In 1969 he released the album “Space Oddity,” whose title song became his first British top 10 hit. As his own career began to take off, he changed his surname to Bowie, largely to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees. He was a fan of early American rock and R&B performers such as Little Richard, Fats Domino and Frankie Lymon, and he began recording folk music with a range of bands in the 1960s.
8, 1947, Bowie shared his birthday (albeit 12 years later) with the king of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley, to whom many critics often compared Bowie for his barrier-breaking influence on popular music. In all he had eight top 20 singles and 14 top 20 albums, according to Billboard, among the 40-plus albums and 31 singles he placed on those charts.īorn David Robert Haywood Jones in Brixton, London, on Jan. 1 hit came eight years later with the appropriately titled “Let’s Dance,” whose success landed him on the cover of Time magazine. Among them: “Changes,” which was emblematic of his chameleonic artistry, “Rebel Rebel,” “Young Americans” and “Fame,” a collaboration with John Lennon that took him to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1975. One of the most artistically adventurous musicians to surface in the 1970s, he also connected with several hit singles and albums. His often androgynous personas also served as inspiration for countless gay and transgender entertainers to come. Madonna tweeted that Bowie “changed my life!” “David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime,” West tweeted. As news of his death spread, rapper Kanye West and Madonna were among the artists who tweeted tributes. While producing Lou Reed’s sole top 20 hit, “Walk on the Wild Side,” in 1972, Bowie brought in saxophonist Robbie Ross, who had been Bowie’s sax teacher, to play the signature sultry solo as the song fades out.īowie’s influence extended far beyond those of his contemporaries who came of age in the 1950s and ‘60s. The album revels in an improvisational spirit of jazz, which had influenced Bowie since he first took up saxophone, an instrument he played on a number of records. He made ‘Blackstar’ for us, his parting gift.” His death was not different from his life - a work of Art. “And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. “He always did what he wanted to do,” Visconti wrote on his Facebook page. His longtime collaborator, Tony Visconti, said it was Bowie’s intention that the album would be his farewell message.
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