David Bowie is known as an incredible performer, one of the most influential musicians of modern times, who lived through era of fluctuations and innovations, well adapting to fast changes and keeping up with the times. As a song writer and a producer, he kept few generations of followers in love with his performance and creativity. An idol for pop and rock fans, as of days he lived and performed, as after his saddest departure of this world. During his professional career as a musician, he had worked with many creative individuals, such as John Lennon, Queen, Mick Jagger and in his joint creativity with a producer Tony Visconti, with whom they created many amazing pieces that are still at current interest of public.
Early Steps of Bowie’s Career
First steps in Bowie’s career as an entertainer he made at the age of thirteen. Encouraged by his father and inspired by jazz performers of London’s streets, he takes saxophone and makes confident way to his future life success. An interest for rock music came a little after and was influenced by his older brother Teddy. The difficulties that the brother went through his life affected Bowie for most of his life; Teddy suffered from mental illness and eventually ended his life by committing suicide. Trying different things before actual success in musical career, Bowie studies art and design, taking acting and writing. Shifting between different styles of music, after finishing high school still playing sax by joining different bands and even having a band of his own; writing few unsuccessful singles and working as a commercial artist he still did not find himself on the level of acknowledgement that he always wanted. His first real success was with the song “Space Oddity”, an inspiration from the movie and was about astronaut that’s lost in space. It happened to be that the song came out same time with the Moon landing. Song was recognized by BBC and became the coverage for Moon landing and that fact made it as a breakthrough for David Bowie. For some time after, any single he wrote was a failure and his persona was refused by public, Bowie was once again looking for his inspiration and the moment of appreciation.
Ziggy Stardust
Bowie’s first real comeback and worldwide popularity came shortly after, with a new appearance and character Ziggy Stardust. Ziggy – is a vivid and wild rock start, something that humankind has not seen before, glamourous character with an orange hair color and a scandalous appearance. Bowie and his teammates in the times of normal rock understandings were seeking for a fame, Bowie knew he has to come up with an idea that no one had before and he had to be first. Ziggy was a rebellious character, a persona that would stand out from normal and blow minds for his appearance and sound. In 1972, London pubs experienced this new epic entrance that ended understanding of the ordinary rock of those days. Rapidly Bowie and his creation took the crowd interest and appreciation for the spectacular shows and performances. After conquering the UK public with fascinating entertainment, Bowie takes it to the next level and travels to the US.
Ziggy Stardust is becoming a new obsession for people worldwide; fans in many countries from the UK to Japan start to color their hair and imitate their new idol. His songs are admired by the audience and hold up in the top 10 positions in Single Charts in multiple countries. Nevertheless, as fascinating entrance Ziggy made on the stage as fast, he has been disbanded by Bowie; in his interviews, he mentioned that Ziggy started to become a reality and it was hard to differentiate personalities when on and off stage.
