David Bowie
In 1975, Bowie's style shifted towards a sound he characterised as "plastic soul", initially alienating many of his UK fans but garnering his first major US crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the album Young Americans (both 1975).He also continued acting; his roles included Major Jack Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Phillip Jeffries in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Andy Warhol in the biopic Basquiat (1996), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos.[14] By the end of the following year, Bowie had taken up the ukulele and tea-chest bass, begun to participate in skiffle sessions with friends, and had started to play the piano; meanwhile, his stage presentation of numbers by both Presley and Chuck Berry—complete with gyrations in tribute to the original artists—to his local Wolf Cub group was described as "mesmerizing ... like someone from another planet".[17] In addition to Burns, a significant proportion of Bowie's extended family members had schizophrenia spectrum disorders, including an aunt who was institutionalised and another who underwent a lobotomy; this has been labelled as an influence on his early work.[26][27] Dissatisfied with the King Bees and their repertoire of Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon covers, Bowie quit the band less than a month later to join the Manish Boys, another blues outfit, who incorporated folk and soul—"I used to dream of being their Mick Jagger", he recalled.[38] Playing acoustic guitar, Hermione Farthingale formed a group with Bowie and guitarist John Hutchinson named Feathers; between September 1968 and early 1969 the trio gave a small number of concerts combining folk, Merseybeat, poetry and mime.[41] Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street.[60] A girlfriend recalled his "scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character "who looks like he's landed from Mars".[64] Elsewhere, the album explored more serious subjects, and found Bowie paying unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol" and "Queen Bitch", the latter a Velvet Underground pastiche.[69] Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed reddish-brown, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder, and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth in Kingston upon Thames on 10 February 1972.[70] The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the next six months and creating, as described by David Buckley, a "cult of Bowie" that was "unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom.The resulting documentary, Cracked Actor, featured a pasty and emaciated Bowie: the tour coincided with his slide from heavy cocaine use into addiction, producing severe physical debilitation, paranoia and emotional problems.At the culmination of the ensuing months-long legal dispute, he watched, as described by Sandford, "millions of dollars of his future earnings being surrendered" in what were "uniquely generous terms for Defries", then "shut himself up in West 20th Street, where for a week his howls could be heard through the locked attic door.[127][128] The final piece in what Bowie called his "triptych", Lodger (1979), eschewed the minimalist, ambient nature of its two predecessors, making a partial return to the drum- and guitar-based rock and pop of his pre-Berlin era.[163][165] Wanting to completely rejuvenate himself following the critical failures of Tonight and Never Let Me Down,[166] Bowie placed his solo career on hold after meeting guitarist Reeves Gabrels and formed the hard rock quartet Tin Machine.As well as performing "'Heroes'" and "All the Young Dudes", he was joined on "Under Pressure" by Annie Lennox, who took Mercury's vocal part; during his appearance, Bowie knelt and recited the Lord's Prayer at Wembley Stadium.[195] On 7 January 1997, Bowie celebrated his half century with a 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden at which he was joined in playing his songs and those of his guests, Lou Reed, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, Robert Smith of the Cure, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, Black Francis of the Pixies, and Sonic Youth.[229] On the 40th anniversary of the July 1969 Moon landing—and Bowie's accompanying commercial breakthrough with "Space Oddity"—EMI released the individual tracks from the original eight-track studio recording of the song, in a 2009 contest inviting members of the public to create a remix.[231] In late March 2011, Toy, Bowie's previously unreleased album from 2001, was leaked onto the internet, containing material used for Heathen and most of its single B-sides, as well as unheard new versions of his early back catalogue.[241] The music video for the song "The Next Day" created some controversy due to its Christian themes and messages,[242] initially being removed from YouTube for terms-of-service violation, then restored with a warning recommending viewing only by those 18 or over.[297] From July 1980 to January 1981, Bowie played Joseph Merrick in the Broadway theatre production The Elephant Man, which he undertook wearing no stage make-up, earning critical praise for his performance.[303] The second was in Nagisa Ōshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, based on Laurens van der Post's novel The Seed and the Sower, in which he played Major Jack Celliers, a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp.[320] Bowie appeared as himself in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander, judging a "walk-off" between rival male models,[321] and in Eric Idle's 2002 mockumentary The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch.[324] In the same year, he voice-acted in Luc Besson's animated film Arthur and the Invisibles as the powerful villain Maltazard,[226] and appeared as himself in an episode of the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant television series Extras.[355] The musicologist James E. Perone observes Bowie's use of octave switches for different repetitions of the same melody, exemplified in "Space Oddity", and later in "'Heroes'" to dramatic effect; the author writes that "in the lowest part of his vocal register ... his voice has an almost crooner-like richness".After the gag order that was part of their divorce agreement ended, Angie wrote a memoir of their turbulent marriage, titled Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie."[379] In January 1968, Kemp choreographed a dance scene for a BBC play, The Pistol Shot, and used Bowie with a dancer, Hermione Farthingale;[380] the pair began dating and moved into a London flat together.[412] The BBC's Mark Easton stated in 2016 that Britain was "far more tolerant of difference", and that gay rights and gender equality would not have "enjoyed the broad support they do today without Bowie's androgynous challenge all those years ago"."[428] In 1976, speaking as the Thin White Duke persona and "at least partially tongue-in-cheek", he made statements that expressed support for fascism and perceived admiration for Adolf Hitler in interviews with Playboy, NME and a Swedish publication.[461][462][463] The BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz likened Bowie to Pablo Picasso, writing that he was "an innovative, visionary, restless artist who synthesised complex avant garde concepts into beautifully coherent works that touched the hearts and minds of millions".
David Bowie (disambiguation)DiscographyvideographyfilmographyAngie BarnettDuncan JonesFull listArt rockglam rockelectronicVirginColumbiaMercuryAristaVocalionParlophoneThe Riot SquadArnold CornsTin Machinepopular musica self-titled solo albumUK singles chartSpace Oddityalter egoZiggy StardustStarmanThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Marsplastic soulYoung AmericansThe Man Who Fell to EarthStation to StationBrian EnoBerlin Trilogy"Heroes"LodgerAshes to AshesScary Monsters (and Super Creeps)Under PressureLet's Dancehard rockindustrialjungleMerry Christmas, Mr. LawrenceJarethLabyrinthPhillip JeffriesAndy WarholBasquiatNikola TeslaThe PrestigeThe Next Daydeath from liver cancerBlackstarbest-selling musicians of all timenumerous accoladesGrammy AwardsBrit AwardsRock and Roll Hall of FameRolling StonesingerssongwritersartistsBrixtonShorncliffe Army CampCheritonManchesterRoyal Tunbridge WellsDoncasterBarnardo'sStockwellLambethStockwell Infants SchoolBickleyBromley CommonSundridge Parkrecorderthe Teenagersthe PlattersFats DominoElvis PresleyLittle RichardTutti FruttiHound Dogukuleletea-chest bassskiffleChuck BerryWolf CubRoyal Variety PerformanceAlma CoganTommy Steeleeleven-plusBromley Technical High SchoolChristopher Sandfordpublic schoolhousesWilberforceOwen Framptonschizophreniaseizuresmodern jazzBuddhismBeat poetryoccultschizophrenia spectrum disorderslobotomyCharles MingusJohn ColtraneGrafton saxophonebaritone saxophonistRonnie RossGeorge Underwooddepth perceptionanisocoriaheterochromia iridumrock and rollJohn BloomBrian Epsteinthe BeatlesDick JamesLiza JaneHowlin' WolfWillie DixonMick JaggerBobby BlandI Pity the Fool