David Bowie Lyrics

David Bowie - Biography

A consummate musical chameleon, David Bowie created a career in the
Sixties and Seventies that featured his many guises: folksinger,
androgyne, alien, decadent, blue-eyed soul man, modern rock
star-each one spawning a league of imitators. His late-Seventies
collaborations with Brian Eno made Bowie one of the few older stars
to be taken seriously by the new wave. In the Eighties, Let's Dance
(#1, 1983), his entree into the mainstream, was followed by attempts
to keep up with current trends.

David Jones took up the saxophone at age 13, and when he left
Bromley Technical High School (where a friend permanently paralyzed
Jones' left pupil in a fight) to work as a commercial artist three
years later, he had started playing in bands (the Konrads, the King
Bees, David Jones and the Buzz). Three of Jones' early bands -- the
King Bees, the Manish Boys (featuring session guitarist Jimmy Page),
and Davey Jones and the Lower Third -- each recorded a single.

In 1966, after changing his name to David Bowie (after the knife) to
avoid confusion with the Monkees' Davy Jones, he recorded three
singles for Pye Records, then signed in 1967 with Deram, issuing
several singles and The World of David Bowie (most of the songs from
that album, and others from that time, are collected on Images).

On these early records, Bowie appears in the singer/songwriter mold;
rock star seemed to be just another role for him. In 1967 he spent a
few weeks at a Buddhist monastery in Scotland, then apprenticed in
Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe. He started his own troupe, Feathers, in
1968. American-born Angela Barnett met Bowie in London's Speakeasy
and married him on March 20, 1970.

Son Zowie (now Joey) was born in June 1971; the couple divorced
acrimoniously in 1980. After Feathers broke up, Bowie helped start
the experimental Beckenham Arts Lab in 1969. To finance the project,
he signed with Mercury. Man of Words, Man of Music included
"Space Oddity," its release timed for the U.S. moon
landing. It became a European hit that year but did not make the
U.S. charts until its rerelease in 1973, when it reached #15.

Marc Bolan, an old friend, was beginning his rise as a
glitter-rocker in T. Rex and introduced Bowie to his producer, Tony
Visconti. Bowie mimed at some T. Rex concerts, and Bolan played
guitar on Bowie's "Karma Man" and "The Prettiest
Star." Bowie, Visconti, guitarist Mick Ronson, and drummer John
Cambridge toured briefly as Hype.

Ronson eventually recruited drummer Michael "Woody"
Woodmansey, and with Visconti on bass they recorded The Man Who Sold
the World, which included "All the Madmen," inspired by
Bowie's institutionalized brother, Terry. Hunky Dory (#93, 1972),
Bowie's tribute to the New York City of Andy Warhol, the Velvet
Underground, and Bob Dylan, included his ostensible theme song,
"Changes" (#66, 1972, rereleased 1974, #41).

Bowie started changing his image in late 1971. He told Melody Maker
he was gay in January 1972 and started work on a new, theatrical
production. Enter Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's projection of a doomed
messianic rock star. Bowie became Ziggy; Ronson, Woodmansey, and
bassist Trevor Bolder became Ziggy's band, the Spiders from Mars.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (#75,
1972) and the rerelease of Man of Words as Space Oddity (#16, 1972)
made Bowie the star he was portraying. The live show, with Bowie
wearing futuristic costumes, makeup, and bright orange hair (at a
time when the rock-star uniform was jeans), was a sensation in
London and New York. It took Aladdin Sane (#17, 1973) to break Bowie
in the U.S. Bolan and other British glitter-rock performers barely
made the Atlantic crossing, but Bowie emerged a star. He produced
albums for Lou Reed (Transformer and its hit "Walk on the Wild
Side") and Iggy and the Stooges (Raw Power) and wrote and
produced Mott the Hoople's glitter anthem "All the Young
Dudes."