Worldwide Recognition and Success
Moving on 1974, David takes his creativity to the US. While staying in New York, he recorded a new album in soul and funk style – “Dimond Dogs”, not to be confused with the popular real money slot game of the same name – that immediately took top position in UK Music Chart and not less popularity in the US by hitting 6th position. Touring through North America and keeping writing songs, David Bowie finds himself in Philadelphia, where another successful creation comes to world, “Young Americans”, which generated his very first number one US hit “Fame”, composed together with John Lennon. Shortly after the US tour ends, Bowie moved to Los Angeles and took part in science fiction movie “The Man Who Fell to Earth”, based on the novel about an alien who comes to Earth seeking ways to save his planet. An interesting fact is that Bowie was not staying at the same place for too long and this time after completion of the movie shoot, he took his musical inspiration to Berlin. In 1977 he recorded three new albums in cooperation with Toni Visconti, famous as a Berlin Trilogy. Inspired by krautrock, the style of German rock bands, Bowie creates his first album of the trilogy “Low”. The Album had differences from his previous pieces and was mainly based on abstract musical sound where lyrics were limited and optional. Completely different from anything Bowie was written before, the album on first was not appreciated by publicity and his fans, yet it had picked up popularity for its unique and truly new sound in the UK, taking top 3 positions in charts. Bowie does not keep his fans waiting for long and started to work on his second part of the trilogy, “Heroes”. Same as “Low”, the album is unlike anything heard before, combined with different musical instruments with a guitar signature. The album, equal to the antecedent, hit the top chart in the UK and both were recognized as most influential albums of late 70’s. In the year 1978, Bowie and his two new masterpieces “Low” and “Heroes”, are traveling the world, spreading the sound and new emotions to the public. Soon after, his final piece of the trilogy enters the world, “Lodger”, dissimilar to the two previous albums, Bowie makes a partial return to his original rock and pop sound. There was no touring with the last of the trilogy, however never ceasing to amaze the crowd, Bowie performs in a live show in a daze appearance that till this day stands as the most unique and ineradicable. 1980 – together with Visconti, Bowie records another album Scary Monsters, and his #1 hit in UK Charts Ashes to Ashes, where his long-forgotten hero of Space Oddity takes a new fresh breath. Mixing his talents between recording music and acting, Bowie starring in the Broadway play The Elephant Man and having a five-month run of performances. In 1981 Bowie released a hit in a duet with Queen that once again hit the top Chart in the UK and became popular in few other countries throughout the globe. The song was officially added to Queen’s album the following year. With his love for acting, David decided to focus on taking play in a few movies through years of 1982 – 1983:
- The Hunger – erotic horror, taking a role as a vampire;
- Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – war movie, where Bowie acting as war prisoner in Japanese champ;
- Yellowbeard – a comedy movie, where David had an occurrence.
The highest commercial success and peak of his worldwide popularity, Bowie reached by releasing his album Let’s Dance, written in 1983. It has been sold out as millions of copies throughout the world and triumphs with several number one positions in charts. Not long after the release of the album, Bowie starts his international Serious Moonlight tour, which lasted for six months, starting from England and finishing in Hong Kong. It was a thrilling achievement with all-sold-out status in every country he visited and a high demand from the crowd. Initially, Bowie was planning to have his original way of touring and in the end, it became his first most prominent and most effective tour at that time. For the next two years, Bowie worked on a new album in a dance-oriented style, collaborating with Tina Turner and having a duet with Mick Jagger. Afresh, Bowie takes part in the movie Absolute Beginners and writes a coverage with an identical name; even though a film did not succeed, David’s song reached top charts once again.
Tin Machine
After years of working solo, Bowie decides to try something different and give acknowledgment of the public to friends that he worked with. As a result, in 1984, a rock-quartet Tin Machine appears to the world. The creation of the band was made as all members would be equal, with Bowie as a lead singer. With only two albums produced, more or less, the band did not satisfy Bowie’s fans and was not a choice of appreciation. The scandalous song lyrics were judged by the press and not understood by followers. After touring with the quartet for a few unsuccessful years, Bowie returned to his solo career.
Final Years of Bowie’s Activity
Bowie once again was winning his popularity back with a new instrumental album Black Tie White Noise in 1993. In a dance and house style album, it made the world known that David Bowie has still a lot to show and is not a fading star. Within years Bowie worked with many producers, even produced on his own, yet in 1998 he renewed his work with Toni Visconti and in this collaboration, new exciting pieces were born. Bowie keeps creating and this time, he writes a soundtrack for an on-line game Omikron and even voiced some of the game’s characters himself. In 2000, Bowie and Visconti alliance started working on a new album – “Heathen”-containing absolutely new original songs. Album was released in 2002 with a following Heathen Tour through America and Europe. What was notable for fans during this tour was the previously not fully live performed album “Low” was included together with “Heathen”. His final tour was in 2004, with published that time album “Reality”, Bowie did not finish it due to health troubles and following a heart attack. Through recovery, David reduced his performing activity, yet continue producing and writing songs for beginner bands. His twenty-fifth and final album, “Blackstar”, was written in 2015 and based on his older passion for krautrock style, was named as one of the oddest of the Bowie’s work. “Blackstar” was the final piece of David’s musical career and was a goodbye for his fans and followers, as he was diagnosed with liver cancer. The same year, he debuted his musical Lazarus and at the opening day, he made his last public appearance. On January 10th, 2016 a tragic news flew around the world, as David Bowie gave up his life in a battle with cancer.
