David Bowie - Biography - IMDb David Bowie Biography Showing all 147 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (10) | Trivia (62) | Personal Quotes (67) Overview (5) 5' 10" (1.78 m) Mini Bio (1) David Bowie is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of pop music. Born David Jones, he changed his name to Bowie in the 1960s, to avoid confusion with the then well-known Davy Jones (lead singer of The Monkees ). The 1960s were not a happy period for Bowie, who remained a struggling artist, awaiting his breakthrough. He dabbled in many different styles of music (without commercial success), and other art forms such as acting, mime, painting, and playwriting. He finally achieved his commercial breakthrough in 1969 with the song "Space Oddity," which was released at the time of the moon landing.

Despite the fact that the literal meaning of the lyrics relates to an astronaut who is lost in space, this song was used by the BBC in their coverage of the moon landing, and this helped it become such a success. The album, which followed "Space Oddity," and the two, which followed (one of which included the song "The Man Who Sold The World," covered by Lulu and Nirvana ) failed to produce another hit single, and Bowie's career appeared to be in decline. However, he made the first of many successful "comebacks" in 1972 with "Ziggy Stardust," a concept album about a space-age rock star. This album was followed by others in a similar vein, rock albums built around a central character and concerned with futuristic themes of Armageddon, gender dysfunction/confusion, as well as more contemporary themes such as the destructiveness of success and fame, and the dangers inherent in star worship. In the mid 1970s, Bowie was a heavy cocaine abuser and sometime heroin user. In 1975, he changed tack. Musically, he released "Young Americans," a soul (or plastic soul as he later referred to it) album.

This produced his first number one hit in the US, "Fame." He also appeared in his first major film, The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). With his different-colored eyes and skeletal frame, he certainly looked the part of an alien. The following year, he released "Station to Station," containing some of the material he had written for the soundtrack to this film (which was not used). As his drug problem heightened, his behavior became more erratic. Reports of his insanity started to appear, and he continued to waste away physically. He fled back to Europe, finally settling in Berlin, where he changed musical direction again and recorded three of the most influential albums of all time, an electronic trilogy with Brian Eno "Low, Heroes and Lodger." Towards the end of the 1970s, he finally kicked his drug habit, and recorded the album many of his fans consider his best, the Japanese-influenced "Scary Monsters." Around this time, he played the Elephant Man on Broadway, to considerable acclaim. The next few years saw something of a drop-off in his musical output as his acting career flourished, culminating in his acclaimed performance in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983).

In 1983, he recorded "Let's Dance," an album which proved an unexpected massive commercial success, and produced his second number 1 hit single in the US. The tour which followed, "Serious Moonlight," was his most successful ever. Faced with this success on a massive scale, Bowie apparently attempted to "repeat the formula" in the next two albums, with less success (and to critical scorn). Finally, in the late 1980s, he turned his back on commercial success and his solo career, forming the hard rock band, Tin Machine, who had a deliberate limited appeal. By now, his acting career was in decline. After the comparative failure of Labyrinth (1986), the movie industry appears to have decided that Bowie was not a sufficient name to be a lead actor in a major movie, and since that date, most of his roles have been cameos or glorified cameos. He himself also seems to have lost interest in movie acting. Tin Machine toured extensively and released two albums, with little critical or commercial success.

In 1992, Bowie again changed direction and re-launched his solo career with "Black Tie White Noise," a "wedding" album inspired by his recent marriage to Iman . He released three albums to considerable critical acclaim and reasonable commercial success. In 1995, he renewed his working relationship with Brian Eno to record "Outside." After an initial hostile reaction from the critics, this album has now taken its place with his classic albums. In 2003, Bowie released an album entitled 'Reality.' The Reality Tour began in November 2003 and, after great commercial success, was extended into July 2004. In June 2004, Bowie suffered a heart attack and the tour did not finish it's scheduled run. After recovering, Bowie did not release any new music, but did a little acting. In 2006, he played Tesla in The Prestige (2006) and had a small cameo in the series Extras (2005). In 2007, he did a cartoon voice in SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) playing Lord Royal Highness.

He has not appeared in anything since 2008; however, after a ten year hiatus from recording, he released a new album called 'The Next Day.' Bowie has influenced the course of popular music several times and influenced several generations of musicians. His promotional videos in the 1970s and 80s are regarded as ground-breaking, and as a live concert act, he is regarded as the most theatrical of them all. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Dara O'Kearney <daraok@iol.ie> Spouse (2) His distinctive and idiosyncratic singing style, wide ranging vocals and rich baritone His one permanently dilated pupil that gives him the appearance of different colored eyes Known for having a different theme on almost every album Lyrics with science fiction or fantasy themes His highly theatrical style and performances His musical eclecticism and experimentation Wearing sharp suits in the 1980s The intellectual depth of his work His marriage of music and visual art Trivia (62) His eyes were both blue.

However, one pupil was permanently dilated due to an incident when he was punched by a school friend, George Underwood , when he was 15, and as a result, one eye looked darker than the other. Underwood became a successful artist and remained a friend of Bowie's for the rest of his life, including designing artwork for him. In 1968 while he was still a struggling artist, Bowie wrote some English lyrics to a French song titled "Comme d'Habitude" ("As Usual"). His version, "Even a Fool Learns to Love", never did get recorded, but when the French melody caught the attention of Paul Anka , he reworked the lyrics and the song became "My Way". Of course, when Frank Sinatra recorded "My Way" his way, it turned to gold. Bowie had one son in 1971 with his then-wife Angie Bowie , originally named Zowie - who later changed it to Joe and who is now known as Duncan Jones . Duncan was Bowie's best man at his 1992 wedding to Iman . He studied at a film school in London and became a successful writer and director.

(August 15, 2000) His daughter, with Iman , Alexandria Zahra Jones, was born. Bowie was the first sexually ambiguous British pop star, declaring himself "gay" in 1972 (before contemporaries such as Freddie Mercury and Elton John made declarations that they were bisexual) and only five years since male homosexuality had been decriminalized in the UK. In a magazine interview, he stated that he met his first wife when they were in a relationship with the same man. Whether this was true or a joke has been the subject of much speculation. His appearance on Top of the Pops (1964) in 1972 with "Starman", when he put his arm around guitarist Mick Ronson , has been cited by many as a key moment for gay liberation in Britain and described by journalist Caitlin Moran as "the gay moon landing". In a 1983 interview with Rolling Stone, he stated that his bisexuality was really a sham. He claimed he made the story up to create more mystery about himself and defined himself as a "closet heterosexual".

