David Bowie

David Bowie (real name David Robert Jones; 1947-2016) is a British rock singer and songwriter, producer, artist, composer and actor. For half a century, he was engaged in musical creativity and often changed his image, as a result of which he received the nickname "the chameleon of rock music".

Influenced many musicians, was known for his characteristic vocal abilities and the deep meaning of his work.

There are many interesting facts in the biography of David Bowie, which we will talk about in this article.

So, here is a short biography of David Robert Jones.

Biography of David Bowie

David Robert Jones (Bowie) was born on January 8, 1947 in Brixton, London. He grew up and was brought up in a family that has nothing to do with show business.

His father, Hayward Stanton John Jones, was a charity worker, and his Mother, Margaret Mary Pegy, worked as a cashier in a movie theater.

Childhood and youth

At an early age, David attended prep school, where he showed himself as a gifted and motivated child. At the same time, he was a very undisciplined and scandalous boy.

When Bowie began attending elementary school, he developed an interest in sports and music. He played for the school football team for a couple of years, sang in the school choir and mastered the flute.

Soon, David signed up for a music and choreography studio, where he demonstrated his unique creative abilities. The teachers said that his interpretations and coordination of movements were "amazing" for the child.

During this time, Bowie became interested in rock and roll, which was just gaining momentum. He was especially impressed by the work of Elvis Presley, which is why he acquired many records of the "King of Rock and Roll". In addition, the teenager began to learn to play the piano and the ukulele - a 4-string guitar.

In the following years of his biography, David Bowie continued to master new musical instruments, later becoming a multi-instrumentalist. It is curious that later he freely played the harpsichord, synthesizer, saxophone, drums, vibraphone, koto, etc.

An interesting fact is that the young man was left-handed, while he held the guitar like a right-hander. His passion for music negatively affected his studies, which is why he failed his final exams and continued his education at a technical college.

At the age of 15, an unpleasant story happened to David. During a fight with a friend, he seriously injured his left eye. This led to the fact that the teenager spent the next 4 months in the hospital, where he underwent several operations.

Doctors were unable to fully restore Bowie's vision. Until the end of his days, he saw everything with a damaged eye in brown.

Music and creativity

David Bowie founded his first rock band, The Kon-rads, at the age of 15. Interestingly, it also included George Underwood, who injured his eye.

However, not seeing the enthusiasm of his bandmates, the young man decided to leave her, becoming a member of The King Bees. Then he wrote a letter to millionaire John Bloom, inviting him to become his producer and earn another $ 1 million.

The oligarch was not interested in the guy's proposal, but he passed the letter to Leslie Conn, one of the publishers of the Beatles songs. Leslie came to believe in Bowie and signed a mutually beneficial contract with him.

It was then that the musician took the pseudonym "Bowie" to avoid confusion with the artist Davey Johnson of the "The Monkees". Being a fan of Mick Jagger's creativity, he learned that "jagger" translates as "knife", so David took a similar pseudonym (Bowie is a type of hunting knives).

Rock star David Bowie was born on January 14, 1966, when he began performing with The Lower Third. It is important to note that initially his songs were very coolly received by the public. For this reason, Conn decided to terminate his contract with the musician.

Later, David changed more than one team, and also released solo records. However, his work still went unnoticed. This led to the fact that he decided to leave music for some time, being carried away by theatrical and circus arts.

Bowie's first musical stardom came in 1969 with the release of his hit hit Space Oddity. Later, a disc of the same name was released, which gained great popularity.

The following year saw the release of David's third album "The Man Who Sold the World", where "heavier" songs prevailed. Experts called this disc "the beginning of the era of glam rock." Soon the artist founded the team "Hype", performing under the pseudonym Ziggy Stardust.

Every year Bowie attracted more and more public attention, as a result of which he was able to gain worldwide popularity. His particular success came in 1975, after the recording of the new album "Young Americans", which featured the hit "Fame". Around the same time, he performed twice in Russia.

A few years later, David presented another disc "Scary Monsters", which brought him even greater fame, and also had a huge commercial success. After that, he fruitfully collaborated with the cult band Queen, with whom he recorded the famous hit Under Pressure.

In 1983, the guy records a new disc "Let’s Dance", which has sold millions of copies - 14 million copies!

In the early 90s, David Bowie actively experimented with stage characters and musical genres. As a result, he began to be called "the chameleon of rock music." During this decade he released several albums, of which "1.Outside" was the most popular.

In 1997, Bowie received a personalized star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the new millennium, he presented 4 more discs, the last of which was "Blackstar". According to Rolling Stone magazine, Blackstar was named the best masterpiece by David Bowie since the 70s.

Over the years of his creative biography, the musician has published many audio and video materials:

studio albums - 27;
live albums - 9;
collections - 49;
singles - 121;
video clips - 59.

In 2002, Bowie was named among the 100 Greatest Britons and was named the most popular singer of all time. After his death, in 2017 he was awarded the BRIT Awards in the category "Best British Performer".

Films

The rock star was successful not only in the music field, but also in the cinema. In the cinema, he mainly played various rebel musicians.

In 1976, Bowie was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Actor for his role in the fantasy film The Man Who Fell to Earth. Later, viewers saw him in the children's film "Labyrinth" and the drama "Beautiful gigolo, poor gigolo".

In 1988, David got the role of Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ. He then played an FBI agent in the crime drama Twin Peaks: Fire Through. A few years later, the artist starred in the western "My Wild West".

In the following years of his biography, Bowie participated in the filming of "Ponte" and "Model Male". His last work was the film "Prestige", where he was transformed into Nikola Tesla.

Personal life

At the height of his popularity, David publicly admitted that he is bisexual. He later refuted these words, calling them the biggest mistake in life.

The man also added that sexual relations with the opposite sex never caused him pleasure. Rather, it was caused by the "fashion trends" of that era. He was officially married twice.

The first time David became engaged to model Angela Barnett, with whom he lived for about 10 years. In this union, the couple had a boy, Duncan Zoey Haywood Jones.

In 1992, Bowie married the model Iman Abdulmajid. An interesting fact is that Iman participated in the filming of Michael Jackson's video "Remember the Time". In this marriage, the couple had a girl named Alexandria Zahra.

In 2004, the singer underwent severe heart surgery. He began to appear on the stage much less often, since the course of postoperative rehabilitation was quite long.

Death

David Bowie died on January 10, 2016 at the age of 69 after 1.5 years of battling liver cancer. An interesting fact is that in this short period he suffered 6 heart attacks! He began to experience health problems in his youth, when he began to use drugs.

According to the will, his family inherited over $ 870 million, not counting mansions in different countries. Bowie's body was cremated and his ashes buried in a secret location in Bali, as he did not want to worship his tombstone.