Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

David Bowie

David Bowie (born David Robert Jones; January 8, 1947, Brixton, Lambeth, London, England — January 10, 2016, Manhattan, New York, New York, USA) was a British rock singer and songwriter, as well as a producer, sound engineer, painter, and actor. He engaged in musical creative work for fifty years and frequently changed his image, which is why he is called the "chameleon of rock music." At the same time, Bowie managed to maintain his own recognizable style, successfully combining it with current musical trends. Bowie is considered an innovator, in particular, thanks to his works in the 1970s. He influenced many musicians and was known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his works. Having released the album David Bowie and several singles in the early years of his career, David Bowie nonetheless only became known to the general public in the autumn of 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five in the British hit parade. After three years of experimentation, he reappeared in public in 1972 during the rise of glam rock, creating a striking androgynous persona named Ziggy Stardust. His hit single "Starman" from the famous album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars entered the top ten of the UK hit parade. During the period of his relatively short-lived use of the Ziggy Stardust persona, Bowie frequently employed musical innovations and unusual visual stagings. In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major success in America with the number one single "Fame," co-written with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar, and the hit album Young Americans, the style of which the singer described as "plastic soul." The sound of the album represents a radical shift in Bowie's musical style, which initially alienated many of the singer's British fans. He then lived up to the expectations of his label and American fans by releasing the minimalist album Low (1977) — the first of three discs of the so-called "Berlin Trilogy," recorded in collaboration with Brian Eno over the subsequent two years. All three albums entered the top five of the UK hit parade and earned highly positive critical reviews for a long time. After unsteady commercial success at the end of the 1970s, Bowie reappeared at the number one spot on the British charts in 1980 with the single "Ashes to Ashes" and the album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). In 1981, he recorded "Under Pressure" together with the band Queen — another single that reached the top of the British chart. A new peak of commercial success for Bowie occurred in 1983, with the release of the album Let’s Dance, which included such hits as "Let’s Dance," "China Girl," and "Modern Love." Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical genres, including playing in styles such as blue-eyed soul, industrial, AOR, and jungle. His final studio album was Blackstar, released on January 8, 2016. Bowie achieved recognition as a film actor as well; among his most famous roles are the alien Thomas Jerome Newton in The Man Who Fell to Earth (awarded the American Saturn Award), the vampire John in The Hunger, and Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth. On January 8, 2016, Bowie turned 69, but two days later the musician passed away from liver cancer, which he had been battling for the previous year and a half. The singer passed away surrounded by his family.