In later years he would neither confirm nor deny he had engaged in gay relationships, merely admitting (in a 2002 interview by Jonathan Ross ) that he'd been "incredibly promiscuous". Dancer Lindsay Kemp has often claimed in interviews that he slept with Bowie. He was born and raised in London, England, of English parents. His father was originally from Yorkshire. His mother was from Kent and was of Irish ancestry. The Jones side of the family had roots in West Wales. In his composition "Slip Away", on his album "Heathen", he makes cryptic references to The Uncle Floyd Show (1974), a program popular in the late 1970s and 1980s in the New York City area. Broadcast on a local television station, it featured two puppets, "Oogie" and "Bones Boy", mentioned in the song, as well as the host, "Uncle" Floyd Vivino . He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 (by Madonna ) and the American Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.

He contributed the song "Everyone Says Hi" to the all-star War Child album "Hope", which assisted child victims of the war in Iraq, in 2003. His 1972 album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" came 8th in Classic Rock Magazine's list of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time. [March 2003] He performed with (on separate occasions) Queen , Mick Jagger , Iggy Pop , Al B. Sure! , Tina Turner , Annie Lennox , 'Nine Inch Nails' and Bing Crosby . Something that he and actor John Hurt had in common is that both men played the Elephant Man. Bowie was consistently listed in later life as one of the wealthiest British music stars in the world. In November 1997, Business Age magazine reported his net worth as being over $900 million, surpassing even that of fellow British musician Paul McCartney , making him Britain's richest rock star. In 1999, Reuters placed his net worth at roughly $917 million.

In 2003, the Sunday Express claimed his net worth was still in the $900 million (£510 million) range but that this placed him second to Paul McCartney . However, in 2005, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated his fortunes at roughly $185 million (£100 million). Following his death in 2016, his estate, which was mainly bequeathed to his widow and two children, was valued at $100 million (£70 million). His song "Five Years" was covered by former Marillion singer Fish on his 1993 album "Songs from the Mirror", a collection of songs which reflected his musical influences. His song "Life on Mars" was covered by Marillion frontman Steve Hogarth and the H Band on the album "Live Spirit: Live Body" (released 2002). Bowie cited Little Richard as his first musical influence, hearing him at the age of eight, and, according to producer Nile Rodgers , he was a key influence on his most commercially successful album, "Let's Dance". Bowie drew from a wide range of musical influences from his earliest days.

In 2015, British music publication Mojo released a compilation album of 15 tracks by his earliest influences. It comprised of tracks by Little Richard , Chuck Berry , Bobby Bland , Ronnie Ross , Frank Sinatra , Jacques Brel , Lotte Lenya , Nina Simone , Nat 'King' Cole , Billy Fury , Anthony Newley , The Flares, Vince Taylor , The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things . He declined the royal honor of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000, and turned down a knighthood in 2003. He took the pseudonym "David Bowie" to keep himself from being confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees . (June 25, 2004) He had an emergency angioplasty in Germany while on his current tour. The remainder of the tour was obviously cancelled. Bowie was a big fan of The Velvet Underground . He later recorded with and produced the band's songwriter Lou Reed . He also frequently collaborated as a songwriter with Iggy Pop from The Stooges . Bowie, Reed and Pop are all considered to be among the most influential rock musicians of all time.

Bowie included a version of "China Girl", which he had written with Pop in the 1970s (and had been recorded by Pop on his 1977 album "The Idiot"), on his 1983 album "Let's Dance" in order to help Pop financially. The song became one of Bowie's biggest international hits. Following Bowie's death, Pop described Bowie's friendship as "the light of my life". He played 14 different instruments. The first instrument he learned was the saxophone at the age of 12 and performed it on several of his own songs. Although a talented rhythm guitarist (which included playing the famous riff of "Rebel Rebel"), Bowie found himself lacking in ability as a lead guitarist. He was voted the 39th Greatest Artist in Rock 'n' Roll by Rolling Stone. He turned down the role of Captain Hook in Hook (1991), which went to Dustin Hoffman . He underwent triple heart bypass surgery following a heart attack. He also gave up his smoking habit of 50 cigarettes a day in the same year. [July 2004] He was loosely the basis for the film Velvet Goldmine (1998).

He sang a duet with Kasper Eistrup on the album "No Balance Palace" by the Danish rock band Kashmir . [2005] He was credited as himself in Zoolander (2001). He was the judge of the fashion "walk-off" between Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller . He was the first major recording artist to release a song only on the Internet. He is mentioned in "Life Is a Rock But the Radio Rolled Me", a 1974 international hit single by Reunion and "Monkey Business", a 1991 international hit single by heavy metal band Skid Row (the lyric "thinkin' Bowie's just a knife"). He was the son of Margaret Mary Jones . He was the winner of the British Phonographic Industry Award for British Male Solo Artist in 1984 following the success of his multi-million selling album "Let's Dance". He was also the winner of the 1996 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution. In 2014, Bowie became the oldest person to date to win the British Male Solo Artist award following the success of his comeback album "The Next Day". He was more than 40 years older than the other nominees.

He played Serbian/American scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006). Bowie revealed that he turned down a lucrative opportunity to record a theme song for a James Bond film because he didn't like the franchise. He was also originally approached to play Max Zorin in A View to a Kill (1985), but turned it down citing his lack of enthusiasm for the script. The role went to Christopher Walken instead. He was also considered for the role of The Joker in Batman (1989) and Max Shreck in Batman Returns (1992), but turned down the latter to appear in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). He was ranked #12 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists and #7 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll. Bowie considered "Tonight" (released in 1984) and "Never Let Me Down" (released in 1987) to be his weakest albums. Both albums were critically panned and led to Bowie forming the group Tin Machine in an attempt to shed his mainstream audience and reinvent himself as a creative force.

