what's the best david bowie biography

The 15 Best David Bowie Books

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Today marks four years since David Bowie died—two days after his 69th birthday, when he also released his final, monumental album, Blackstar . And while there was no shortage of books about him during his lifetime, the market has virtually exploded since his passing. It’s no big secret why: The nature of Bowie’s fame, genius, influences, and influence is an all-encompassing thing that’s relevant to art and photography, fashion, theater and performance, and every shade and school of critical analysis. (There’s also no dearth of scandalous tell-alls and tabloid-y, fly-by-night biographies, which we’re ignoring here out of respect—a man who orchestrated his passing with the level of discretion and artistic triumph that Bowie did doesn’t deserve to be feasted on by scavengers.)

Here’s our pick of the best Bowie books for every person, occasion, and special interest—whether you’re merely interested in looking at some pictures or have committed yourself to a self-taught course in Advanced Bowie Studies.

The Rise of David Bowie, 1972–1973 by Mick Rock

For pure visual splendor focusing on Bowie’s most well-known persona, Ziggy Stardust, nothing beats this volume of Bowie-blessed photographs from the artist’s official photographer and creative partner—with half of the photos in it published for the first time. For mesmerizing, fly-on-the-wall documentation of Bowie’s glitter-clad, glam-rock, his/her Ziggy, nothing beats this.

On Bowie by Rob Sheffield

Still personal—but less weird than Brooker’s search for meaning—is Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield’s tribute, written at lightning speed in the immediate aftermath of Bowie’s passing. Like The Last Interview , it’s a slim volume that packs a punch: While Sheffield’s knowledge of Bowie runs deep, this is neither a showy book nor an academic one, and while his sense of loss is palpable, On Bowie isn’t maudlin or morose—it’s deeply informed, often hilarious, and properly celebratory.

The Age of Bowie: How David Bowie Made a World of Difference by Paul Morley

Morley, a veteran British rock critic, pours blood, sweat, and tears on the pages in this freewheeling, deeply informed, and, yes, ragingly personal admixture of biography, memoir, loving tribute, cultural theory, and enlightened self-help book. Pretentious? At times, wildly—but that’s part of its immense charm. Morley—who conjured the theoretical framework and title of the David Bowie Is exhibitions—states early on that “everybody has their own Bowie,” and it’s his refusal to put constraints on either Bowie or his own rococo rendering of him that that makes these 496 pages so indispensable.

Strange Fascination: Bowie: The Definitive Story by David Buckley

While this biography was published a decade before Bowie died—look elsewhere for coverage of his death, his legacy, and his last two albums—this is likely the most insightful critical biography we have, deeply learned about not just the songs, but the albums, the tours, the personas, and the artistic vision. You’ll have to put a bit more into it than most of the rest of these books, but you’ll reap more from it as well.

Bowie by O’Neill by Terry O’Neill

Where Mick Rock’s book trails off, photographer Terry O’Neill’s book picks up: Witness here the end of Ziggy—announced onstage suddenly by Bowie at the end of a 1973 performance in London, stunning his backing band—and the continued evolution of Bowie circa Young Americans and Diamond Dogs . What this volume lacks in monomania, it more than makes up for in more than 500 photos of immense breadth and depth.

• Albumography
• Miscellaneous
• Bowie on Film

Here are a few books on David Bowie i have read and enjoyed, also here are books that members of our Facebook group have recommended. I have only included titles that are currently available.

David Bowie is.

David Bowie’s career as a pioneering artist spanned 50 years and brought him international acclaim. He continues to be cited as a major influence on contemporary artists and designers working across the creative arts. Published to accompany the blockbuster international exhibition launched at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, this is the only book to be granted access to Bowie’s personal archive of performance costume, ephemera and original design artwork by the artist, and brings it together to present a completely new perspective on his creative work and collaborations.

The book traces his career from its beginnings in London, through the breakthroughs of Space Oddity and Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and on to his impact on the larger international tradition of twentieth-century avant-garde art. Essays by V&A curators on Bowie’s London, image, and influence on the fashion world, are complemented by Howard Goodall on musicology; Camille Paglia on gender and decadence and Jon Savage on Bowie’s relationship with William Burroughs and his fans. Also included is a discussion between Christopher Frayling, Philip Hoare and Mark Kermode, held at the V&A, of Bowie’s cultural impact. Over 300 images include personal and performance photographs, costumes, lyric sheets giving an unique insight into Bowie’s world.

David Bowie: Icon, released on September 28th, 2020.

David Bowie: Icon gathers the greatest photographs of one of the greatest stars in history, into a single, luxurious volume. The result is the most important anthology of David Bowie images that has ever been compiled. With work by many of the most eminent names in photography, this book showcases a stunning portfolio of imagery, featuring the iconic, the awe inspiring, the candid and the surprising.

An astonishing 25 photographers from around the world have contributed to this celebration. Their images are accompanied by personal essays and reflections about working with this astonishing artist. From memories of the earliest days at the Arts Lab in Beckenham to what it was like touring the world with Bowie, each contributor shares their experiences of working with – and knowing – this most extraordinary figure.

From portraits and album covers, performances and rehearsals, to rarely seen private moments and candid snapshots, this collection is at once powerful, sentimental and inspiring. The thoughts and reminiscences of the photographers, many sharing their memories for the first time, give us an insight into this artist unlike any other.

Photography and text by: Fernando Aceves, Brian Aris, Philippe Auliac, Alec Byrne, Kevin Cummins, Chalkie Davies, Justin de Villeneuve, Vernon Dewhurst, Gavin Evans, Gerald Fearnley, Lynn Goldsmith, Greg Gorman, Andrew Kent, Markus Klinko, Geoff MacCormack, Janet Macoska, Terry O’Neill, Denis O’Regan, Norman Parkinson, Mick Rock, John Scarisbrick, Steve Schapiro, Barry Schultz, Masayoshi Sukita and Ray Stevenson. With an introduction by artist and Bowie’s life-long friend, George Underwood.

When David Bowie passed away on 10 January 2016, the world lost a musical hero. But his legacy lives on. While his sound and style evolved throughout his career, two facts never changed: he was an innovator; and photographers adored him. This book pays homage to this ultimate icon.

Available to pre-order now via Amazon for only £35.35 (RRP is £50) (Released September 28th)

Ricochet, David Bowie 1983 by Denis O’Regan.

In 1983 David Bowie set out on the Serious Moonlight Tour, his biggest ever. On the road with him was his official photographer, Denis O’Regan. Few artists and photographers have had such a close touring relationship. This book is the result: a never-before-seen photographic portrait of a year with Bowie, from the theatre of performance to his most unguarded moments. Introduced by O’Regan and with every single image personally approved by Bowie, this is an intimate view of an icon at the height of his fame.

