David Bowie
David grew up in Brixton, London, the son of a marketing manager and a waitress. The family life was marked by silence. In 1993, David described his childhood in an interview: “I didn’t have a happy childhood. Not that it would have been violent, but mine were parents of a very particular British sort: They were quite reserved, there weren’t many hugs”.
David was first exposed to Rock’n’Roll in 1956, when his father bought him his first single, “Tutti Frutti”, by Little Richard. He later said of the song: “I had heard God”.
David's passion for music was encouraged by his parents and his brother Terry, who regularly took him along to concerts. In 1962, he joined the band “The Kon-Rads”, under the stage name Dave Jay, also playing the saxophone. He left the band two years later and recorded his first solo single, “Liza Jane”, which was unsuccessful.
In 1967 he released his debut album “David Bowie”. He had taken this new stage name to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of the band The Monkees. After this album flopped, he decided to reinvent himself musically. Tony Visconti, who would later become his producer and at that time was also working for his friend Marc Bolan (T.Rex), gave him a helping hand.
On the 4th of November 1969, he released his second album “David Bowie (Space Oddity)”, which led to his breakthrough as an artist. The album title “Space Oddity” was inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, and on it, David also introduced the character “Major Tom”.
In 1972, David Bowie earned his place in rock history, with his fifth album, “The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”.
David Bowie got the nickname the “Chameleon of Rock” as he successfully adapted to every music trend. From 60’s Brit-pop to glam rock and 70’s disco, to a somewhat more experimental kind of music in his later creative phase, David tried it all and always with great success.
“Rolling Stone” ranked Bowie 39th in its list of the 100 greatest musicians of all time and 100 best songwriters of all time and 23rd in its list of the 100 best singers of all time.
David Bowie died from liver cancer on the 10th of January 2016, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album “Blackstar”.