Despite his low opinion of these albums, Bowie did later choose a song from each album ("Loving the Alien" from "Tonight" and "Time Will Crawl" from "Never Let Me Down") as among his fifteen favourite tracks from his own career for the 2008 compilation album "iSelect". He resided in New York City from 1992 until his death. He appeared in Bing Crosby 's last television show before his death, a Christmas special taped in London that aired after Crosby's death in December 1977. It is memorable for Crosby and Bowie singing a duet of "The Little Drummer Boy": Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas (1977). He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 12, 1997. Early in his career, Bowie was once snubbed by The Beatles ' Apple record label. He had a fear of flying (Aviophobia). He asked Stevie Ray Vaughan to play guitar on the album "Let's Dance" after seeing Double Trouble perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

He was a big influence on Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks of the progressive rock band Genesis , who both followed his career from the early days in the 1960s. Banks became a fan from buying a copy of his 1966 single "Can't Help Thinking About Me", which he loved for its unusual chords. His song "Heroes" was recorded by Gabriel on his album "Scratch My Back", released in 2010. It was a very different arrangement from Bowie's original, with Gabriel's voice accompanied only by orchestral instruments. In 1969, he starred in a black-and-white Lyons Maid ice cream commercial directed by Ridley Scott . (The slogan was: "The pop ice cream. Nine pence.") In 1983, Bowie starred in The Hunger (1983) directed by Ridley's brother Tony Scott . He went through a heroin addiction, which resulted in him blacking out and unable to account for his own behavior for much of the mid-1970s. His song "Ashes to Ashes" documents his struggles with drugs.

Bowie was one of the first artists to pay tribute to Freddie Mercury following his death in 1991 and performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute: Concert for AIDS Awareness (1992). Bowie was also a friend of his glam rock contemporary Marc Bolan , whose funeral he attended in 1977. Elton John revealed in an interview with The Evening Standard following Bowie's death that he had been close to Bowie during their early careers, they had spent time together at music venues and gay clubs, but they had also fallen out back in the 1970s due to comments Bowie made about John to Rolling Stone magazine. He said they were never close again after that. Nevertheless, John performed a version of "Space Oddity" in a concert as a tribute to Bowie following his death. He was awarded Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Catherine Trautmann in 1999. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in June 2013. He was the main inspiration for Tilda Swinton 's character in A Bigger Splash (2015), rock musician Marianne Lane.

Swinton appeared next to Bowie on the music video for his song "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)". Bob Geldof envisaged him as singing the first line on "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid . However, Bowie was unavailable for the recording, so Paul Young sang it instead as it was felt he had the closest voice to Bowie of all the performers participating. Bowie did get to eventually sing the opening of the song at the Live Aid (1985) finale at Wembley Stadium. He is mentioned in the lyrics of the theme tune for Only Fools and Horses.... (1981), one of the UK's most popular sitcoms of all time. He met wife-to-be Iman in October 1990 through mutual hairstylist Teddy Antolin after Bowie had earlier 'discovered' the supermodel in the pages of a fashion magazine aboard a plane between tour gigs. David proposed to Iman under the Pont Neuf bridge on the River Seine while serenading her with the love song "April in Paris". Known for his sense of style, Bowie has been described by director Geoff Wonfor as "one of only three people in music who really looked good in a suit.

The others are Bryan Ferry and Robert Palmer ". He tried to live as normal and inconspicuous a life as possible in New York in later years. He was also known to be a dedicated family man. In 2002 he said he could never come back to live in the UK because of the media intrusion which had developed there. When Bowie was extremely young, perhaps between the ages of 2 to 4 years old, his parents enrolled him in what is called 'infant's school' in Britain. In the US it would be considered 'Nursery School' or 'Preschool'. His teachers said that during the music and dance parts of the days, Bowie astonished them with his grace and poise of movement. They said they had never witnessed a child so young able to move like that. He died two days after his 69th birthday. Bowie often said he was ''a collector'', and people close to him said he rarely threw anything away. He made remarks in his twenties that sounded megalomaniacal at the time, saying that he envisioned collecting everything he did in his life and organizing it all meticulously in archives. He wasn't kidding: he did make good on his intent.

He saved all his handwritten lyrics, all his stage outfits once he retired them, paintings and art pieces he made, and everything else he valued that he created during his life's work, and had them stored under meticulous security in Switzerland, organized and archived as he said he would. The BBC television dramas Life on Mars (2006) and Ashes to Ashes (2008) were named after two of his most famous songs. Shortly after his passing, fans from Berlin, Germany, started a petition to change the name of the "Hauptstraße" in Berlin Schöneberg into "David-Bowie-Straße" (David Bowie Street). The reason behind it is that Bowie lived there from 1976 until 1978, a time that is considered for not only saving his career, but also for saving his life. During that time, he produced three of his most well-known albums, "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger". His video for "Ashes to Ashes" was 27th in Channel 4's countdown of The 100 Greatest Pop Videos (2005).

The video featured Bowie fan Steve Strange , whose band Visage later covered Bowie's song "Loving the Alien" on their 2015 album "Demons to Diamonds". The influential British singer-songwriter Paul Weller named one of his children "Bowie" after him. Weller has cited "Low" as "one of my favourite records". Bowie's first four albums, "David Bowie" (1967), "David Bowie" (1969) (also subsequently titled "Space Oddity"), "The Man Who Sold the World" (1970) and "Hunky Dory" (1971), all failed to chart in the UK on their initial release. He first entered the album chart with "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" in 1972. In 1971, Peter Noone (of Herman's Hermits fame) had his only solo UK chart hit with a cover of Bowie's song "Oh! You Pretty Things", which reached number 12. In 1974, Lulu had a number three single in the UK with her cover of his song "The Man Who Sold the World".

Neither song was a hit for Bowie in the 1970s. Music producer Nile Rodgers , the BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz and Professor Michael Spitzer, the Head of the Department of Music at the University of Liverpool, have all likened Bowie as a musician to the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso , who had a far-reaching and enduring impact on the art world in the 20th century similar to the impact Bowie had on popular music during his lifetime, which has earned Bowie the alliterative nickname "The Picasso of Pop". Gompertz said that Bowie was, like Picasso, "an innovative, visionary, restless artist who synthesised complex avant-garde concepts into beautifully coherent works that touched the hearts and minds of millions". Personal Quotes (67) [on whether he thinks he is a good actor] I took you in, didn't I? I rest my make-up case. [during an interview about his new album in 1999] I have nothing to say about the new album. Can I go now? Talking about art is like dancing about architecture. I rate Morrissey as one of the best lyricists in Britain. For me, he's up there with Bryan Ferry .