Strange Fascination, Bowie: The Definitive Story by David Buckley.

David Bowie was arguably the most influential artist of his time, reinventing himself again and again, transforming music, style and art for over five decades.

David Buckley’s unique approach to unravelling the Bowie enigma, via interviews with many of the singer’s closest associates, biography and academic analysis, makes this unrivalled biography a classic for Bowie fans old and new. This revised edition of  Strange Fascination  captures exclusive details about the tours, the making of the albums, the arguments, the split-ups, the music and, most importantly, the man himself. Also including exclusive photographic material,  Strange Fascination  is the most complete account of David Bowie and his impact on pop culture ever written.

Bowie by O’Neill.

This book is the breathtaking result of iconic photographer Terry O’Neill’s creative partnership with David Bowie that spanned over a number of years,  including images published here for the first time .

Containing rare and never-before-seen photographs , their work together includes images from the last Ziggy Stardust performance, recording sessions for Young Americans and the renowned studio portraits for Diamond Dogs – plus live shows, film shoots, backstage moments and more.

With  more than 500 photographs , this is the ultimate portrait of an inspiring, challenging and ever-changing artist.

David Bowie: The Golden Years by Roger Griffin.

This is a day-by-day account of Bowie’s life from the start of 1970 to the end of 1980, his golden era that defined his work as a major artist a dozen inspired studio albums, five major tours, two feature films and critically acclaimed theatrical performances in Chicago and New York.

He reinvented stage presentation in rock and revived the careers of Mott The Hoople, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.

At The Birth Of Bowie by Phil Lancaster.

It is 1965, and Swinging London is coming into its prime years. The streets are alive with mods and rockers, playboys and good-time girls, all revelling in the blossoming artistic, creative and cultural energies of the decade.

Amid the colour and chaos is a boy sporting drainpipe jeans, an immaculately tailored sports coat and a half-inch wide tie. A devoted fan of The Who, he looks the part in his pristine mod gear. As the lead singer of the Lower Third, his talent is shaping itself into something truly special.

His name is Davie Jones. In ten years, he will be unrecognisable as fresh-faced boy of 1965, and in just over fifty years, his death will be mourned by millions, his legacy the story of the greatest rock star of all time.

And through Bowie’s transition from pop group member to solo performer, Phil Lancaster was by his side. As the drummer in Bowie’s band, the Lower Third, Phil was there as the singer’s musical stripes began to show, and was witness to his early recording techniques, his first experimental forays into drug-taking, and the band’s discovery of his bisexuality in shocking circumstances.

In this riveting – and often very funny – memoir, Phil tells the story of life alongside the insecure yet blazingly talented boy who became Bowie, at a critical crossroad of time and place in music history. What follows is an intimate, personal and important perspective on the genesis of one of the most iconic musicians of the twentieth century – one that gets under the skin of the man himself, before the personas and alter-egos masked the fascinating figure beneath them.

At the Birth of Bowie  is essential reading for anyone who knows what happened on Bowie’s journey, but wants to understand how, and why, it ever began.

Rebel Rebel: All The Songs of David Bowie, ’64 to ’76 by Chris O’Leary.

David Bowie: every single song. Everything you want to know, everything you didn’t know. David Bowie remains mysterious and unknowable, despite 45 years of recording and performing. His legacy is roughly 600 songs, which range from psychedelia to glam rock to Philadelphia soul, from avant-garde instrumentals to global pop anthems. Rebel Rebel catalogs Bowie’s songs from 1964 to 1976, examines them in the order of their composition and recording, and digs into what makes them work. Rebel Rebel is an in-depth look at Bowie’s early singles and album tracks, unreleased demos, session outtakes and cover songs.

The book traces Bowie’s literary, film and musical influences and the evolution of his songwriting. It also shows how Bowie exploited studio innovations, and the roles of his producers and supporting musicians, especially major collaborators like Brian Eno, Iggy Pop and Mick Ronson. This book places Bowie’s music in the context of its era. Readers will discover the links between Kubrick’s 2001 and “Space Oddity”; how A Clockwork Orange inspired “Suffragette City”. The pages are a trip through Bowie’s various lives as a young man in Swinging London, a Tibetan Buddhist, a disillusioned hippie, a rock god, and a Hollywood recluse. With a cast of thousands, including John Lennon, William S. Burroughs, Andy Warhol and Cher.

Ashes To Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie 1976 – 2016 by Chris O’Leary.

From the ultimate David Bowie expert comes this exploration of the final four decades of the popstar’s musical career, covering every song he wrote, performed or produced from 1976 to 2016.

Starting with  Low , the first of Bowie’s Berlin albums, and finishing with  Blackstar , his final masterpiece released just days before his death in 2016, each song is annotated in depth and explored in essays that touch upon the song’s creation, production, influences and impact.

Spider From Mars: My Life With Bowie by Woody Woodmansey.

For many fans, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust era remains the most extraordinarily creative period in his career. As a member of Bowie’s legendary band at the time – The Spiders From Mars – Woody Woodmansey played drums on four seminal albums:  The Man Who Sold The World ,  Hunky Dory ,  The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars  and  Aladdin Sane .

Woody’s memoir, which he started work on in 2014, focuses on this key period and brings it to glorious life. With the confidence of youth, Woody always thought he’d be in a famous band but the nineteen-year-old rocker from Hull never expected to be thrust into London’s burgeoning glam rock scene, and also into a bottle-green velvet suit and girl’s shoes. Playing with Bowie took him on an eye-opening and transformative journey. In  Spider From Mars  he writes candidly about the characters who surrounded Bowie, recalling the album sessions as well as behind-the-scenes moments with one of the world’s most iconic singers. The result is an insightful, funny, poignant memoir that lovingly evokes a seminal moment in music history and pays tribute to one of the most outstanding and innovative talents of our time.

The Rise Of David Bowie, 1972 – 1973 by Mick Rock.

“Such a privilege to have known and worked with him. A remarkable man and artist. I loved him.” —Mick Rock, 2016.

A unique tribute from David Bowie’s official photographer and creative partner, Mick Rock, compiled in 2015, with Bowie’s blessing.

In 1972, David Bowie released his groundbreaking album  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars . With it landed Bowie’s Stardust alter-ego: A glitter-clad, mascara-eyed, sexually-ambiguous persona who  kicked down the boundaries between male and female, straight and gay, fact and fiction into one shifting and sparkling phenomenon of 70s self-expression . Together, Ziggy the album and Ziggy the stage spectacular propelled the softly spoken Londoner into one of the world’s biggest stars.

