abuse. He and Angela divorced in 1980, with
custody of their son going to Barnet.
The seventies sensation re-emerged as an eighties icon with the single "Under
Pressure," a collaboration with the group Queen, and the album Let's Dance (1983).
The album featured such listener-friendly singles as "Modern Love" and the title
track, and introduced the former Ziggy Stardust to a new generation of fans. A busy man
during this period, Bowie appeared on Broadway in The Elephant Man, and on the silver
screen opposite Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger (1983) and Tom Conti in Merry Christmas,
Mr. Lawrence (1983); performed at 1985's Live Aid concert; and restyled Martha and the
Vendellas' "Dancing in the Street" with Mick Jagger for a famine-relief single
that hit America's Top Ten. Bowie's popularity dipped a notch when his follow-on albums,
Tonight (1984) and Never Let Me Down (1987), failed to thrill the masses. Fans
nevertheless turned out in droves for his spectacular, world-sweeping Glass Spider tour,
which was rumored to have cost in the neighborhood of $20 million to produce.
As the eighties wound down, Bowie stepped out of the solo spotlight to form the quartet
Tin Machine. The stripped-down sound of the band's two eponymous albums (1989, 1991)
failed to generate much excitement, and Tin Machine soon went on hiatus. On the personal
front, Bowie married sleek Somali model Iman in 1992. The following year, he resumed his
solo career with the release of Black Tie White Noise, and in 1995, he collaborated again
with Brian Eno on Outside. Neither album sold exceptionally well, but their contents and a
1996 world tour reassured fans that the chameleonic experimenter remains a cutting-edge
talent. Bowie celebrated his fiftieth birthday in January of 1997 with an all-star concert
at Madison Square Garden and the release of Earthling.
1999 saw the release of the album Hours and
the single Thursday's Child. |