[on receiving an honorary degree from Boston's Berklee College of Music] Any list of advice I have to offer to a musician always ends with, "If it itches, go and see a doctor.". I know about Kylie [ Kylie Minogue ] and Robbie [ Robbie Williams ] and Pop Idol (2001) and stuff like that. You can't get away from that when you hit the [British] shore, so I know all about the cruise ship entertainment aspect of British pop. I'm an instant star; just add water. [from 1992] It would be my guess that Madonna is not a very happy woman. From my own experience, having gone through persona changes like that, that kind of clawing need to be the center of attention is not a pleasant place to be. I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I'm looking for backing for an unauthorized autobiography that I am writing. Hopefully, this will sell in such huge numbers that I will be able to sue myself for an extraordinary amount of money and finance the film version in which I will play everybody. [in 1976 interview with Playboy] It's true - I am a bisexual.

But I can't deny that I've used that fact very well. I suppose it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Fun, too. You would think that a rock star being married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is. [on his biggest worldwide hit song, "Let's Dance"] I don't know how many times someone has come up to me and said, "hey, let's dance!" I hate dancing. God, it's stupid. I reinvented my image so many times that I'm in denial that I was originally an overweight Korean woman. [on being 50] Fab. But, you know, I don't feel fifty. I feel not a day over forty-nine. It's incredible. I'm bouncy, I feel bouncy. I once asked [ John Lennon ] what he thought of what I do. He said, "it's great, but its just rock and roll with lipstick on". I gave up smoking six months before I had the heart attack - so that was worth it, wasn't it! I started to give up when my daughter was born because I wouldn't smoke in the house with her there so I had to go outside.

It's bloody cold in winter in New York, so I just quit. [on Syd Barrett ] The few times I saw him perform in London at UFO and the Marquee clubs during the '60s will forever be etched in my mind. He was so charismatic and such a startlingly original songwriter. Also, along with Anthony Newley , he was the first guy I'd heard to sing pop or rock with a British accent. His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed. [on his pop sound during the 1980s] There was a period when I was performing in front of these huge stadium crowds at that time and I'm thinking: "What are these people doing here? Why have they come to see me? They should be seeing Phil Collins ." They were definitely Phil Collins type audiences, you know? And then, that came back at me and I thought: "What am I doing here? I should be playing to people who don't look like they've come to see Phil Collins ." That's what I'd been used to up until that point. I don't know the guy.

There's a certain kind of mainstream field that I'm not comfortable in. I'm just not comfortable in it. [from 1983] I get offered so many bad movies. And they're all raging queens or transvestites or Martians. [in 2002] I had no problem with people knowing I was bisexual. But I had no inclination to hold any banners or be a representative of any group of people. I knew what I wanted to be, which was a songwriter and a performer, and I felt that bisexuality became my headline over here for so long. America is a very puritanical place, and I think it stood in the way of so much I wanted to do. [on Elvis Presley ] I saw a cousin of mine when I was young. She was dancing to "Hound Dog" and I had never seen her get up and be moved so much by anything. It really impressed me, the power of the music. I started getting records immediately after that. [ Sigmund Freud ] would have a heyday with me. The whole animal of rock keeps changing itself so fast and so furiously that you just can't plan ahead. Rock has always been the devil's music.

The only thing I ever got out of fame was a better table in a restaurant. And for that I gave up being able to relate to people. I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image. I like crazy art and, most of the time, out-there music. Rather than having a hit song these days, I like the idea that I'm in there changing the plan of what society and culture look like, sound like. I did change things; I knew I would. It feels great, and very rewarding. "Hunky Dory" gave me a fabulous groundswell. I guess it provided me, for the first time in my life, with an actual audience - I mean, people actually coming up to me and saying,"'Good album, good songs.". That hadn't happened to me before. It was like, "Ah, I'm getting it, I'm finding my feet. I'm starting to communicate what I want to do. Now: what is it I want to do?" There was always a double whammy there.

[speaking in 2002] Of the 26 albums I've made I think there were two when I really wasn't involved and that was "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down", the two follow-ups to "Let's Dance". That period was my Phil Collins years. [speaking in 2002] It seems to be traditional now that every album since "Black Tie White Noise" is the best album I've put out since "Scary Monsters". [on the song "Dance Magic" from Labyrinth (1986)] In a recording studio, a baby I'd picked from one of the backup singers . . . couldn't put two gurgles together. And it wouldn't work for me, it wouldn't go, I kicked it, I did everything to make it scream but it wouldn't, it really buttoned its lips so I ended up doing the gurgles, so I'm the baby on that track as well. I thought "What the hell? I've done "Laughing Gnome", I might as well go all the way with that.". I never thought in 20 years I'd come back to working with gnomes.

[on Freddie Mercury ] Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest. He took it over the edge. And of course, I always admired a man who wears tights. I only saw him in concert once and as they say, he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand. [in 1972] Sometimes I don't feel as if I'm a person at all. I'm just a collection of other people's ideas. [in 1980] I have a lot of reservations about what I've done, inasmuch as I don't feel much of it has any import at all. [in 1975] I like fast drugs. I hate anything that slows me down. [on declining the royal honor of Commander of the British Empire in 2000, and turning down a knighthood in 2003] I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for. [in 1973] Offstage, I'm a robot. Onstage, I achieve emotion.

It's probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy to being David. The lowest point in my life was in 1975, when I was 28, living in Los Angeles. I really did think that my thoughts about not making 30 would come true. Drugs had taken my life away from me. I felt as though I would probably die and it was going to be all over. My assistant, Coco, got me out of it. Thanks to her, I got myself out of America to Berlin. Best advice, which I wish I had known at 18? Don't do drugs. [on Annie Lennox ] Most exquisite. Absolutely fabulous. About David Bowie - History, Biography, Songs and Facts david “As was the case with Miles Davis in jazz, Bowie has come not just to represent his innovations but to symbolize modern rock as an idiom in which literacy, art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social commentary can be rolled into one.” Rolling Stone magazine Bowie is the man who elevated his music to what can only be described as an art form. Driven by an entirely deeper dynamic than most pop artists, David Bowie inhabits a very special world of extraordinary sounds and endless vision.

