THE GREATEST ARTIST OF OUR TIME DAVID

THE GREATEST ARTIST OF OUR TIME

DAVID BOWIE • Birth date: 8 January 1947 • Birthplace: London, UK • Date of death: 10 January 2016 • Place of death: NY, USA

WHO IS HE? • English singer • Song writer • Record producer • Painter • Actor

MYSTERY OF HIS NAME David Jones Tom Jones David Cassidy David Bowie Knife

CHILDHOOD • He grew up in postwar UK. • Life there was quiet and dull. • He was hooked on American music. • The music brought some colours into his life.

ZIGGY STARDUST • He didn’t enjoy performing as David Bowie, because he felt shy. So he invented a character, and played him during the performances. Ziggy was his alter-ego.

• His performances as Ziggy were really extravagant with big costume changes, make up and all sorts of rude and lewd acts on stage.

WHY DO YOU LIKE DAVID BOWIE? «You never get bored listening to him, he was pretty experimental. . . » «His music was never dull. . . »

MUSIC • He could take very abstract art and bring it to a wide audience. His songs weren't just disposable trash. His music is pure pop art. He was a mainstream pop artist and a radical avantgardist as well.

NEW CHARACTERS • Aladdin Sane looked a bit like Ziggy, but he was darker and even more mysterious.

• The Thin White Duke was extremely debonair and suave looking. • He wore sharp suits and walked around with a cane. • He yet was very thin and bony.

APPEARANCE • A lot of what musicians and fashion designers did the 1980 s, Bowie had already done in the 70 s.

• He had classical good looks, but there was something alien about him, like he might have come from outer space.

• Being a David Bowie fan was a statement of liberty and freedom.

PRIVATE LIFE • He was married twice. • He had two children: a boy and a girl from different women.

DAVID ANGELA • Angie was only 19 when she met Bowie in London in 1969. The pair were married one year later and a year after that welcomed their son, Duncan Jones. • David and Angela Bowie were married for 10 years. They divorced in 1980.

DAVID AND IMAN • Bowie found love again in 1990 when he locked eyes with Somali-born model • «My attraction to her was immediate I couldn’t sleep for the excitement of our first date»

DAVID AND DUNCAN • «He was just a wonderful guy and father. He gave me the time and the support to find my feet and the confidence to do what I do myself»

DRUGS • Why was he so thin? Bowie took a lot of cocaine in the 70 s. Paranoia, weird eating habits, alcohol, obsessions. • His problems at that time were also identity related. He wasn’t sure where Ziggy or Aladdin Sane ended and David Bowie began.

BERLIN • He moved to Berlin to begin again. That was an extremely creative period. Berlin and the art scene there influenced him a lot. His records from that period were a collaboration with Brian Eno.

BYE-BYE 70 S • Song «Ashes to Ashes» is a key song of that period. • The song as a way of saying goodbye to the past to move on and be brave and positive. • By 1983 Bowie had managed to get clean and had left his drug habit behind.

80 S|LET’S DANCE • Let’s Dance is one of the Bowie’s album and perhaps his biggest commercial hit produced by Nile Rogers. • The main idea of the album is dancing can help you to fight with your inner demons.

90|RETURN • Bowie came back with another creative period like a godfather of British rock music. • He did lots of TV interviews and live performances being very thoughtful, intelligent and funny.

MODERN • Bowie released a few albums during the 2000 s. • Then he went quiet for a while after having a heart attack. • Then he came back with The Next Day, his final album called Blackstar. • His latest album was about his mortality.

DEATH • In 2016 Bowie released his new album on his birthday, 8 January. Lot of people celebrating his return and wishing him a happy birthday. In two days after that he died. His death was a painful shock for his fans. Because it was so unexpected, nobody had idea he was sick. He’d kept it secret.

WHY DID I CHOOSE DAVID BOWIE • I am not a big fan of David Bowie yet, but I find his life very interesting and extraordinary. He is an outstanding person and his music does worth to explore.

THREE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DAVID BOWIE • 1. To remember that he could never go back to using drugs Bowie made a tattoo on his leg of the serenity prayer.

• 2. He had one pupil different from other one because of fight. He was pitched in the eye when he was 15.

• 3. Bowie played a wide variety of musical instruments.