Art and Afterlife Appreciation
Throughout life, David Bowie was not only a great musician and producer, he as well had an incredible taste for art and was a talented painter. Painting for Bowie was much more than just a hobby from high school days, and it was additionally an escape from a dangerous obsession of the early times in his musical career. As a young and wild soul, during his stay in Los Angeles, Bowie has been exposed to drugs and was heavily harmed under its influence. He finds himself in a dangerous position of paranoid state and moving to Germany for rehabilitation. His ability to paint helps him get in a better condition and works as destruction from a depression. During his tours, he would often find some time for drawing and photographing environment around him. His very first art show in London, in one of the galleries of the famous Cork Street, had an incredible success. He was recognized in those days by famous magazines and invited to multiple art shows. Apart from painting himself, Bowie was an art collector. In one of his interviews for the New York Times, he mentioned – “Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment. I use it. It can change the way that I feel in the mornings.” Bowie would buy art pieces anywhere he travels, his taste in styles were shifted from modern and contemporary British to African contemporary. After Bowie’s death in 2016, his family decided to put his collection for an auction that was held in London and lasted for three days, attracting fans of the legendary musician and art lovers from all over the world. During his life and musical career, Bowie collected most of the artifacts, costumes from his concerts and numerous album covers. In 2010, his archivist offered to an Art and Design Victoria and Albert Museum in London, to open an exhibition with all collected through times pieces by Bowie. The idea itself was about making a life-long story of David Bowie by exposing his persona with an art, so it was named “David Bowie is”.
Materials that were displayed during this exhibition:
- Presented pictures about Bowie’s childhood and musical careers, his tours and concerts, his collaboration with different performers and of course his art;
- Different costumes saved from times of captivating Ziggy Stardust and these were offered as well as many others designed by famous fashion collaborators Freddie Burretti and Kansai Yamamoto;
- Available to the visitors was a room with video screens that would show touring footage, concerts and video clips.
His friend and producer, Tony Visconti created a special edition mix of Bowie’s songs for all years of his performance especially for the exhibition. “David Bowie is” has travelled around the world, visiting over 12 museums, and made its final stop in New York at the Brooklyn Museum after five years from its start. In 2019 an interactive application was created with an identical name, based on an exhibition material, allowing fans and followers of David Bowie to virtually access videos, art and costumes that were presented in the show, and even some more that were not included at that time.
David Bowie was the most unique and creative personality of modern times, glamorous and scandalous at the same time. He was changing understanding of normal as fast as his own personality and never failed to impress. He was not only an outstanding rock star, he was a talented actor and artist, songwriter, producer, a devoted musician who was never feared to change and try new exquisite ideas. For his hard work and years of loyalty to his followers, he has been recognized several times, he was included in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, his last album, “Blackstar” won a British Album of the year in 2017 and received five Grammy Awards. To honor Bowie’s exclusive and inspiring characters and creative identities through his musical career, an English city where Ziggy Stardust debuted for the first time, installed a monument, with Ziggy as the main persona. David Bowie had a life he wished for, he did everything the way he wanted it to be done, he showed the world how one can enjoy the trip of life and he took his followers through it together with him. In his life and creative career as a musician, Bowie never stopped to impress with his stage images and shifted styles. His music was loved and listened, as does in our days, in every corner of the world. The venues with concerts were always filled and the demand grew highly with every new written song. He inspired his admirers with his confidence and getting into their soul shouting from the stage – “You are not Alone!”. Truly admired and loved by many, an amazing creator ¬– “the greatest rock star ever”.