Unwilling to stay on the treadmill of rock legend and avoiding the descent into ever demeaning and decreasing circles of cliché, Bowie writes and performs what he wants, when he wants. His absence from the endless list of “important events” has just fuelled interest. Constant speculation about what the guy was up to has even led some to wonder if this is his greatest reinvention ever. David Jones! David Robert Jones was born in Brixton on January 8, 1947. At age thirteen, inspired by the jazz of the London West End, he picked up the saxophone and called up Ronnie Ross for lessons. Early bands he played with – The Kon-Rads, The King Bees, the Mannish Boys and the Lower Third –provided him with an introduction into the showy world of pop and mod, and by 1966 he was David Bowie, with long hair and aspirations of stardom rustling about his head. Kenneth Pitt signed on as his manager, and his career began with a handful of mostly forgotten singles but a head full of ideas. It was not until 1969 that the splash onto the charts would begin, with the legendary Space Oddity (which peaked at No.

5 in the UK). Amidst his musical wanderings in the late 60s, he experimented with mixed media, cinema, mime, Tibetan Buddhism, acting and love. The album, originally titled David Bowie then subsequently Man of Words, Man of Music, pays homage to all the influences of the London artistic scene. It shows the early song-writing talent that was yet to yield some of rock-n-roll’s finest work, even if it would take the rest of the world a few years to catch up with him. Early 70s Bowie’s first album, The Man Who Sold The World, was recorded as an entity in itself and marks the first definitive creative stretch for the listener. Mick Ronson’s guitars are often referred to as the birth point of heavy metal, and certainly the auspicious beginnings of glam rock can be traced here. The album was released by Mercury in April 1971 to minimal fanfare and Bowie took his first trip to the United States to promote it that spring. In May of the same year, Duncan Zowie Haywood Bowie was born to David and his then wife Angela.

RCA was the next label to sign Bowie, and after a trip to America to complete the legalities, he returned to London to record two albums nearly back to back. Hunky Dory was built from a six-song demo that had enticed the label to sign him and features Changes and Life On Mars. Almost immediately, it was followed up by the instant classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars. 1972 was certainly the year that Bowie began to get a glimpse of the power of pop. GQ editor Dylan Jones said of the landmark 1972 Top of The Pops appearance on 6th July “This is the performance that turned Bowie into a star, embedding his Ziggy Stardust persona into the nations consciousness.” The sound of the suburbs suddenly got a whole lot louder. Previewed in London that spring, his rock-n-roll creation Ziggy Stardust staged one of the most spectacular and innovative live shows to date, and the craze that followed was the beginning of his superstar myth.

The summer of 1972 was also a busy one for him in the studio, as he produced albums for Lou Reed (Transformer) – a seminal record that to this day enthuses critics the world over and spawned the surprise leftfield hit, Walk on the Wild Side, a fairytale of the dark side of New York. The fact that David had also co-produced the terrifying and vastly influential Raw Power by Iggy and The Stooges that year, only added to his growing reputation as an artist to be taken most seriously. Bowie later went on to produce further Iggy albums – The Idiot and Lust for Life and co-wrote China Girl from Let’s Dance with the Detroit demon. He also produced Mott the Hoople (All The Young Dudes, for which he wrote the hit title track). The US “Ziggy” tour began in September, with sold-out shows full of theatrically inspired Japanese costumes, snarling guitars courtesy of Mick Ronson, and a bold, daring approach to performance that propelled the audience into a rock-n-roll fervor.

He abruptly put his own creation to rest on June 3, 1973 with the pronouncement: “Of all the shows on the tour, this one will stay with us the longest because not only is this the last show of the tour, but it is the last show we will ever do.” This surprised everyone in the house – not least the members of his band. Amidst the Ziggy fever, Aladdin Sane was released in April 1973, inspired by his experiences in America while touring. After putting the “Stardust” show to bed, he travelled to France to begin work on his next albums. Pin-Ups was the last time that Bowie would record an album with Mick Ronson on guitar and Ken Scott at the production helm. His tribute to the artists that he admired in the London years of 1964-67 was released in October 1973. In April of 1973, his proto-Bladerunner project Diamond Dogs debuted full of tension and angst standing in stark contrast to the disco music that was beginning to crowd the airwaves.

In the summer of 1974, he undertook his greatest US tour yet, with an enormous set and choreographed tableaus. The double album David Live was recorded in Philadelphia’s Tower Theatre, and serves as a souvenir of this tour. Mid 70s The two previous albums showed hints of Bowie's interest in the music he heard in America. Authentic soul with a unique UK perspective meant this was far from being a homage. The most direct result of this fascination is the rhythmic, soul-laden Young Americans, released in 1975. A collaboration with John Lennon on Fame came out of an impromptu session at Electric Ladyland in New York and was a last-minute addition to the LP. It resulted in Bowie's first ever No. 1 single in the US. The album also featured another David discovery soon to be better known as R&B singer Luther Vandross. He contributed backing vocals alongside the other legendary young American musicians such as Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark, David Sanborn and Mike Garson. Not long after the album came out, he moved to Los Angeles and starred in the cult classic Nic Roeg science fiction film The Man Who Fell To Earth.

After completion of filming, he almost immediately returned to the studio for the recording of Station to Station, a travelogue of sorts. The White Light tour followed, this time with an electronic-driven line-up, played out with Brecht- inspired theatricality. A compilation of hits, ChangesOneBowie, was released by RCA in May 1976. Never one to stay in one place too long, shortly after his tour finished, David relocated to the Schonenberg section of Berlin. Late 70s Whether Bowie was where the action was or the action was where David Bowie was, sometimes it was hard to assess, but for sure the seismic plates of history were shifting under the studio during the next recording. The iron curtain still firmly divided Europe and nowhere more so than in Berlin where David and Iggy were famously holed up. The subsequent music provided an atmosphere backdrop to the emerging punk scene in London. A suitably mysterious return to the UK stage playing keyboards with Iggy in 77 cemented the myth. The stark black and white stage lights highlighted the unseen all persuasive Bowie influence and fitted the mood of the times perfectly. He was soon to step back out of the shadows.

Low and “Heroes” were recorded with collaborators Brian Eno, Tony Visconti and he adopted new approaches to the songwriting process. In an interview for French radio, Bowie said, “Berlin has the strange ability to make you write only the important things. Anything else you don’t mention… and in the end you produce Low.” Surrealism and experimentation were the themes of the day, and the incorporation of cut-and-paste techniques into unique instrumentation birthed what are now heralded as luminary ambient soundscapes. Released in 1977, Low confused RCA and though the masses were not quite sure what to make of the effort, the single Sound and Vision eventually hit No. 2 on the British charts. The second in his three-album triptych, “Heroes” prominently features Robert Fripp on guitar and a more optimistic outlook overall. One of his greatest singles, the title track from this album recounts a romantic liaison between lovers near the Berlin Wall.

