David Robert Jones, better known as David Bowie, has passed away after an 18-month battle with liver cancer. His death comes two days after the release of his latest album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday.
A native of south London, Bowie was born on January 8, 1947. He developed an early interest in music, art, and design, and began playing the saxophone in 1961. His formed his first band in 1962. His first single, “Liza Jane,” released under the name “Davie Jones with the King Bees” was released in 1964. (He actually re-recorded the song in 2000 for his album Toy, but it was never officially released.) Unhappy with confusion over his name and Davy Jones from the Monkees, he assumed the name “David Bowie,” after the American frontiersman, Jim Bowie. His first single under that name, “The Laughing Gnome,” as well as his eponymous debut album David Bowie, were released in 1967, but failed to chart. He began studying dance and avante-garde theater — even performing as a mime as a support act on tour with Marc Bolan’s Tyrannosaurus Rex — while simultaneously writing and performing music.
His first entry into the charts came in 1969, with the release of “Space Oddity,” which reached the top 5. His second album, also confusingly titled David Bowie, was later renamed Space Oddity and re-released in 1972. Other releases from this era, such as The Man Who Sold the World (1970) and Hunky Dory (1971), began to cement his reputation. The glam-rock era of the ’70s gave him the opportunity to bring his theatrical visions to the public, with releases such as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. During this time he also wrote and produced “All the Young Dudes” for Mott the Hoople and contributed backing vocals to Lou Reed’s Transformer.
In 1975 “Fame” (co-written with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar) and the Young Americans album brought him to major success in America, followed by the introduction of the “Thin White Duke” with 1976’s Station to Station. Later in 1976 he embarked on a left-turn stylistic change, resulting in collaborations with Brian Eno including Low, Heroes, and Lodger. (Low and Heroes later resulted in symphonic projects with minimalist composer Philip Glass.)
A return to pop music yielded more successes, including his “Under Pressure” collaboration with Queen, and the release of his 1983 chart topping album, Let’s Dance, co-produced with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and featuring guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.
For the following three decades, Bowie continued experimenting in a wide range of music styles, including band efforts such as Tin Machine with guitarist Reeves Gabrels. He continued touring until 2004. His last live performance was for a charity event in 2006.
Bowie also had a successful second career as an actor, beginning with a theater production of The Elephant Man, followed by appearances in such films as The Man Who Fell to Earth, Labyrinth, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Prestige, and others.
Bowie sold an estimated 140 million records in his career, and was awarded nine Platinum, eleven Gold, eight Silver records in the UK, and five Platinum and seven Gold in the United States. The long list of awards he received during his career included induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.