A key passenger on this glam trip into the stratosphere was fellow Londoner and photographer Mick Rock. Rock bonded with Bowie artistically and personally, immersed himself in the singer’s inner circle, and, between 1972 and 1973,  worked as the singer’s photographer and videographer .

This collection, featuring  around 50 percent previously unpublished images , brings together spectacular stage shots, iconic photo shoots, as well as intimate backstage portraits. With a lenticular cover of different headshots, it  celebrates Bowie’s fearless experimentation and reinvention, while offering privileged access to the many facets of his personality and fame . Through the aloof and approachable, the playful and serious, the candid and the contrived, the result is a passionate tribute to a brilliant and inspirational artist whose creative vision will never be forgotten.

David Bowie In The Man Who Fell To Earth by Paul Duncan.

Behind the scenes of Nic Roeg’s 1976 sci-fi masterpiece starring David Bowie

First advertised as a “mind-stretching experience,” Nicolas Roeg’s 1976  The Man Who Fell to Earth stunned the cinema world. A  tour-de-force of science fiction as art form , the movie brought not only hallucinatory visuals and a haunting exploration of contemporary alienation, but also glam-rock legend  David Bowie in his lead role debut  as paranoid alien Newton.

Based on Walter Tevis’s 1963 sci-fi fable of the same title,  The Man Who Fell to Earth  follows alien Newton from his arrival on earth in search of water; his transition to wealthy entrepreneur, leveraging the advanced technologies of his native planet; his sexual awakening with the young Mary-Lou; and then the discovery of his alien identity, his imprisonment, abandonment, and descent into alcoholism. Throughout, Roeg coaxed a beguiling performance from his cast, presenting not only Bowie in ethereal space-traveler glory, but also pitch-perfect supporting performances from  Candy Clark, Rip Torn, and Buck Henry .

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of this cult movie, TASCHEN’s  The Man Who Fell to Earth  presents a plenitude of  stills and behind-the-scenes images  by unit photographer David James, including numerous shots of Bowie at his playful and ambiguous best. A new introductory essay explores the shooting of the film and it’s lasting impact, drawing upon an exclusive interview with David James, who brings firsthand insights into the making of this sci-fi masterwork.

When Ziggy Played The Marquee by Terry O’Neill.

• Rare and unseen images from Terry O’Neill’s unprecedented access to David Bowie’s last performance as Ziggy Stardust, including candid backstage shots
• New and original interviews from a host of people who witnessed the last performance, including Geoff MacCormack – one of Bowie’s long-time friends and “Spider”; Suzy Ronson – Mick’s wife and stylist; Ken Scott – sound engineer and producer; Ava Cherry – backing vocals, and many more

When Ziggy played The Marquee Club in Soho, London, in October 1973, most of those invited to the small venue did not realise that this would be the last performance David Bowie would ever give as Ziggy Stardust. Terry O’Neill, celebrated photographer, was given unprecedented access to document the event.

O’Neill captured Bowie and his crew backstage as they went through costume changes, and Bowie transformed into the character he’d soon put to rest. On stage, dodging television cameras and lights, O’Neill snapped the incredible stage presence for which Bowie and his crew had become renowned. O’Neill remembers of Bowie: “He became a character on stage. As much as a person takes a role in a play for the West End or on Broadway, learning the lines, putting on the costumes – this was, I think, the way Bowie treated his stage. This night at the Marquee, I witnessed a modern-day Hamlet – and it was Ziggy Stardust”.

Award-winning music writer Daniel Rachel interviews key contributors of the day, including O’Neill, Ava Cherry, Amanda Lear and Geoff MacCormack along with new insights and memories from fans who were in the audience who played witness to this incredible moment.

**Currently on offer on Amazon US for only $13.36!**

David Bowie: Behind The Curtain by Andrew Kent.

David Bowie: Behind The Curtain  is a rare, exclusive, intimate, and very candid look at David Bowie during the rise of the Thin White Duke, his Station to Station tour, and numerous larger-than-life stories along the way. In 1975, rock ‘n roll photographer Andrew Kent landed the gig of a lifetime. He had been entrusted by Bowie to document, with unfettered access, anything and everything Bowie and his entourage encountered for the next two years. Backstage, on stage, private parties, birthday parties, limos, quiet hotel moments, dressing rooms, Berlin, Paris, New York, London, Helsinki, Moscow.

Also along during the Station to Station tour was an 18 year old Rolling Stone reporter researching a cover story on Bowie named Cameron Crowe. In 1976 Bowie took Iggy Pop, his manager Pat Gibbons, his personal secretary Coco, and Kent on an impromptu excursion by train to the Soviet Union. A mistake on the schedule at the train station caused the group to miss their return train to Helsinki leading the press to run frenzied headlines reading, “David Bowie Missing in Soviet Union!.” With his unprecedented access, Kent created a one-of-a-kind travelogue, capturing the unique and spectacular life of one of the most iconic musicians in rock ‘n roll history.

Starman: David Bowie – The Definitive Biography by Paul Trynka.

Has there ever been a more charismatic and intriguing rock star than David Bowie?

In  Starman,  Paul Trynka has painted the definitive portrait of a great artist. From Bowie’s early years in post-war, bombed-out Brixton to the decadent glamour of Ziggy Stardust to the controversial but vital Berlin period, this essential biography is a celebration of Bowie’s brilliance and a timely reminder of how great music is made – now with an update on the making and release of  The Next Day .

The Complete David Bowie by Nicholas Pegg.

Critically acclaimed in its previous editions,  The Complete David Bowie is widely recognised as the foremost source of analysis and information on every facet of Bowie’s career. The A-Z of songs and the day-by-day dateline are the most complete ever published. From the 11-year-old’s skiffle performance at the 18th Bromley Scouts’ Summer Camp in 1958, to the emergence of the legendary lost album Toy  in 2011, to his passing in January 2016,  The Complete David Bowie  discusses and dissects every last development in rock’s most fascinating career.

*  The Albums  – detailed production history and analysis of every album from 1967 to the present day.

*  The Songs  – hundreds of individual entries reveal the facts and anecdotes behind not just the famous recordings, but also the most obscure of unreleased rarities – from ‘Absolute Beginners’ to ‘Ziggy Stardust’, from ‘Abdulmajid’ to ‘Zion’.

*  The Tours  – set-lists and histories of every live show.

*  The Actor  – a complete guide to Bowie’s career on stage and screen.

*  Plus  – the videos, the BBC radio sessions, the paintings, the Internet and much more.

David Bowie: Photographs by Steve Schapiro.