His next foray into film occurred in Just A Gigolo, which he described as “all my thirty-two Elvis Presley movies rolled into one.” March of 1978 found him on tour again, and during a May break he narrated Peter and the Wolf with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first of many children's projects he would consistently support over the years (now out of print, the result was a collectible green-vinyl album). Stage was released in September 1978, culled from his recent tour of the States, and features live material from his “Berlin” period. A relocation to Switzerland was to follow, abandoned frequently due to his ever developing love affair with the exotic Indonesia, Africa and the Far East. Recorded in France, Lodger was released in May 1979, and by the end of the year he was again in the studio. Rehearsals also began for his Broadway debut, in the part of the The Elephant Man, which opened in September 1980 to rave reviews.

The 80s In the same month, Scary Monsters was released and Bowie also recorded Under Pressure in 1981 in Switzerland and the song appeared on Queen's album Hot Space the following year. The song reached No. 1 in the UK. After this period, he dropped out of the public eye, while remaining involved with various film projects. 1982 saw him playing the male lead in The Hunger, the role of Celliers in the captivating World War 2 drama Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, alongside Tom Conti and Ryuichi Sakamoto …writing the theme song for the movie Cat People. Another greatest hits compilation, ChangesTwoBowie, came out in 1982. In October 83, RCA released Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture Album, capturing the energy of Ziggy and the Spiders during their last show. Shortly thereafter, the movie, originally filmed in 1973, was also released. Officially signed to EMI in 1983, the album Let’s Dance followed along with the world-encompassing Serious Moonlight tour. Bowie had brilliantly reinvented himself once again.

This time as the ultimate rock star, just in time to be at the forefront of stadium rock and a new era of mass media fuelled mega stardom. Selling at least 7 million copies, Let’s Dance became the most commercially successful album of his career and massively influenced a whole host of artists, including Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Boy George. The album, produced by Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers, was perhaps the most straightforward album of his career. It was a collection of elegantly produced, impeccably sung dance floor numbers including the Motown-styled Modern Love, the darkly romantic China Girl (first cut with Iggy Pop in Berlin) and a remake of the movie theme Cat People. All of the above were substantial radio hits, as was the glossy and romantic title track. The upbeat romantic theme extended to his next album Tonight (1984), though the single Loving the Alien drew a prophetic scenario on the Islam/Christian tensions. A moving appearance at Live Aid (where he dedicated “Heroes” to his young son), a duet single with Mick Jagger, and the heavily theatrical Glass Spider tour (with lead guitar by Peter Frampton) all kept up Bowie's popularity.

In 1988 brought the biggest surprise of all. Another sharp left turn: he had formed a new band, Tin Machine, with the Sales Brothers (Hunt and Tony, sons of Soupy) and a hot guitar find from Boston, Reeves Gabrels. He was adamant that this would be a full-time band, not a superstar solo project. On their two million-selling albums (plus a limited edition live disc), Tin Machine proved their mettle as a modern alternative live act, with a stripped-down guitar sound, all-new material and a few real surprises (a Pixies cover!). Some fans loved it, others were confused by it and Tin Machine was on hiatus by 1992. Meanwhile, Bowie set out on Sound and Vision with his first full-fledged greatest hits tour, recruiting long-time collaborator Adrian Belew to play lead guitar. In an innovative move, fans were allowed to pick the songs via phone poll. An album of the same name accompanied the tour on Rykodisc. The 90s 1993 brought the long-awaited return to solo projects Black Tie White Noise and one of rock’s first CD–ROMs entitled Jump.

With Nile Rodgers again producing, the album came close to summing up every period of Bowie: with the opening instrumental The Wedding (inspired by Bowie's own marriage to model Iman) offering a dance-and-house-inspired, brighter-toned return to the sound of Low; the single Jump They Say harking back to funkier times; and the old Cream tune I Feel Free marking a long-awaited reunion with Ziggy-era partner Mick Ronson (sadly, Ronson passed away soon after). Reaching No. 1 in the UK album charts, Black Tie White Noise reassured fans that Bowie's creative curiosity was by no means exhausted. By 1994, Bowie and Eno were again collaborating in the studio. The result was the concept album Outside released as part of a new deal with Virgin Records. This complex project touches on the increasing obsession with the human body as art and the paganization of western society. With its package-arts broken-down style, its haunted sound of ruin and its non-linear story-line of art, murder and technology, Outside predates the new sensibility of movies such as Seven, Copycat and the TV shows The X-Files and Millennium.

As befits the multiphrenic nature of outsider art and emotion, Bowie sings in any number of voices: one minute the melodramatic crooner, another the stylized Londoner, another the quiet, intimate recluse of the Berlin years. Or, he is vari-speeded among the album’s seven characters. The song The Hearts Filthy Lesson, made the soundtrack of one of the biggest and darkest movie hits of that year in David Fincher’s Seven. 1996 was an extraordinarily active year even by David’s own feverish standards, switching styles and moods effortlessly, embarking on a confrontational tour around the US with Nine Inch Nails and performing acoustically with Neil Young and Pearl Jam at the Bridge Benefit Concert in San Francisco. He had a triumphant summer headlining Roskilde and the Phoenix Festival, and his electric performance at the VH-1 Fashion Awards on October 25, where he debuted his new single Little Wonder. Then there was the new album Earthling, all very direct, hard-hitting. The dramatic cover art featured David in an Alexander McQueen designed Union Jack coat in a slightly surreal British pastoral setting.

The album arose out of the dynamic achieved and harnessed by the end of that summer's tour. The band working on the projects featured Gail Ann Dorsey on bass and vocals, Mike Garson on keyboards, Reeves Gabrels on guitar and synths, and Zachary Alford on drums, the nucleus of the touring outfit. The record features the avant-garde drum-n-bass extravaganza and top 20 UK hit Little Wonder and the crushing Dead Man Walking, a reflection on getting older. As always Bowie was at the cutting the edge with the first ever download of a song distributed through the internet in 1996, Telling Lies. 350 thousand young Americans downloaded a copy. A new age had begun and hardly anybody realised the ramifications, especially the luddite record company bosses of the time. Not for the last time, David was at least ten years ahead of the madding crowd. The next year 1997 was to see a controversial collaboration with Eno in the shape of the I’m Afraid Of Americans single (“Not as hostile about Americans as Born In The USA” – Bowie).

