David Bowie

Background

David Bowie was born as David Robert Jones in Brixton, London. His mother was Margaret Mary and his father was Haywood Stenton Jones. As a child, he had a reputation for being gifted, and single-minded. Teachers believed he was very artistic — he was also a defiant brawler. Bowie played the recorder in the school choir and also sang. When he was 15, in 1962, he formed his first band — the Konrads. After a brief stint with the band, Bowie left them for the King Bees. He did this because he believed other members of the Konrads were not ambitious.

One month after joining the King Bees, Bowie left the band again. This time, he joined the Manish Boys, but Bowie was dissatisfied with this band too. He left, joining a fourth band called the Lower Third. Bowie was a difficult man to please, however, and he left the Lower Third after a short stint. At this point, Bowie had begun to transform into a solo artist. He was also studying avant-garde theater and mime under Lindsay Kemp. Bowie did not achieve large-scale commercial success until he released “Space Oddity” in July 1969. The release of “Space Oddity” coincided with the Apollo 11 spacecraft launch — making it a massive success.

Bowie released his second album in November 1969, titled “Bowie”. This was also the year Bowie married Angela Barnett. In 1972, he created his famous Ziggy persona for his “Ziggy Stardust” stage show. The show was widely acclaimed, catapulting him to the top of the U.K. entertainment industry. Bowie later created another persona, ‘The Thin White Duke’ in 1976. He continued to make music but was also a successful actor and painter. A decade after his divorce, he met the supermodel Iman and they got married in 1992. They remained married until his death in 2016.