In 1973 Bowie announced his retirement from live performing,
disbanded the Spiders, and sailed to Paris to record Pin Ups (#23,
1973), a collection of covers of mid-Sixties British rock. That same
year, the 1980 Floor Show, an invitation-only concert with Bowie and
guests Marianne Faithfull and the Troggs, was taped for broadcast on
the TV program The Midnight Special.

Meanwhile, Bowie worked on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's
1984, but was denied the rights by Orwell's widow. He rewrote the
material as Diamond Dogs (#5, 1974) and returned to the stage with
an extravagant American tour. Midway though the tour, Bowie entered
Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios (the then-current capital of
black music) and recorded the tracks that would become Young
Americans (#9, 1975). The session had a major effect on Bowie, as
his sound and show were revised.

Bowie scrapped the dancers, sets, and costumes for a spare stage and
baggy Oxford trousers; he cut his hair and colored it a more natural
blond. His new band, led by former James Brown sideman Carlos
Alomar, added soul standards (e.g., Eddie Floyd's "Knock on
Wood") to his repertoire. David Live (#8, 1974), also recorded
in Philadelphia, chronicles this incarnation.

"Fame," cowritten by Bowie, John Lennon, and Alomar, was
Bowie's first American #1 (1975). Bowie moved to Los Angeles and
became a fixture of American pop culture. He also played the title
role in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Station to
Station (#3, 1976), another album of "plastic soul"
recorded with the Young Americans band, portrayed Bowie as the Thin
White Duke (also the title of his unpublished autobiography). His
highest charting album, it contained his second Top Ten Single,
"Golden Years" (#10, 1975).

Bowie complained life had become predictable and left Los Angeles.
He returned to the U.K. for the first time in three years before
settling in Berlin. He lived there in semi-seclusion, painting,
studying art, and recording with Brian Eno. His work with Eno -- Low
(#11, 1977), "Heroes" (#35, 1977), Lodger (#20, 1979) --
was distinguished by its appropriation of avant-garde electronic
music and the "cut-up" technique made famous by William
Burroughs. Composer Philip Glass wrote a symphony incorporating
music from Low in 1993.

Bowie revitalized Iggy Pop's career by producing The Idiot and Lust
for Life (both 1977) and toured Europe and America unannounced as
Pop's pianist. He narrated Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia
Orchestra's recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and spent
the rest of 1977 acting with Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak in Just
a Gigolo. The next year, he embarked on a massive world tour. A
second live album, Stage (#44, 1978), was recorded on the U.S. leg
of the tour. Work on Lodger was begun in New York, continued in
Switzerland, and completed in Berlin.

Bowie settled in New York to record the paranoiac Scary Monsters
(#12, 1980), updating "Space Oddity" in "Ashes to
Ashes." One of the first stars to understand the potential of
video, he produced some innovative clips for songs from Lodger and
Scary Monsters.

After Scary Monsters, Bowie turned his attention away from his
recording career. In 1980 he played the title role in The Elephant
Man, appearing in Denver, in Chicago, and on Broadway. He
collaborated with Queen in 1981's "Under Pressure" and
provided lyrics and vocals for "Cat People (Putting Out
Fire)" (#67, 1982), Giorgio Moroder's title tune for the
soundtrack of Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. His music was
used on the soundtrack of Christiane F (1982) (he also appeared in
the film). Also that year, Bowie starred in the BBC-TV production of
Brecht's Baal, and as a 150-year-old vampire in the movie The
Hunger.

In 1983 Bowie signed one of the most lucrative contracts in history,
and moved from RCA to EMI. Let's Dance (#4, 1983), his first album
in three years, returned him to the top of the charts. Produced by
Nile Rodgers with Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar, the album was a
slick revision of Bowie's soul-man posture. It contained three Top
Twenty singles -- "Let's Dance" (#1, 1983), "China
Girl" (#10, 1983), and "Modern Love" (#14, 1983) --
which were supported with another set of innovative videos; the
sold-out Serious Moonlight Tour followed. Bowie's career seemed to
be revitalized.

