Bowie shelved his solo career in 1989, retreating to the relative anonymity of band membership for the first time since the early 1970s. A hard-rocking quartet,Tin Machine came into being after Bowie began to work experimentally with guitarist Reeves Gabrels. The line-up was completed by Tony and...
On 8 January 2013 (his 66th birthday), his website announced a new album, to be titled The Next Day and scheduled for release 8 March for Australia, 12 March for the United States and 11 March for the rest of the world. Bowie’s first studio album in a decade, The Next Day contains 14 songs plus...
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) produced the number one hit “Ashes to Ashes”, featuring the textural work of guitar-synthesist Chuck Hammer and revisiting the character of Major Tom from “Space Oddity”. The song gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic...
In April 1992 Bowie appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, following the Queen frontman’s death the previous year. As well as performing “Heroes” and “All the Young Dudes”, he was joined on “Under Pressure” by Annie Lennox, who took Mercury’s...
Bowie moved to the US in 1974, initially staying in New York City before settling in Los Angeles. Diamond Dogs(1974), parts of which found him heading towards soul and funk, was the product of two distinct ideas: a musical based on a wild future in a post-apocalyptic city, and setting George Orwell’s...
Bowie created the soundtrack for Omikron, a 1999 computer game in which he and Iman also appeared as characters. Released the same year and containing re-recorded tracks from Omikron, his album ‘Hours…’ featured a song with lyrics by the winner of his “Cyber Song Contest”...
David Bowie moved to Switzerland in 1976, purchasing a chalet in the hills to the north of Lake Geneva. In the new environment, his cocaine use decreased and he found time for other pursuits outside his musical career. He devoted more time to his painting, and produced a number of post-modernist pieces....
David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust Tour dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972. The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to...
Bowie met dancer Lindsay Kemp in 1967 and enrolled in his dance class at the London Dance Centre. He commented in 1972 that meeting Kemp was when his interest in image “really blossomed”. “He lived on his emotions, he was a wonderful influence. His day-to-day life was the most theatrical...
Graduating from his plastic saxophone to a real instrument in 1962, Bowie formed his first band at the age of 15. Playing guitar-based rock and roll at local youth gatherings and weddings, the Konrads had a varying line-up of between four and eight members, Underwood among them. When Bowie left the...
To honor the passing of one of the geniuses of our era we will look at the life and career of singer David Bowie. David Bowie was born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947, in Brixton, London. His mother, Margaret Mary “Peggy” (née Burns), from Kent, worked as a waitress, while his father,...
His son, film director Duncan Jones, confirmed the news and a statement was issued on his social media accounts. David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer,” it said. “While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that...
You know the story: one fateful night at the local music hot spot, an up-and-coming local band is playing a show to a packed house. The place is going wild when suddenly, the crowd parts as a hot-shot record executive strolls in. The band plays their last song and starts packing when, out of nowhere,...
One of the biggest dilemmas that emerging bands face in their careers is deciding when it’s the right time to turn over show booking to someone else’s (hopefully) capable hands. You may have great musical chops, but when it comes to booking gigs, communication and connections are key. Reaching...
So you’ve got some music that you’re proud of. Your friends and family think you’re amazing, and you’ve even played a few gigs. But how do you take it to the next level and really get your music out there? Infiltrating the music press can be a headache for new bands – but follow these insider...
