David Bowie
- First Name
David Robert
- Last Name
Jones
- Date of Birth
January 8, 1947
- Date of Death
January 10, 2016
- Place of Birth
London, England
- Discography
David Bowie (1967),David Bowie (1969),The Man Who Sold the World (1970),Hunky Dory (1971),The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972),Aladdin Sane (1973),Pin Ups (1973),Diamond Dogs (1974),Young Americans (1975),Station to Station (1976),Low (1977),"Heroes" (1977),Lodger (1979),Scary Monsters(1980),Let's Dance (1983),Tonight (1984),Never Let Me Down (1987),Black Tie White Noise (1993),The Buddha of Suburbia (1993),Outside (1995),Earthling (1997),Hours (1999),Heathen(2002),Reality (2003),The Next Day (2013),Blackstar (2016)
- Notable Awards
Grammys - Lifetime Achievement Award, Grammys - Best Rock Song, Brit Awards - British Album of the Year
David Bowie’s chameleonic persona and tireless musical adventurism made him one of the most influential rock stars of all time. He was born David Jones in London in 1947, taking up the saxophone at age 13. He began his career in mod bands like the King Bees and David Jones and the Buzz, but found his first commercial success playing a space-age androgyne on the 1969 hit “Space Odyssey.” It would be the first of his many guises, including the arch glam-rock messiah of his 1972 classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, the “plastic-soul” crooner of 1975’sYoung Americans, the disco-era Thin White Duke of 1976’sStation to Station. In the late Seventies, he worked with producer Brian Eno on his experimental “Berlin trilogy” of albums. In the Eighties, Bowie crossed over to pop with hits like “Modern Love” and “Let’s Dance.”
Bowie pushed social conventions as well. In 1972, he told the UK music weeklyMelody Maker that he was gay. In a 1976 Playboy interview he said he was bixsexual. He was married twice, to Angie Bowie from 1970 to 1980, and to the fashion model Iman, who he tied the knot with in 1992. Bowie’s creative ambitions extended to film as well: he appeared inThe Hunger (1983),Labyrinth (1986), and Martin Scorsese'sThe Last Temptation of Christ (1988).
Bowie’s musical input during the 1990s included less-than-successful experiments like the 1997 drum ‘n’ bass-influenced albumEarthling. But he found his artistic footing again in the 2000s, with 2013’sThe Next Day, and 2016’s jazz and hip-hop-tingedBlackstar, a twilight masterpiece recorded in secret after he had been diagnosed with cancer. He died on January 10, 2016, only two days afterBlackstar’s release, ending his peerless career with a final statement of epic reinvention. —Jon Dolan
The Fast Rise, Long Decline, and Agonizing Downfall of the MTV Empire
The audience for music videos is bigger than ever — even as the flagship music-video network keeps killing itself off
- Beavis Wept
- By
David Bowie’s Nineties and 2000s in Photos
Images from photographer Frank Ockenfels3’s new book, “Collaboration,’ reveal the star in constant forward motion
- Photo Gallery
- By
Janelle Monáe Says She Time-Traveled to the 1970s to See David Bowie: ‘I Was Backstage’
In her conversation forRolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians, Monáe recalls jetting back to the 1970s to see Bowie performThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
- What the Hell, Sure
- By
Top stories newsletter
A Cultural Force That Transcends GenerationsBy providing your information, you agree to ourTerms of Use and ourPrivacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services.Thirteen Priceless Artifacts From David Bowie’s Secret Archive
When David Bowie died in 2016, he left behind a personal archive of 90,000 items. The public was given a tiny glimpse at some of the highlights when the “David Bowie Is” exhibit travelled to museums across the world between 2013 and 2018, but the vast majority of the items remained locked away in storage. […]
- Photo Gallery
- By
Read Lady Gaga’s Starstruck Letter to David Bowie
After Bowie sent her an advanced copy of his new album, Gaga told him she felt as if her “entire career has been an artistic plea for you to notice me”
- Heroes
- By
David Bowie’s 15 Favorite Songs Revealed in Unearthed Document
The eclectic list includes tunes by Miles Davis, Roxy Music, the Beatles, Little Richard, and Ronnie Spector
- Aladdin Sane
- By
David Bowie Was Secretly Writing a Musical About 18th-Century London Before He Died
Detailed notes for the show, tentatively titledThe Spectator, were discovered pinned to the wall in the late musician's locked New York City office
- Star Man
- By
Check Out Rare and Intimate David Bowie Photos
As official photographer to David Bowie, Denis O’Regan had an extremely rare glimpse of the late legend. With David Bowie by Denis O’Regan (out August 5 on ACC Art Books), the British photographer opens his archives for a deeper look at Bowie and his many incarnations. Covering two decades and 200 concerts, the shots are […]
- Photo Gallery
- By
Take the World’s Hardest Quiz: David Bowie
Are you an absolute beginner or a complete expert when it comes to David Bowie? Take our quiz and find out
- How Could They Know?
- By
Eric Church's 'Evangeline vs. the Machine' Is Dazzling, Challenging, and a Masterwork
The Nashville maverick goes his own way again with the most ambitious, vulnerable album of his career
- Album Review
- By