David Bowie Research Paper

David Bowie

Born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947, David Bowie was one of the most influencial rock stars in history. He showed an early interest in music at age 13, when he began playing the saxophone. He was greatly influenced by Terry, his half-brother. He showed Bowie the world of rock music and beat literature. Unfortunetly, Terry had a serious mental illness, which forced the family to commit him to an institution early in Bowie's life. Terry committed suicide in 1985, a tragedy the Bowie decided to write a song about, called ''Jump They Say''. Soon after graduating from Bromley Technical High at 16, Bowie started working as a commercial artist. He also continued his passion of music, grouping with a number of bands, and eventually

He signed a deal with Mercury Records and released the single ''Space Oddity'' that summer. The song very quickly resonated with the public, which was sparked by the BBC's use of the song during their coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It also became successful stateside, releasing in 1972 and climbing to #15 on the charts. Bowie's next album, The Man Who Sold the World, furthered his stardom. It offered up a havier rock sound than anything he had done before, and included ''All the Madmen'' about his insitutionalized brother Terry. Hunky Dory came next, which featured the title track, a tribute to Andy Warhol, the Velvet Unground and Bob Dylan. It also featured ''Changes'', which came to portray Bowie himself. As Bowie's popularity increased, so did his desire to keep everyone guessing. So, he claimed he was gay and introduced the pop world to Ziggy Stardust. Stardust was Bowie's imagining of a doomed rock star, and his backing group The Spiders from Mars. His 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, made him a superstar. He dressed in wild costumes out of some kind of wild future, with Bowie portraying Stardust signaled a new age in rock