David Bowie 1947-2016

David Bowie, the British singer known for reinventing himself numerous times, has died of cancer at the age of 69.  He had been battling the disease for 18 months.  His last album, Blackstar, was released this past Friday.

David Robert Jones was born in the Brixton area of London on January 8, 1947 to Haywood Jones, a promotions officer for a children's charity, and his wife Margaret, who worked as a waitress.  The family would move to the suburb of Bromley.  During his teen years, David Jones attended Bromley Technical High School, where he got to know another young musician named Peter Frampton.  After playing in several bands, Jones adopted the stage name of David Bowie, to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.

During his career, Bowie's musical style would shift between glam rock, hard rock, soul, art rock and punk, among others.  Besides singing, he also played guitar, keyboards, sax and harmonica on his recordings.  His contributions to other artist's work included writing All The Young Dudes for Mott The Hoople, producing Lou Reed's Take A Walk On The Wild Side, and collaborating with Iggy Pop.  During the late 1980's, he formed a band called Tin Machine.  Bowie was also an actor, often appearing in cameo roles.  He was married twice, first to the former Mary Angela Barnett, and then to Somali-American model Iman.  His two children are Duncan, whose mother is Barnett, and Alexandria, whose mother is Iman.

Read more at CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, CBS News, the Independent and BBC News.

Bowie's early releases were not successful, but the single Space Oddity became his first hit after being released in 1972.  It was first recorded in 1969 for an album that has been entitled David Bowie or Space Oddity.

Bowie's 1973 album Alladin Sane included the rocker The Jean Genie.

In 1975, Bowie had a #1 single with Fame, written with guitarist Carlos Alomar and some guy named John Lennon.

In 1977, Bowie released the title track from the album "Heroes" (the quotation marks being part of the title), written with Brian Eno, as a single.  It was not a big hit, but still became one of his best-known songs.

The Let's Dance album, released in 1983 and featuring guitar contributions by Nile Rodgers of Chic and by Stevie Ray Vaughn, was one of Bowie's more successful releases.  The title track and China Girl, written with and originally recorded by Iggy Pop, were hit singles, as was Modern Love.

The songs in these videos are but a small sample of Bowie's work.  During his career, this guy recorded duets with both Bing Crosby (Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth) and Queen (Under Pressure), which shows just a bit of his remarkable versatility.