He is "the man with 1,000 faces", "Ziggy Stardust", "Aladdin Sane", "The Thin White Duke", "Major Tom" or simply "King David" of music.
(Photo: fanart.tv)
Here are 75 facts about one of the greatest and most influential musicians of our generation - David Bowie.
1. He was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947, in Brixton London.
2. He shares the same birthday as Elvis Presley who was born on the exact same date in 1935 and with Robby Krieger from the band "The Doors" who was born a year before.
3. He attended the same school as guitarist Peter Frampton. They remained good friends until the day Bowie died.
4. Peter Frampton's father was Bowie's art teacher.
5. Bowie's two eyes are blue. The apparent different colors in Bowie's two eyes were caused by a punch in the eye he got from his friend George Underwood during a fight over a girl. The punch caused the pupil in his left eye to remain dilated all the time.
(Photo: davidbowie.com)
6. Despite the incident Bowie and George Underwood remained good friends. Underwood will even design David Bowie's "Hunky Dory" and "Ziggy Stardust" album covers.
7. Bowie had another incident related to his eyes when a fan threw a lollipop on stage during Bowie's performance in Oslo in 2004. The candy cane was stuck in Bowie's eye.
8. Bowie began playing the saxophone at the age of 12, under the influence of his half-brother Terry Burns, who exposed him to music and among other things introduced him to jazz.
9. Bowie formed his first band "Konrads" when he was 15. The band played at school parties and weddings. Underwood was part of the band.
10. Bowie later formed another band called "King Bees".
11. His first television appearance was even before he released his first album, when he was 17. He was interviewed for a "BBC" program after founding an association called “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired men”.
12. That same year he had already released his first single "Liza Jane" under the name "Davie Jones with the King Bees".
13. The single failed and Bowie left the band a month later and joined the band "Manish Boys". He then formed another band - "The" Lower Third" and a third band - "The Buzz". All of them were not a success until so he finally decided to start a solo career.
14. To avoid confusion with a member of the band "The Monkees" named Davy Jones, he decided to change his name to David Bowie.
15. The name Bowie was based on a commando knife that has two blades.
16. He released his first solo album named "David Bowie" on June 1, 1967. This album was also unsuccessful.
17. On July 11, 1969 - just five days before the launch of "Apollo 11" to the moon, Bowie released the hit single "Space Oddity". The single accompanied the "BBC" broadcasts covering the landing of "the Eagle" and the first man to walk on the moon, on July 20, 1969. This helped the single success.
18. The song was influenced by Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey", which was released in 1968. It tells the story of the launch of astronaut Major Tom into space.
19. Major Tom will return to star in Bowie's songs - "Ashes to Ashes" from 1980 and "Hallo Spaceboy" from 1995.
20. Major Tom's character will also appear in Bowie's clip of the song "Blackstar", from his latest album.
21. The song "Space Oddity" will be included a few months later in Bowie's second album, which will also be called "David Bowie" and was released in November 1969. The album was reissued in 1972 with the name "Space Oddity".
22. In 1970, Bowie married his first wife, Angie, an American model, actress, and journalist.
23. Angie will have an impact on the development of Glam Rock and among other things, help shape the concept and costumes of "Ziggy Stardust".
24. That same year Bowie will release his third album "The" Man Who Sold the World", which will include a change in musical style. This was the beginning of the transition from the acoustic sound of the previous two albums, to a heavier and electric sound, led by guitarist Mick Ronson joining Bowie's backing band.
25. The album will deal with issues such as schizophrenia and paranoia. These issues were influenced by Bowie's half-brother - Terry Burns, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
26. Terry inspired other songs Bowie wrote during his career such as: "Aladdin Sane", "The Bewlay Brothers", "All The Madmen" and "Jump They Say" - written about Terry's first suicide attempt.
27. Sadly Terry succeeded where he failed for the first time. He was found dead in 1985.
28. In December 1971, Bowie released his fourth album, "Hunky Dory", which was considered one of his greatest albums and was included in Time Magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of all time. The album includes the hit single "Life on Mars?" featuring Rick Wakeman on piano. Wakeman, who was then a member of the band "Strawbs", had previously played on Bowie's second album.
29. In 1972 Bowie toom on the character of "Ziggy Stardust" and released the masterpiece album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".
30. This is a concept album whose plot revolves around the character of "Ziggy Stardust" - an androgynous alien and a rock star sent to Earth as a messenger and preacher, to spread a message of hope and try to convince humanity to change its destructive nature.
31. That same year he wrote the hit "All the Young Dudes" for "Mott the Hoople".
32. Back in 1972, Bowie played keyboards, and guitar, provided background vocals, and produced Lou Reed's legendary album "Transformer".
33. That same year Bowie came out to the media announcing that he was bisexual.
34. In 1973, Bowie produced and Mixed The Stooges' "Raw Power" album.
35. That same year he released his sixth album "Aladdin Sane" and took on one of the most iconic figures of his career. It's hard to mention this album without mentioning the amazing work of pianist Mike Garson, among other things, in tracks like the theme song and "Lady Grinning Soul".
(Photo: bbc.com)
36. Back in 1973 Bowie released his seventh album "Pin Ups". A cover version album for the artists he loved.
37. The girl who appears on the album cover is British supermodel Twiggy. The photo was originally intended for Vogue magazine but at Bowie's request, it was used for the album cover.