At the apex of David Bowie’s spectacular rise to fame and glory, photographer Steve Schapiro seized a rare invitation from Bowie’s manager for a private photo session with the pop star in LA in 1974…

David Bowie, by 1974, was a man of many faces and as many albums, had already lived the life of  Ziggy Stardust  and launched  Aladdin Sane , with albums  Pin Ups  and  Diamond Dogs  soon to come. A musical force to be reckoned with, Bowie was also widely regarded as a fashion icon, pushing the envelope of sexuality and style and having created an internationally renowned persona.

The mostly never-before-published images in Schapiro’s rare collection represent Bowie at his most creative and inspired self and present a glimpse into the intimacy that Schapiro and Bowie shared during their time together. As Schapiro tells it: ‘From the moment Bowie arrived, we seemed to hit it off. Incredibly intelligent, calm, and filled with ideas, he talked a lot about Alistair Crowley whose esoteric writings he was heavily into at the time. When David heard that I had photographed Buster Keaton, one of his greatest heroes, we instantly became friends.’

The first photo session started at four in the afternoon and went through the night till dawn. Bowie went through countless costume changes, each more incredible than the last and each seemed to turn him into a totally different person. Bowie relentlessly created these unique characters, each seemingly alive in their own charismatic space for Schapiro to create visual images to complement their very existence and turn them into iconic images for all time.

Bowie and Schapiro kidded and laughed about shooting a series of close-up portraits on a putrid green background because they felt it was the worst possible background colour for a magazine, and so they did on this lark – with the image eventually becoming a  People  magazine cover.

The last image they made was at four in the morning to wrap up the marathon session when they went outside to shoot Bowie on his motorcycle – the sun hadn’t yet risen and the shot was lit dramatically by only the headlights of a car. This image remains one of Schapiro’s favourites and is certain to live on in posterity.

David Bowie Black Book by Barry Miles & Chris Charlesworth.

Now available once again after being out of print for several years, the David Bowie Black Book remains one of the most elegant books about the iconic superstar ever to have been published. Art directed by acclaimed graphic designer Pierce Marchbank and with text written by former NME journalist and cultural commentator Miles, the David Bowie Black Book contains photographs from every era of Bowie’s genre-defining career and was for many years the world’s best-selling Bowie book.

Earthbound: David Bowie and The Man Who Fell To Earth by Susan Compo.

‘Before there was Star Wars before there was Close Encounters there was The Man Who Fell To Earth. advertising tag line for 1981 reissue of the film. Earthbound is the first book-length exploration of a true classic of twentieth-century science-fiction cinema, shot under the heavy, ethereal skies of New Mexico by the legendary British director Nicolas Roeg and starring David Bowie in a role he seemed born for as an extra-terrestrial named Thomas Newton who comes to Earth in search of water. Based on a novel by the highly regarded American writer Walter Tevis, this dreamy, distressing, and visionary film resonates even more strongly in the twenty-first century than it did on its original release during the year of the US Bicentennial.

Drawing on extensive research and exclusive first-hand interviews with members of the cast and crew, Earthbound begins with a look at Tevis’s 1963 novel before moving into a detailed analysis of a film described by its director as ‘a sci-fi film without a lot of sci-fi tools and starring a group of actors Bowie, Buck Henry, Candy Clark, Rip Torn later described by one of them (Henry) as ‘not a cast but a dinner party. It also seeks to uncover the mysteries surrounding Bowie s rejected soundtrack to the film (elements of which later ended up his ground-breaking 1977 album Low) and closes with a look at his return to the themes and characters of The Man Who Fell To Earth in one of his final works, the acclaimed musical production Lazarus.

Life On Tour With Bowie by Sean Mayes.

“When David sat down later, he tucked one leg up under him and I noticed that the sole of his shoe was as clean as the day he d bought it. OK, maybe the shoes were new, but it struck me that he hardly ever sets foot in the street. It s all hotel, limousines, sterilized airports the life I was about to lead. I shivered, feeling poised at the top of a rollercoaster about to sweep across the world.” On 11 January 2016, the world was stunned to wake up to the news that David Bowie had died the day before. A genuine icon, he left behind a body of work among the most important in music history.

But only a lucky few were privileged to know the man behind that mystique, and know him well. Sean Mayes was one of them. In 1978, Sean toured the world with David Bowie, in what was one of the most important periods in the artist s history. Travelling first class and performing each night with one of the world s greatest rock stars at the height of his fame was an amazing experience fortunately, Sean had the foresight to document it.Here, in complete book form, Sean s tour diary is presented; a blow by blow record of how it felt to be part of a real rock circus. Providing page after page of fascinating insight into life on the road with Bowie, Sean’s account is a unique travelogue, a must for any Bowie fan or, indeed, anyone interested in life on a sell-out world tour.

David Bowie: Any Day Now, The London Years 1947 – 1974 by Kevin Cann.

Any Day Now is an in-depth and highly visual chronology charting the early life and career of one of music s all-time greatest icons: David Bowie. This book is the ultimate fan guide for David Bowie’s most devoted followers.

Packed with hundreds of interviews and images, Any Day Now offers a detailed year-by-year account of Bowie’s life- from his birth in postwar London in 1947 to his departure from the UK in 1974.

With a wealth of new information and with each page featuring rare photographs, news clippings and memorabilia, the book also includes the most concise listing of early Bowie performances ever published.

Author Kevin Cann unravels many of the myths that have surrounded Bowie s early career in this encyclopaedic reference that will fascinate and entertain. Cann has worked on reissues of Bowie’s back catalogues as well as anniversary releases of his albums. His role as a Bowie archivist for nearly 20 years has allowed him to amass extremely rare photographs and memorabilia, which are combined with interviews with a hundred of Bowie’s friends and associates. Through his dedicated research and its fascinating results, Cann has developed a reputation as one of Bowie’s greatest and most trustworthy biographers.

With the Victoria and Albert Museum’s unprecedented, career-spanning retrospective, “David Bowie” is underway and Bowie’s newest album The Next Day having shot straight up to number one on the music charts, now is the perfect time for fans to engross themselves in the best David Bowie book currently available.

Author Kevin Cann has worked closely with the V&A in producing the “David Bowie is” exhibition, meaning the same standard of care and prestige put into the exhibition has been put into this book as well. In fact, many of the rare photos on show at the V&A were first seen in  Any Day Now .

Duffy Bowie: Five Sessions by Chris Duffy and Kevin Cann.

Illustrates Brian Duffy’s five different photographic shoots with David Bowie, documenting Bowie’s career and pioneering reinvention, as well as Duffy’s special relationship with the artist over almost a decade -Includes some of the most famous Bowie images together with outtakes and rare shots “Talking about a creative session is like talking about a boxing match. It happened because there was a little bit of magic in the room that night. I’ll say it myself, it’s a fucking great cover.”

