David Bowie
Date of Birth
David Bowie was a rock and roll icon and creative changeling, known for his genre- and gender-bending transformations. The London-born singer-songwriter had a number of personas, including Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, as well as a slew of chart-topping hits, such as "Space Oddity," "Changes," "Starman," "Fame," "Heroes," "Let's Dance" and "Where Are We Now?"
Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947, in Brixton, a working-class London suburb. He released his first album in 1967, but gained real traction two years later when he signed to Mercury Records and released his album Man of Words/Man of Music, featuring “Space Oddity.”
Over the course of his nearly five-decade long career, he released 25 albums, sold 140 million records worldwide, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. His music was used extensively in movies and television, giving him more than 450 soundtrack credits.
Bowie was also an actor, frequently playing himself, including in the movies Zoolander and Bandslam, and on the television series Full Stretch, Nathan Barley and Extras. He also played a range of other film roles, including Andy Warhol in the 1996 movie Basquiat, an alien humanoid in The Man Who Fell to Earth, a paid escort in Just a Gigolo (opposite Kim Novak), a vampire’s beloved in The Hunger (with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon), a British soldier in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, a goblin king in Labyrinth, Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ, a 400-year-old man in Mr. Rice’s Secret and scientist Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.
David Bowie was a rock and roll icon and creative changeling, known for his genre- and gender-bending transformations. The London-born singer-songwriter had a number of personas, including Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, as well as a slew of chart-topping hits, such as "Space Oddity," "Changes," "Starman," "Fame," "Heroes," "Let's Dance" and "Where Are We Now?"
Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947, in Brixton, a working-class London suburb. He released his first album in 1967, but gained real traction two years later when he signed to Mercury Records and released his album Man of Words/Man of Music, featuring “Space Oddity.”
Over the course of his nearly five-decade long career, he released 25 albums, sold 140 million records worldwide, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. His music was used extensively in movies and television, giving him more than 450 soundtrack credits.
Bowie was also an actor, frequently playing himself, including in the movies Zoolander and Bandslam, and on the television series Full Stretch, Nathan Barley and Extras. He also played a range of other film roles, including Andy Warhol in the 1996 movie Basquiat, an alien humanoid in The Man Who Fell to Earth, a paid escort in Just a Gigolo (opposite Kim Novak), a vampire’s beloved in The Hunger (with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon), a British soldier in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, a goblin king in Labyrinth, Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ, a 400-year-old man in Mr. Rice’s Secret and scientist Nikola Tesla in The Prestige.
Bowie also made appearances on countless television shows, including interviews and performances on The Grammy Awards, The Dick Cavett Show, Cher, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Howard Stern, Charlie Rose and Saturday Night Live.
He also acted on television, including roles on the series Dream On and The Hunger, as well as the telefilm Baal.
Bowie was married to the model Iman at the time of his death.
He died January 10, 2016, in New York City. He was 69.
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