What first seemed like a return to form actually ushered in a period
of mediocrity. Without Nile Rodgers' production savvy, Bowie's
material sounded increasingly forced and hollow; his attention
alternated between albums and film roles. Tonight (#11, 1984) had
only one hit, "Blue Jean" (#8, 1984). Bowie and Mick
Jagger dueted on a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing
in the Street" (#7, 1985) for Live Aid. Although Never Let Me
Down (#34, 1987), with Peter Frampton on guitar, was roundly
criticized, it made the charts with "Day In, Day Out"
(#21, 1987) and the title song (#27, 1987). Bowie hit the road with
another stadium extravaganza, the Glass Spiders tour; it was
recorded for an ABC-TV special.

Bowie had scarcely better luck in his acting career: Into the Night
(1985), Absolute Beginners (1986) (a Julien Temple musical featuring
some Bowie songs), Labyrinth (1986), The Linguini Incident (1992),
and Twin Peaks -- Fire Walk with Me (1992) were neither critical nor
commercial successes.

Bowie set about reissuing his earlier albums on CD. Sound + Vision
(#97, 1989), a greatest-hits collection, revived interest in Bowie's
career; the set list for the accompanying tour was partially based
on fan response to special phone lines requesting favorite Bowie
songs. Bowie claimed it would be the last time he performed those
songs live. Later reissues, with previously unreleased bonus tracks,
brought the Ziggy-era Bowie back onto the charts.

Bowie formed Tin Machine in 1989. The band included Bowie discovery
Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Hunt and Tony Sales, who had worked
with Bowie on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life album and tour in the
Seventies. Although Bowie claimed that the band was a democracy, Tin
Machine was perceived as Bowie's next project. The group debuted
with a series of club dates in New York and Los Angeles. Their
eponymous album (#28, 1989), a rougher, more guitar-oriented
collection than Bowie's previous albums, received better reviews
than Bowie's last few recordings. A second album, Tin Machine II
(#126, 1991), lacked the novelty of the debut and was quickiy
forgotten.

In 1992 Bowie married Somalian supermodel Iman. Black Tie White
Noise (#39, 1993), which Bowie called his wedding present to his
wife, received generally positive reviews, but failed to excite the
public.

Born David Robert Jones, January 8, 1947, London, England


1967 -- The World of David Bowie (Deram, U.K.)
1970 -- Man of Words, Man of Music (Mercury); The Man Who Sold the
World
1971 -- Hunky Dory (RCA)
1972 -- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars
1973 -- Aladdin Sane; Pin Ups; Images 1966-67 (London)
1974 -- Diamond Dogs (RCA); David Live
1975 -- Young Americans
1976 -- Station to Station; ChangesOneBowie
1977 -- Low; "Heroes"
1978 -- Stage
1979 -- Lodger
1980 -- Scary Monsters
1981 -- ChangesTwoBowie; Christiane F soundtrack
1982 -- Cat People soundtrack; Baal
1983 -- Let's Dance (EMI); Golden Years (RCA); Ziggy Stardust/The
Motion Picture
1984 -- Fame and Fashion; Tonight (EMI)
1987 -- Never Let Me Down
1989 -- Sound + Vision (Rykodisc)
1990 -- ChangesBowie
1993 -- Black Tie White Noise (Savage)
1994 -- Sound + Vision with CD-ROM (Rykodisc) Tin Machine: (Formed
1989, Switzerland: Bowie; Reeves Gabrels [b. June 4, 1956, Staten
Island, N.Y.], gtr.; Hunt Sales [b. Mar. 2, 1954, Detroit, Mich.],
drums; Tony Sales [b. Sep. 26, 1951, Cleveland, Ohio], bass)
1989 -- Tin Machine (EMI)
1991 -- Tin Machine II (Victory)