Brian Duffy defined the image of the 1960s, and was as famous as the stars he photographed. Together with David Bailey and Terence Donovan, he is recognised as one of the innovators of “documentary” fashion photography, a style which revolutionised fashion imagery and furthermore the fashion industry. Duffy’s most famous photograph dates from the 1970s and is the iconic and revolutionary cover of David Bowie’s album Aladdin Sane, a shot that became the defining look of Bowie’s long career, and has been referred to as the Mona Lisa of pop. The photographer and the rock star collaborated on four other projects: Ziggy Stardust, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and Lodger.

They worked together during the pivotal years of Bowie’s career; when the king of glam was assuming and discarding extraordinary personas, Duffy was capturing them all. Written by David Bowie’s biographer, Kevin Cann, Duffy/Bowie – Five Sessions features anecdotes and stories from those attending the shoots – including Tony Defries (Bowie’s manager at the time of Ziggy Stardust); Celia Philo (designer) & Philip Castle (airbrush artist) from the famous Aladdin Sane shoot; Francis Newman (Duffy’s studio manager); May Routh (costume designer) from The Man Who Fell to Earth; Geoff MacCormack (musician and Bowie’s childhood friend); Derek Boshier (art director of Lodger); Natasha Kornilof costume designer for Scary Monsters; Edward Bell (artist); Steve Strange (musician) and Duffy’s son, Chris, who also worked on the Scary Monsters session. Included are many unseen images and behind the scenes photographs. “It wasn’t until we saw the contact sheets the next day I remember thinking, God this is spectacular. You just knew you had cracked it, boy, did you know it.”

David Bowie: Album By Album by Paolo Hewitt.

Bowie: Album by Album examines every one of Bowie’s studio albums in fine detail, placing each within the context of the time in which it was recorded and charting all the albums’ subsequent influence and legacy. As well as commentary from the musicians, engineers and producers who worked on the recordings – such as Brian Eno and Tony Visconti – Bowie’s own quotes provide a fascinating insight into his restlessly creative mind.

Bowie’s Piano Man – The Life of Mike Garson by Clifford Slapper.

Pianist Mike Garson was David Bowie’s most frequent musician, on record and onstage throughout Bowie’s life. They played over a thousand shows together between 1972 and 2004, and Garson is featured on over 20 of Bowie’s albums. Bowie’s Piano Man is the first-ever biography of Mike Garson, written by Clifford Slapper, a fellow pianist who also played for Bowie, working closely with him on his last-ever television appearance. The book explores the special relationship between Garson and Bowie, beginning with the extraordinary story of how Garson went overnight from playing in tiny jazz clubs to touring the world on arena rock tours with Bowie after one short phone call and audition.

A noted master of jazz, classical, and other genres, Garson has composed thousands of original works and has taught countless students, acting as mentor to many. Bowie’s Piano Man explores his roots and childhood in Brooklyn, his ongoing strong presence in the jazz world, and his collaborations with a huge range of other artists in addition to Bowie. Touring and recording with the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails are given in-depth attention, as is his approach to teaching and creating music. Explored in detail in particular is his commitment to improvisation as a form of composition, a manifestation of his more general dedication to living in the moment and always moving forward a trait he shared with Bowie.

Tony Visconti: The Autobiography, Bowie, Bolan And The Brooklyn Boy by Tony Visconti.

A name synonymous with ground-breaking music, Tony Visconti has worked with the most dynamic and influential names in pop, from T.Rex and Iggy Pop to David Bowie and U2. This is the compelling life story of the man who helped shape music history, and gives a unique, first-hand insight into life in London during the late 1960s and ’70s.

This memoir takes you on a roller-coaster journey through the glory days of pop music, when men wore sequins and pop could truly rock. Featuring behind-the-scenes stories of big names such as Bowie, Visconti’s unique access to the hottest talent, both on stage and off, for over five decades is complemented by unseen photographs from his own personal archive, offering a glimpse at music history that few have witnessed so intimately.

Soon after abandoning his native New York to pursue his musical career in the UK, Visconti was soon in the thick of the emerging glam rock movement, launching T.Rex to commercial success and working with the then-unknown David Bowie.

Since his fateful move to the land of tea and beer drunk straight from the can, Visconti has worked with such names as T.Rex, Thin Lizzy, Wings, The Boomtown Rats, Marsha Hunt, Procol Harum, and more recently Ziggy Marley, Mercury Rev, the Manic Street Preachers and Morrissey on his acclaimed new album ‘Ringleader of the Tormentors’.

Even Visconti’s personal life betrays an existence utterly immersed in music. Married to first to Siegrid Berman, then to Mary Hopkin and later to May Pang, he counts many of the musicians and producers he has worked with as close friends and is himself a celebrated musician.

Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust by Ken Scott.

Turn on any classic rock station and you ll soon hear a song that Ken Scott worked on. As one of the preeminent recording engineers and producers of the 20th century, Ken has garnered Gold, Platinum, and Diamond record sales awards; multiple Grammy nominations; and even a Clio Award (for his recording of the classic Coke ad I d Like to Teach the World to Sing ). Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust shares Ken Scott s intimate memories of working with some of the most important artists of the 20th century, while crafting a sound that influenced generations of music makers. Ken’s work has left an indelible mark on hundreds of millions of fans with his skilled contributions to Magical Mystery Tour and The White Album.

As producer and/or engineer of six David Bowie albums (including the groundbreaking Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars) as well as other timeless classics, the sound Ken crafted has influenced several generations of music makers that continues to this day. Ken captured the sonic signatures of a who’s-who of classic rock and jazz acts, including Elton John, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Duran Duran, The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, America, Devo, Kansas, The Tubes, Missing Persons, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham, Dixie Dregs, and Stanley Clarke. This is his story, complete with funny, provocative, and oh-so-honest tales of the studio, stage, and even an infamous swimming pool incident. Plus, there are never-before-seen photographs and technical details, making Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust a must for every music fan.

Moonage Daydream; The Life And Times of Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie and Mick Rock.

In 1972, talented photographer Mick Rock spent 2 years as David Bowie’s official photographer. Rock accompanied Bowie on tour to the US and the UK, capturing his life both on stage and behind the scenes at the height of his Ziggy Stardust period. During this time Rock documented the rise and descent of Ziggy Stardust, and shot promotional films, album jackets, posters, artwork, videos like Life on Mars and Space Oddity and thousands of photographs. Rock’s camera caught more of the Ziggy legend than any other and followed Bowie into hotel rooms and dressing rooms, on the road and socialising with musicians and friends including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger. The results are shown in this extraordinary book. The parties, costumes, hair-styles, photo shoots and concerts are all pictured in a fantastical style that sums up the spirit of the time. Bowie provides a fascinating running commentary to Mick Rock’s photographs, recalling his personal memories of life as Ziggy.

