![]() All three of those bands released singles, which were generally ignored, yet he continued performing, changing his name to David Bowie in 1966 after the Monkees' Davy Jones became an international star. Following his graduation at 16, he worked as a commercial artist while playing saxophone in a number of mod bands, including the King Bees, the Manish Boys (which also featured Jimmy Page as a session man), and Davey Jones & the Lower Third. Two days after its release, Bowie died, leaving Blackstar as his final grand theatrical gesture.ĭavid Jones began performing music when he was 13 years old, learning the saxophone while he was at Bromley Technical High School another pivotal event happened at the school, when his left pupil became permanently dilated in a schoolyard fight. He designed Blackstar as a farewell to an audience who didn't realize he was dying of liver cancer. After a decade of silence, he re-emerged in 2013, beginning a final act that culminated with Blackstar, an album released on his January 8 birthday in 2016. As the 21st century arrived, he had settled into a comfortable schedule of touring and recording, a routine that ended in 2003 as he retreated from public view. ![]() Stardom achieved, Bowie entered a period of uncertainty, righting himself in the 1990s by reconnecting with his hard rock and art roots. He had hits during this period - the sleek disco-rock of "Fame" gave him his first American number one in 1975 - but he didn't become a superstar until Let's Dance, a stylish dance-rock album recorded with Nile Rodgers and designed with MTV in mind. Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars were a sensation in Britain and a cult phenomenon in the U.S., the foundation of a decade that would see Bowie attempting blue-eyed soul, avant-pop, and experimental electronic rock recorded with Brian Eno. By that point, Bowie had traded his folkie persona for the glam-rock alien Ziggy Stardust, one of the many shifts of sound and image that came to define his career. "Space Oddity" gave Bowie his breakthrough in the U.K., reaching the Top Ten in the summer of 1969 - the summer of Apollo 11 - and it belatedly performed a similar feat in America, giving him his first Top 20 hit early in 1973. ![]() From the outset of his career in the 1960s, he attempted to break into the Top 40, playing British blues, mod rock & roll, and ornate pop before finally hitting paydirt as a hippie singer/songwriter. Bowie may have trafficked in ideas cultivated in the underground, but he was never quite an outsider as far as rock & roll was concerned. One of the greatest stars of the rock & roll era, David Bowie evaded easy categorization throughout his career, operating as the artiest rocker within the mainstream and the most accessible musician on the fringe. ![]()
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