This track, complete with the spontaneous Dom & Nic video that found Trent Reznor chasing David through the streets of Greenwich Village, hung around the US charts for three months, finishing the project on a real high. Despite the title, Bowie's American influence seemed to be growing. He has been cited as a guiding star by The Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, among others. He even reached into American film: the movie Basquiat, co-starring Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, saw him playing the character he immortalized in his 1972 song Andy Warhol. The film’s director was pre-eminent American painter, Julian Schnabel. In January 1997, he celebrated his fiftieth birthday with an all-star performance at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He was joined on stage by old friends Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith, Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters and Frank Black, all of whom played and sang with David to make it one of his most memorable shows.

Then he was off once again on a world tour that stormed over fifteen headlining festivals, countless theaters and clubs, and finished with a stadium tour of South America with Nine Inch Nails and No Doubt. Already highly acclaimed in the fields of art and music, David has been turning his hand to mastering the information superhighway. 1998 saw the launch of BowieNet ( ). BowieNet is the world's first artist-created Internet service provider. 1999 was as busy a year as ever for Bowie. With his continuing work on his now highly acclaimed BowieNet website (a nominee for the 1999 WIRED Award for Best Entertainment Site of the Year), David has found time to work on a film Exhuming Mr. Rice, in which he plays the title role. The year also saw the launch of the David Bowie Radio Network on the Rolling Stone Radio website; this station runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The station's playlist includes 54 tracks, all personally picked and introduced by David. In May, David received an honorary doctorate in music from Berklee College of Music, Boston.

In the past, this prestigious doctorate has also been received by BB King, Sting, James Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones. David also made a well publicised and successful foray in the art world with an acclaimed exhibition at the Cork Street Gallery in London. As well as finding time to pick up the Legion d’honneur Award in France. 1999 also saw the growing relationship between David and Placebo flourish. At the annual BRIT Awards ceremony, David joined the band for a performance of the Marc Bolan classic Twentieth Century Boy. The performance went down so well with the public that the Mirror newspaper began a mini-campaign for the track to be released as a single and it was not long before the two artists were to team again. July saw David voted as the biggest music star of the 20th century, beating Mick Jagger and Noel Gallagher, by readers of The Sun newspaper. In the same month David was voted the sixth Greatest Star of The Century by Q Magazine and its readers. In this poll David was the third highest-ranking star who is still alive. Most importantly October 1999 saw the release of a brand new studio album. Hours...

which was David’s twenty-third solo album, harkening a return to the sounds of the Hunky Dory days. Written solely with long-time collaborator Reeves Gabrels over the last year, Hours… could be described as one of David's most autobiographical records to date. Tracks include Thursday’s Child, Survive and The Dreamers. The themes of loss and regret throughout the album are likely to strike hearts universally. With such personal lyrics as “Sometimes I cry my heart to sleep,” David is evoking emotions recognizable to us all. This album deals more with real life opposed to imagery and fantasy. The Hours... touring schedule ended in spectacular style with David headlining the closing night of the 2000 Glastonbury festival in front of an estimated 150,000 people. Reportedly the largest attendance at the event ever and a far cry from an earlier appearance at the inaugural Glastonbury with Hawkwind in front of a couple of thousand people. Backstage catering consisted of milk and cheese in Michael Eavis kitchen then. This time, the banners fluttered in the wind and the crowd stretched as far as the eye could see.

A 21 song set saw David open with Wild is the Wind and finished with the ambiguously titled I’m afraid of Americans. A fitting close to what was a spectacular year. 2001 and beyond Following the end of the Hours... campaign David enjoyed a period out of the public eye lightly peppered with some key spectacular live performances. For two consecutive years, he has pledged his support to the Tibet Freedom House shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall alongside luminaries such as Philip Glass, Patti Smith, Moby and Beastie Boy Adam Yauch to aid the campaign for a free Tibet. Each year has seen a very different performance from David, one year had Moby on guitar delivering a rocking version of “Heroes” and the next saw a string driven rendition of the rarely performed Space Oddity with Adam Yauch on bass. There is never a “quiet” time in the life of David Bowie and during this period, David was bestowed the honor of being voted the most influential artist of all time by the UK’s tastemaker tome the NME. In addition, another life changing event took place, the birth of David and Iman’s first child Alexandria Zahra Jones.

Bowie took this time to savor fatherhood but also used the time to write a series of new songs which would form the basis for a new album. David was in New York on September 11th, and in the aftermath David showed support for his adopted city by performing a short but emotional set at The Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden. He opened the show with a raw rendition of the Simon and Garfunkel classic America and followed with an uplifting and barnstorming rendition of his own “Heroes”. All of those whom attended the show and the millions of folk whom saw the show broadcast live on TV can’t help but to have been moved by the sentiments expressed in both of the songs David performed. Following on from that emotional night, the series of new songs that David had started work on led to a much heralded reunion with Tony Visconti which in turn resulted in a new album Heathen and a change of outlook towards the music industry and the setting up of his own label Iso Records which has now linked up with Columbia Records to release what is probably the most eagerly awaited album of his career. “Tony and I had been wanting to work together again for a few years now,”says David.

“Both of us had fairly large commitments and for a long time we couldn't see a space in which we could get anything together. As spring came around, last year, things began to ease up. I told Mark Plati and my band that I was going to disappear for a while and put this thing together with Tony. They were very understanding, they’ve worked with me long enough to know that we would be back together again before long.” So, diaries cleared, Bowie and Visconti set about compiling what you might call a location report, just outside of Woodstock in New York State. “I’d been told by guitarist David Torn of a new studio that was near completion called Allaire. Tony and I [took] a trip up a few weeks before we started work there, just to suss it out. In fact, T-Bone Burnett was working there with Natalie Merchant at the time. It’s remote, silent and inspirational. We couldn't believe what a find it was.” So taken was he with the setting, David didn’t come back to New York again until the record was complete, living in the grounds with his family and eating in a communal dining room.