A must-have for any David Bowie fan.

My Bowie Story: Memories of David Bowie. Edited by Dale K. Perry.

In  My Bowie Story , sixty storytellers look back on more than four decades of memories featuring David Bowie. Filled with heartfelt stories and photographs, the fans describe how Bowie’s music, personas, and creativity changed their lives. The eighty five stories also offer a glimpse of Bowie’s kindness as he interacted with his admirers while relating the impact his message had on the sexuality, education, and the lifelong achievements of multiple generations. From Space Oddity to Blackstar, the tales include personal encounters with Bowie and offer deep insights that longtime fans and those just discovering his brilliance will cherish.

Bowie Style by Mark Paytress and Steve Pafford.

A richly illustrated 160-page chronicle of pop’s greatest exponent of style. This visual examination of a celebrated multi-faceted career documents the impact of David Bowie on twentieth-century fashion and culture, brilliantly capturing his spatial odyssey from dedicated follower to supreme arbiter of rock chic. As the book says, ‘Bowie’s “style” has always amounted to more than clothes, hair and cosmetics. Style, for Bowie, is inextricable from art…it is less a flight from reality than an entire way of life.’

The range of photographs is staggering. From his humble Brixton beginnings to the classy pop icon in the last quarter of the old millennium (every year from 1962 to 1999 is amply represented), the book shows a changing glamour gallery of Bowies down the years, all different and yet somehow all unified by an unerring grasp of Style with a capital S. Whether it’s on-stage with The King Bees in the Sixties, off-stage at Haddon Hall in the Seventies, on-stage (again) with Iggy Pop in the Eighties, or back-stage with Morrissey in the Nineties, Steve Pafford, editor of the UK’s ‘Crankin’ Out’ Bowie fan club magazine (PO Box 3268, London NW6 4NH), has unearthed some fascinating pix.

There are close to 500 images in BowieStyle, an all-time high, and around 40% are guaranteed previously unseen. There’s also an exclusive two-page interview with photographer Mick Rock, contributions from ex-manager Ken Pitt, as well as previously unpublished extracts of Crankin’ Out’s interviews with collaborator Tony Visconti, clothes designer Natasha Kornilof and Manish Boy Bob Solly. The informed, incisive text and picture captions are also littered with quotes from David himself, compiled from various media interviews conducted over the years, as well as his chats with Crankin’ Out, which appear in print for the very first time.

Lazarus – The Complete Book and Lyrics by David Bowie and Enda Walsh.

“Wild, fantastical… A surrealistic tour de force.” –Rolling Stone

‘I’m a dying man who can’t die.’

Thomas Newton came to Earth seeking water for his drought-ridden planet. Years later he’s still stranded here, sozzled on cheap gin and haunted by a past love. But the arrival of another lost soul brings one last chance of freedom…

Inspired by the book The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis and its cult film adaptation starring David Bowie, Lazarus brings the story of Thomas Newton to its devastating conclusion.

Written by Bowie with the playwright Enda Walsh, and incorporating some of Bowie’s most iconic songs, Lazarus was first performed at New York Theatre Workshop in 2015, starring Michael C. Hall and directed by Ivo Van Hove. The production transferred to London in 2016.

Unmade Up: Recollections of a Friendship with David Bowie, by Edward Bell.

Unmade Up features much previously unseen artwork and photography of the enigmatic singer David Bowie, by his go-to artist of his heyday, Edward Bell. His commissions included the sleeve for Bowie’s 1980 album ‘Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)’ which featured the number one single ‘Ashes to Ashes’. Bowie later bought all of Bell’s artwork for his private collection. “David Bowie: He soared, his eagle eye spied everything. His magpie nature urged him to plunder with ruthless perception. The Chameleon absorbed, then radiated, colours eclipsing. A butterfly mind, alighting, random and eclectic. Courageous, enigmatic, outrageous, and contradictory, he was Star Man, Elephant Man, a Diamond Dog, Tin Machine, the mythological peacock of incorruptible flesh. This account of my relationship with the man is written from the perspective of one who was of Bowie’s generation but preferred to listen to The Rolling Stones: who had been to art school, freelanced as a photographer and illustrator for magazines – Vogue, Tatler, The Sunday Times – a visual person, rather than musical. I greeted the shock of David’s death at first with a faint, sad shrug; the full impact was slow to dawn. If a drowning man is said to see his whole life experience on an instant in total recall, I was to experience a small death that lingered, and as it did so, forgotten incidents gradually returned with an extraordinary clarity. I felt compelled to write them all down, with the desire to share them.”

Bowie In Berlin: A new career in a new town by Thomas Jerome Seabrook.

Driven to the brink of madness by cocaine, overwork, marital strife, and a paranoid obsession with the occult, Bowie fled Los Angeles in 1975 and ended up in Berlin, the divided city on the frontline between communist East and capitalist West. There he sought anonymity, taking an apartment in a run-down district with his sometime collaborator Iggy Pop, another refugee from drugs and debauchery, while they explored the city and its notorious nightlife. In this intensely creative period, Bowie put together three classic albums — Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger — with collaborators who included Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, and Tony Visconti. He also found time to produce two albums for Iggy Pop–The Idiot and Lust For Life–and to take a leading role in a movie, the ill-starred Just A Gigolo. Bowie In Berlin examines that period and those records, exploring Bowie’s fascination with the city, unearthing his sources of inspiration, detailing his working methods, and teasing out the elusive meanings of the songs. Painstakingly researched and vividly written, the book casts new light on the most creative and influential era in David Bowie’s career.

David Bowie: Rainbow Man, 1967-1980 by Jérôme Soligny. (French Edition)

Pendant près d’un quart de siècle, en tant que journaliste musical, Jérôme Soligny a écrit à propos de David Bowie et a régulièrement échangé avec lui. Au printemps 2016, quelques semaines après son décès, il s’est attelé à une tâche aussi originale que conséquente : raconter Bowie, le musicien, ses enregistrements et ses tournées, avec le concours de ceux qui ont participé à l’édification de son oeuvre. En comptant les vedettes du rock qui s’étaient déjà exprimées à son micro au sujet de cet artiste hors-norme – dont il a rassemblé ici les déclarations – c’est près de trois cents personnes (producteurs, instrumentistes, ingénieurs du son, mais aussi designers, photographes, ainsi que des musiciens qui l’ont influencé ou qu’il a influencés…) qui prennent la parole dans Rainbowman. Elles contribuent à brosser un portrait, non pas conforme à l’idée que, depuis des décennies, les médias et le public se font de David Bowie, mais fidèle de l’homme de mots et de musique, du mélomane passé à l’acte que, humblement, il a prétendu être jusqu’à la fin de sa vie.

