Rock singer, born in Brixton, London, UK. He changed his name in 1966 ("Bowie’, a Western knife) to avoid confusion with another pop singer (David Jones of the Monkees). His early career was undistinguished and he came close to becoming a Buddhist monk before the success of ‘Space Oddity’ (1969) - a song derived from the Kubrick film 2001: a Space Odyssey. His career blossomed throughout the 1970s as he adopted a range of extreme stage images to suit a variety of musical styles.
His albums have included Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), Heroes (1977), Hours (1999), and Reality (2003). He has also acted in films, including The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983), had a leading role in the animated film Labyrinth (1986), and starred in a long Broadway run of The Elephant Man. Later films include Basquiat (1996).