A famously early riser, he put that to good use as Heathen began to come sharply into focus. “I’d get up around six most mornings and spend them in the studio putting together my chord structures and melodies and words, finding sounds that I wanted to use. Then around ten, Tony would get in and we’d go to work.” Bowie’s old friend Pete Townshend’s contribution to the album, playing lead guitar on Slow Burn, was not his first with Bowie, as listeners to Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) will remember. Foo Fighters Dave Grohl took the lead on the Neil Young cover I’ve Been Waiting. For a further surprise, there’s more Bowie instrumentation on Heathen than anything in memory. “I was delighted that so much of what I played remained on the finished work. That’s me playing drums over my own loop on the Pixies cover Cactus. In fact the only thing I didn’t play on that track was bass. That was Tony Visconti. Nearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and some of the piano.” And the title? “Heathenism is a state of mind”, says Bowie. “You can take it that I’m referring to one who does not see his world.

He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any God’s presence in his life. He is the 21st Century man. There’s no theme or concept behind Heathen, just a number of songs, but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums.” Some of the new songs such as Slow Burn and Afraid from Heathen got their first public airing in early May of 2002 at the Robert De Niro organized Tribeca Film Festival in New York which was put together to help revitalize the spirits of the downtown area. The release of Heathen was accompanied by a series of concerts across Europe and the USA most notably David’s curatorship of the prestigious two week long British Meltdown arts festival involving acts as diverse as The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Suede, comedian Harry Hill, Coldplay, Television and The Dandy Warhols. David performed Low in its entirety alongside Heathen as part of the festival. A year later the Reality album was launched with the world’s largest interactive ‘live by satellite’ event and was followed by the rapturously received and critically acclaimed A Reality Tour of the world.

Apart from the odd rare sighting at a charity function and one or two snatched paparazzi shots, David has kept an extremely low profile, popping up for two stunning performances with Arcade Fire in Central Park 2005 and again in September 2006 at New Yorks Radio City Hall. That certainly woke everyone up! In 2006 he joined Pink Floyd legend Dave Gilmour on two of Floyd’s best-known songs – Arnold Layne and Comfortably Numb at the Royal Albert Hall. 2006 also saw Bowie return to acting with the Chris Nolan-directed The Prestige (#1 at the box office). In May 2007, Bowie was the curator of the highly successful 10-day High Line arts and music festival in New York. In June, he was honored at the 11th Annual Webby Awards (known as the “Oscars of the Internet”) with the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for pushing the boundaries between art and technology. Later in 2007, Bowie starred as himself in an acclaimed episode of Extras, Ricky Gervais’ series on HBO.

2012 saw the erection of a plaque in Heddon Street, London to commemorate the extraordinary influence of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and of course David himself. A large group of media and fans assembled for the occasion; were treated to a moving speech from Gary Kemp who said, “Ziggy was the ultimate messianic rock star, and with him David Bowie successfully blurred the lines not just between boys and girls, but himself and his creation. Bowie was Ziggy come to save us – and I bought him hook, eyeliner and haircut. It seems right that it should be the job of a fan boy and I am very honored.” Further excitement accompanied the announcement in 2012, that the David Bowie Archive had given unprecedented access to the prestigious Victoria and Albert museum for an exhibition to be curated solely by the V&A. It is the first time a museum has been given access to the David Bowie Archive. 2013 On January 8, 2013, quite without fanfare and out of the blue, David Bowie did something nobody really expected. He released a new single entitled 'Where Are We Now' and announced the release of a new album in March.

The album, 'The Next Day' is Bowie's 30th studio album and his first new album in 10 years. The next chapter has surely been written by this most mysterious and important of artists. Duncan Jones, David Bowie’s Son: His Kids, Children & Family | Heavy.com Share Tweet Share Email Follow Duncan Jones David Bowie was married for 11 years to ex-wife Angela Bowie, who is currently starring on Celebrity Big Brother. For more information on Angie, click here. Angela and David divorced in 1980, but during their marriage, Angela gave birth to son Duncan Jones, who they nicknamed Zowie and also Joey. Supermodel Iman is Jones' longtime step-mother and is mother to two daughters, one of whom is Duncan's half-sister. Duncan Jones is the half-brother of Alexandria "Lexi" Jones (born 2000) from his dad's second marriage to Iman, and the half-brother of Stacia Larranna Celeste Lipka (born 1980) from his mom's relationship with musician Drew Blood.

His step-sister is Zulekha Haywood, the daughter of Iman from her marriage to Spencer Haywood. Duncan Jones is currently a filmmaker and is actually the director of the upcoming 2016 film adaptation of Warcraft. He was born in Bromley, London and his birth prompted his dad to write the song "Kooks." Upon his father's death, Duncan posted the following heartbreaking message on Twitter, along with a baby photo of himself with his dad: Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all. Duncan Jones grew up in England and when his parents divorced, David Bowie was given custody of his 9-year-old son. At age 14, he enrolled in the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun. At the time, Duncan was called Zowie and he would visit his mother when he had vacations from school. In his preteens, Duncan Jones went by Joey and Joe, but reverted back to his original name when he turned 18 years old, according to the NY Times . He also served as the best man at his father's wedding to supermodel Iman.

Jones, himself, got married to photographer Rodene Ronquillo in November 2012, which is the same day that Ronquillo was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, it was an early diagnosis. For more information on Duncan, his career and upbringing, click through our gallery of his best photos with his late dad, music legend David Bowie . (Getty) (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival) Duncan Jones - Biography - IMDb Duncan Jones Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (12) | Personal Quotes (1) Overview (3) 5' 10" (1.78 m) Mini Bio (1) Duncan Jones was born on May 30, 1971 in Bromley, Kent, England as Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. He is a director and writer, known for Moon (2009), Warcraft: The Beginning (2016) and Source Code (2011). He has been married to Rodene Ronquillo since November 6, 2012. They have one child.

Spouse (1) ( 6 November 2012 - present) (1 child) Trivia (12) Half-brother of his father and Iman 's daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones (born August 15th 2000). Went by the name "Joe" in his teens. Shares his middle name "Haywood" with his father and his grandfather (whose first name was "Haywod"). Is an avid gamer. Favourite movie is Blade Runner (1982). His birth prompted his father, David Bowie, to write the song "Kooks" for his 1971 album "Hunky Dory". Dreamt of becoming a professional wrestler, and his father; David Bowie, frequently praises what he called Duncan' "natural strength.". Became a father for the 1st time at age 45 when his wife Rodene Ronquillo gave birth to their son Stenton David Jones on July 10, 2016. Personal Quotes (1) [on making a movie based on a video game franchise] So the gauntlet was thrown down ages ago: Can you make a proper movie of a video game.

I've always said it's possible. Got to do it now! See also

Question: What name was David Bowie's son given at birth
Answer: Zowie