Main article photograph by Jimmy King.

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David Bowie: A Life Hardcover – September 12, 2017

• Print length 544 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Crown Archetype
• Publication date September 12, 2017
• Dimensions 6.47 x 1.45 x 9.53 inches
• ISBN-10 045149783X
• ISBN-13 978-0451497833
• See all details

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About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown Archetype (September 12, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 045149783X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451497833
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.47 x 1.45 x 9.53 inches
• #2,832 in Rock Band Biographies
• #8,828 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies

About the author

Dylan jones.

Dylan Jones studied at Chelsea School Of Art and then St. Martin’s School of Art. He is the award-winning editor of GQ magazine, a position he has held since 1999, and has won the British Society of Magazine Editors “Editor of the Year” award a record ten times. In 2013 he was also the recipient of the prestigious Mark Boxer Award.

Under his editorship the magazine has won over 50 awards.

A former editor at i-D, The Face, Arena, the Observer and the Sunday Times, he is the author of the New York Times best seller Jim Morrison: Dark Star, the much-translated iPod, Therefore I Am and Mr. Jones’ Rules, as well as the editor of the classic collection of music writing, Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy. He edited a collection of journalism from Arena - Sex, Power & Travel - and collaborated with David Cameron on Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones (shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year).

He was the Chairman of the Prince’s Trust’s Fashion Rocks Monaco, is a board member of the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and a Trustee of the Hay Festival. He is also the chairman of London Fashion Week: Men’s, London’s first men’s fashion week, launched in 2012 at the behest of the British Fashion Council.

In 2010 he spent a week in Afghanistan with the Armed Forces, collaborating on a book with the photographer David Bailey: British Heroes in Afghanistan.

In 2012 he had three books published: The Biographical Dictionary of Music; When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four Minutes that Shook the World, and the official book of U2’s 360 Tour, published in October. Since then he has published

The Eighties: One Day One Decade, a book about the 1980s told through the prism of Live Aid, Elvis Has Left The Building: The Day The King Died, Mr. Mojo, London Rules, a polemic about the greatest city in the world, Manxiety and London Sartorial.

In June 2013 he was awarded an OBE for services to publishing and the fashion industry. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Professor of Glasgow Caledonian University.

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Customers say

Customers find the book great, thorough, and enjoyable. They appreciate the insightful interviews and interesting biographical information. Readers also describe the stories as great, poignant, and entertaining. However, some feel the biography is not great.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book great, thorough, and enjoyable. They say it's a good buy and absolutely addictive.

"...Actually, that's a minor complaint of this very rich, thorough book ...." Read more

"...else about Bowie...but if you know the basics of his life story, it's a great read ." Read more

"...of interviews by those that knew David closely is unique and clearly enjoyable - since each is a "first hand" account..." Read more

"This was a great read and I didn’t want it to end!..." Read more

Customers find the interviews in the book insightful, witty, and interesting. They say the book tells Bowie's life story really well and brings out details unknown. Readers mention the book is mostly composed of interviews with friends, family, and collaborators.

" Lots of interesting biographical info without an emphasis on salacious gossip like Angie Bowie’s and Wendy Leigh’s books." Read more

"...to the director for Bowie's final video, this book contains deeply insightful interviews with almost all of the key people in his life...." Read more

"...a better sense of who he was -- polite, intelligent, passionate, intellectual , kind to others, wild like the wind he sang about, driven by the need..." Read more

"...Not just a biography by any means. This book is mostly comprised of interviews with friends , family and collaborators...." Read more

Customers find the stories interesting, entertaining, and poignant.

"...Some are hilarious, some are poignant , some were just passing through...." Read more

"...basic timeline and it’s a variety of accounts of Bowie, which is super interesting and insightful. It tells too much and too little at the same time." Read more

"... Great stories and snippets but too much work on the reader. And not well chartered." Read more

"Great book! Very interesting story told in interviews about Bowie. 👍..." Read more

Customers find the biography quality of the book not great.

"...that an "oral history biography" was a disjointed and redundant biography by a lazy writer ...." Read more

"...Mr. Jones is the editor of a compendium... not the author of a book ." Read more

"Be aware that this is not a narrative biography but an oral history--made up almost entirely of pieces of interviews--but they tell Bowie's life..." Read more

"Some great interviewees ... but not so great biography ..." Read more

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David Bowie

(1947-2016)

Who Was David Bowie?

Rock star David Bowie's first hit was the song "Space Oddity" in 1969. The original pop chameleon, Bowie became a fantastical sci-fi character for his breakout Ziggy Stardust album. He later co-wrote "Fame" with Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, which became his first American No. 1 single in 1975. An accomplished actor, Bowie starred in The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Shortly after releasing his final album, Bowie died from cancer on January 10, 2016.

Early Years

Known as a musical chameleon for his ever-changing appearance and sound, David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, South London, England, on January 8, 1947.

Bowie showed an interest in music from an early age and began playing the saxophone at age 13. He was greatly influenced by his half-brother Terry, who was nine years older and exposed the young Bowie to the worlds of rock music and beat literature.

But Terry had his demons, and his mental illness, which forced the family to commit him to an institution, haunted Bowie for a good deal of his life. Terry committed suicide in 1985, a tragedy that became the focal point of Bowie's later song, "Jump They Say."

After graduating from Bromley Technical High School at 16, Bowie started working as a commercial artist. He also continued to play music, hooking up with a number of bands and leading a group himself called Davy Jones and the Lower Third. Several singles came out of this period, but nothing that gave the young performer the kind of commercial traction he needed.

Out of fear of being confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees, David changed his last name to Bowie, a name that was inspired by the knife developed by the 19th-century American pioneer Jim Bowie .

Eventually, Bowie went out on his own. But after recording an unsuccessful solo album, Bowie exited the music world for a temporary period. Like so much of his later life, these few years proved to be incredibly experimental for the young artist. For several weeks in 1967 he lived at a Buddhist monastery in Scotland. Bowie later started his own mime troupe called Feathers.

Around this time he also met the American-born Angela Barnett. The two married on March 20, 1970, and had one son together, whom they nicknamed "Zowie," in 1971, before divorcing in 1980. He is now known by his birth name, Duncan Jones.

By early 1969, Bowie had returned full time to music. He signed a deal with Mercury Records and that summer released the single "Space Oddity." Bowie later said the song came to him after seeing Stanley Kubrick 's 2001: A Space Odyssey: "I went stoned out of my mind to see the movie and it really freaked me out, especially the trip passage."

The song quickly resonated with the public, sparked in large part by the BBC's use of the single during its coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The song enjoyed later success after being released in the United States in 1972, climbing to number 15 on the charts.

