David Bowie (;
born
David Robert Jones;
[Stephen M. Silverman, People, "David Bowie Recovering from Heart Strategy", 9 July 2004, retrieved 09-21-09.] 8 January 1947) is an English
musician, actor, record producer and
arranger. Active in five decades of
popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He has been cited as an influence by many musicians
[Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, ((( David Bowie > Overview, retrieved 03-21-2007.] and is known for his distinctive voice
[Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, Review: Earthling: David Bowie, 20 February 1997, retrieved 09-21-2009.] and the intellectual depth of his work.
[Jesse Jarnow, "David Bowie," in Scott Schnider, ed., Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever (2008), "Openly bisexual and vociferously intellectual, David Bowie in the late 1970s was the very definition of charisma", Greenwood Publishing Group, pg. 482.][Mark Paytress, Bolan: The Rise and Fall of a 20th Century Superstar (2002), "America responded favourably to Bowie's intellectual take on pop," Omnibus Press, pg. 218.]
Although he released an album (
David Bowie) and several singles earlier, David Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in the autumn of 1969, when the song "
Space Oddity" reached the top five of the
UK singles chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the
glam rock era as the flamboyant,
androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "
Starman" and the album
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona epitomised a career often marked by musical innovation, reinvention and striking visual presentation.
In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "
Fame", co-written with
John Lennon,
and the hit album
Young Americans, which the singer identified as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees.
[Carr & Murray (1981): pp.68-74] He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the
minimalist album
Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with
Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "
Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK Top Five and garnered lasting critical praise.