38. In 1974 he released his eighth album "Diamond Dogs" in which he plays almost all instruments, including the guitar riff of "Rebel Rebel" which actually predicted the arrival of punk. The album was influenced by George Orwell's book "1984".
39. In 1975 Bowie released "Young Americans", which provided him with his first hit in the US - "Fame". The song was co-written with John Lennon who even sang background vocals.
40. The album also included the song "Golden Years" which Bowie initially suggested to Elvis Presley, but Elvis Presley turned down the offer.
41. Ahead of the release of his tenth album "Station to Station" in 1976, Bowie took a new persona - "The Thin White Duke" that is actually a kind of variation on the character of the alien Bowie played in the movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth" from that year.
42. Later that year Bowie moved to Berlin where he recorded the first album of what would later be called "The Berlin Trilogy". in the three albums - "Low", "Heroes" (1977), and "Lodger" (1979), bowie will collaborate with musician and producer Brian Eno. The albums "Heroes" and "Lodger" will also feature Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew from "King Crimson", respectively.
43. In 1977 Bowie played and produced Iggy Pop's album The Idiot. Bowie also co-wrote the material for the album, which included the song "China Girl" which would become Bowie's hit in 1983.
44. Bowie will also play and produce Iggy Pop's next album "Lust for Life", also from 1977.
45. That same year Bowie went on a tour with Iggy Pop and served as his keyboardist and background vocalist.
46. In 1980, Bowie released his 14th album "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps", which includes the theme song, "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion". The album will feature Robert Fripp and Pete Townshend, among others.
47. In 1981, Bowie joined "Queen" to write and perform the hit "Under Pressure".
48. In 1983 Bowie became an idol and a world-class superstar with his album "Let's Dance". The album will also feature super guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan who will play the solo in the theme song and more.
49. In 1985, Bowie took part in the "Live Aid" show and teamed up with singer Mick Jagger in a duet of "Dancing in the Street" - a song written by Marvin Gaye in the 1960s.
50. That same year Bowie collaborated with the "Pat Metheny Group" to record the song "This Is Not America", which was written for the movie "The Falcon and the Snowman".
51. In 1986 Bowie got a role in the movie "Absolute Beginners".e also wrote and performed the theme song.
52. In the same year, he starred in the film "Labyrinth" as Jareth the Goblin King. He wrote and also was part the film soundtrack.
53. In 1989 he formed the supergroup "Tin Machine". They released two albums.
54. In 1993 he returned to his solo career with the album "Black Tie White Noise", which included influences of Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Electronic.
55. That same year he wrote the soundtrack for the movie "The Buddha of Suburbia", in which Lenny Kravitz played the theme song.
56. In 1995 he worked with Brian Eno again, on the album "Outside", which also included a collaboration with the "Pet Shop Boys". During the tour for this album, Bowie will also arrive in Israel.
57. In 1996, Bowie was inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame".
58. That year Bowie was the first to release a single that was available for download exclusively from the Internet. That was before the streaming era, and before "Radiohead."
59. Since the internet was still very slow at that time, it took about 11 minutes to download the song. Following this, Bowie set up his own internet provider a year later, called "Bowienet".
60. In 1997 he celebrated his 50th birthday in a huge show at Madison Square Garden. The show featured many artists such as Lou Reed, "Foo Fighters", Robert Smith, Billy Corgan, Black Francis, "Sonic Youth".
(Photo: Kevin Mazur Archive/WireImage)
61. In 2003 he was offered a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth. He politely declined.
62. Bowie plays the saxophone in the song "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by "Steeleye Span".
63. His name is mentioned in the song "Trans Europe Express" by the band "Kraftwerk".
64. Bowie's name is also mentioned in the song "Backside" by the "Strawbs".
65. Bowie used to paint, sculpt and write in his spare time.
66. There is a spider named after Bowie named "the Heteropoda davidbowie".
67. Slash's mother was at one time Bowie's clothing designer. Slash surprised them once in the middle ...
68. During his illustrious solo career Bowie has released 27 studio albums, four soundtracks, eight EPs, 11 live albums, and more and more.
69. In addition Bowie has collaborated with many artists beyond those mentioned above, such as: "Placebo" in the song "Without You I'm Nothing", "Arcade Fire" in the song "Reflektor", Trent Reznor, Robert Smith, the band "Kashmir" in the song "The Cynic" and more.
70. It is estimated that Bowie sold about 150 million albums during his career.
71. Bowie's character is on every one of his albums, except for the English version of the soundtrack "The Buddha Of Suburbia", the album "The Next Day" where his face is covered, and his latest album.
72. Bowie also starred in 28 films, including: "Just a Gigolo", "Merry Christmas", "Mr. Lawrence", "The Last Temptation of Christ", "The Prestige" and 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me". He also played Andy Warhol (about whom he also wrote a song in the 1970s) in the movie "Basquiat".
73. In 2004, Bowie was ranked 39th on "Rolling Stone" magazine's 100 greatest artists of all time and 23rd on the list of 100 greatest singers of all time.
74. About a month before his death, a play called "Lazarus" which Bowie co-wrote was performed on stage. The play was influenced by the movie "The Man Who Fell to Earth", in which Bowie played. It was also one of the songs on his latest album.
75. January is "the month of Bowie". His birthday was celebrated on January 8th. On the same day, his latest album "Blackstar" was released in 2016. Two days later, on January 10, 2016, Bowie passed away at the age of 69. In addition, two of his masterpieces - "Station To Station" (1975) and "Low" (1977), were released.
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