Bowie's next album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970), further catapulted him to stardom. The record offered up a heavier rock sound than anything Bowie had done before and included the song "All the Madmen," about his institutionalized brother, Terry. His next work, 1971's Hunky Dory , featured two hits: the title track that was a tribute to Andy Warhol , the Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan ; and "Changes," which came to embody Bowie himself.

Meet Ziggy Stardust

As Bowie's celebrity profile increased, so did his desire to keep fans and critics guessing. He claimed he was gay and then introduced the pop world to Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's imagining of a doomed rock star, and his backing group, The Spiders from Mars.

His 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars , made him a superstar. Dressed in wild costumes that spoke of some kind of wild future, Bowie, portraying Stardust himself, signaled a new age in rock music, one that seemed to officially announce the end of the 1960s and the Woodstock era.

More Changes

But just as quickly as Bowie transformed himself into Stardust, he changed again. He leveraged his celebrity and produced albums for Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. In 1973, he disbanded the Spiders and shelved his Stardust persona. Bowie continued on in a similar glam rock style with the album Aladdin Sane (1973), which featured "The Jean Genie" and "Let's Spend the Night Together," his collaboration with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Around this time he showed his affection for his early days in the English mod scene and released Pin Ups , an album filled with cover songs originally recorded by a host of popular bands, including Pretty Things and Pink Floyd.

By the mid 1970s, Bowie had undergone a full-scale makeover. Gone were the outrageous costumes and garish sets. In two short years, he released the albums David Live (1974) and Young Americans (1975). The latter album featured backing vocals by a young Luther Vandross and included the song "Fame," co-written with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar, which became Bowie’s first American number one single.

In 1980, Bowie, now living in New York, released Scary Monsters , a much-lauded album that featured the single "Ashes to Ashes," a sort of updated version of his earlier "Space Oddity."

Three years later Bowie recorded Let's Dance (1983), an album that contained a bevy of hits such as the title track, "Modern Love" and "China Girl," and featured the guitar work of Stevie Ray Vaughan .

Of course, Bowie's interests didn't just reside with music. His love of film helped land him the title role in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). In 1980, Bowie starred on Broadway in The Elephant Man , and was critically acclaimed for his performance. In 1986, he starred as Jareth, the Goblin King, in the fantasy-adventure film Labyrinth , directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas . Bowie performed opposite teenage Jennifer Connolly and a cast of puppets in the movie, which became a 1980s cult classic.

Over the next decade, Bowie bounced back and forth between acting and music, with the latter especially suffering. Outside of a couple of modest hits, Bowie's musical career languished. His side project with musicians Reeve Gabrels and Tony and Hunt Sales, known as Tin Machine, released two albums, Tin Machine (1989) and Tin Machine II (1991), which both proved to be flops. His much-hyped album Black Tie White Noise (1993), which Bowie described as a wedding gift to his new wife, supermodel Iman , also struggled to resonate with record buyers.

Oddly enough, the most popular Bowie creation of that period was Bowie Bonds, financial securities the artist himself backed with royalties from his pre-1990 work. Bowie issued the bonds in 1997 and earned $55 million from the sale. The rights to his back catalog were returned to him when the bonds matured in 2007.

Later Years

In 2004, Bowie received a major health scare when he suffered a heart attack while on stage in Germany. He made a full recovery and went on to work with bands such as Arcade Fire and with the actress Scarlett Johansson on her album Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008), a collection of Tom Waits covers.

Bowie, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, was a 2006 recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He kept a low profile for several years until the release of his 2013 album The Next Day , which skyrocketed to number 2 on the Billboard charts. The following year, Bowie released a greatest hits collection, Nothing Has Changed , which featured the new song "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)." In 2015, he collaborated on Lazarus , an Off-Broadway rock musical starring Michael C. Hall, which revisited his character from The Man Who Fell to Earth .

Bowie released Blackstar , his final album, on January 8, 2016, his 69th birthday. New York Times critic Jon Pareles noted that it was a "strange, daring and ultimately rewarding" work "with a mood darkened by bitter awareness of mortality." Only a few days later, the world would learn that the record had been made under difficult circumstances.

Death and Legacy

The music icon died on January 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday. A post on his Facebook page read: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer."

He was survived by his wife Iman, his son Duncan Jones and daughter Alexandria, and his step-daughter Zulekha Haywood. Bowie also left behind an impressive musical legacy, which included 26 albums. His producer and friend Tony Visconti wrote on Facebook that his last record, Blackstar , was "his parting gift."

Friends and fans were heartbroken at his passing. Iggy Pop wrote on Twitter that "David's friendship was the light of my life. I never met such a brilliant person." The Rolling Stones remembered him on Twitter as "a wonderful and kind man" and "a true original." And even those who didn't know personally felt the impact of his work. Kanye West tweeted, "David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations." Madonna posted "This great Artist changed my life!"

In February 2017, Bowie was recognized for the success of his final album, as he was named the winner in the Best Alternative Rock Album, Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical), Best Recording Package, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song categories at the Grammy Awards.

In late 2017, HBO unveiled a trailer for the documentary David Bowie: The Last Five Years , which explores the period in which the artist released his final two albums and brought his stage musical to life. Airing January 8, 2018, on what would have been his 71st birthday, the documentary features never-before-seen footage of Bowie and conversations with the musicians, producers and music video directors who worked with him on his final tour.

In the spring of 2018, Spotify's "David Bowie Subway Takeover" was unveiled in New York City's interconnected Broadway-Lafayette and Bleecker Street stations. An extension of the "David Bowie Is" exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, the subway displays included splashy photos, fan artwork and quotes from the musician, with each major piece containing a Spotify code for audio accompaniment.

That summer, it was announced that the earliest known studio recording of Bowie, from 1963, would go on sale at auction. Then still known by his birth name of David Jones and a member of a band called The Konrads, Bowie sang lead vocals on a song titled "I Never Dreamed" as part of an audition for Decca Records. The demo, never released, was discovered in the house of the group's former drummer and manager.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: David Bowie
• Birth Year: 1947
• Birth date: January 8, 1947
• Birth City: London
• Birth Country: England
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: David Bowie was an English rock star known for dramatic musical transformations, including his character Ziggy Stardust. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
• Astrological Sign: Capricorn
• Death Year: 2016
• Death date: January 10, 2016
• Death State: New York
• Death City: New York City

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: David Bowie Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/david-bowie
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: August 24, 2022
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• When I'm stuck for a closing to a lyric, I will drag out my last resort: overwhelming illogic.
• I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.

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Books to read if you love David Bowie

January 10th marks the anniversary of David Bowie’s death. To commemorate one of the world’s most enduring icons, discover more about the world he lived in and the world he created 

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