The first major artist to have his entire catalogue converted to CD was David Bowie, whose 15 studio albums were made available by RCA Records in February 1985, along with four Greatest Hits albums.

" In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29.

David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, London, on 8 January 1947.

" Bowie attended Stockwell Infants School until he was six years old, acquiring a reputation as a gifted and single-minded child — and a defiant brawler.

After a series of operations during a four-month hospitalisation, his doctors determined that the damage could not be fully repaired and Bowie was left with faulty depth perception and a permanently dilated pupil.

Dissatisfied with the King Bees and their repertoire of Howlin ' Wolf and Willie Dixon blues numbers, Bowie quit the band less than a month later to join the Manish Boys, another blues outfit, who incorporated folk and soul — " I used to dream of being their Mick Jagger ", Bowie was to recall.

" I Pity the Fool " was no more successful than " Liza Jane ", and Bowie soon moved on again to join the Lower Third, a blues trio strongly influenced by The Who.

Satirising life in a British prison, meanwhile, the Bowie-penned " Over the Wall We Go " became a 1967 single for Oscar ; another Bowie composition, " Silly Boy Blue ", was released by Billy Fury the following year.

Because of his lack of commercial success, Bowie was forced to try to earn a living in different ways.

Bowie's second album, Space Oddity, followed in November ; originally issued in the UK as David Bowie, it caused some confusion with its predecessor of the same name, and the early US release was instead titled Man of Words / Man of Music.

John Cambridge, a drummer Bowie met at the Arts Lab, was joined by Tony Visconti on bass and Mick Ronson on electric guitar.

Their initial studio work was marred by a heated disagreement between Bowie and Cambridge over the latter's drumming style ; matters came to a head when Bowie, enraged, accused, " You're fucking up my album.

To promote it in the United States, Mercury Records financed a coast-to-coast publicity tour in which Bowie, between January and February 1971, was interviewed by radio stations and the media.

The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the course of the next six months and creating, as described by Buckley, a " cult of Bowie " that was " unique — its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom.

Earning the distinction of being one of the first white artists to appear on the US variety show Soul Train, Bowie mimed " Fame ", as well as " Golden Years ", his November single, that it was offered to Elvis Presley to perform, but Presley declined it.

The extent to which drug addiction was now affecting Bowie was made public when Russell Harty interviewed the singer for his London Weekend Television talk show in anticipation of the album's supporting tour.

Bowie was asked to relinquish the satellite booking, to allow the Spanish Government to put out a live newsfeed.

[...] Bowie looked completely disconnected and was hardly able to utter a coherent sentence.

Bowie was quoted in Stockholm as saying that " Britain could benefit from a Fascist leader ", and was detained by customs on the Russian / Polish border for possessing Nazi paraphernalia.

Towards the end of the year, Bowie and Angela initiated divorce proceedings, and after months of court battles the marriage was ended in early 1980.

Bowie was given a role in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners.

In 1983 – 84, the Pacers finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, which would have given the Pacers the second overall pick in the draft — the pick that that the Blazers famously used to select Sam Bowie while Michael Jordan was still available.

Houston knew that there were not enough men to hold the fort in an attack and had given Bowie authority to remove the artillery and blow up the fortification.

The induction of the Beta Chapter at SUNY Buffalo in Fall 2008 as well as the combined induction of three new chapters at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Western Washington University ( pending recognition from university ), and Bowie State University on January 14th, 2012 has given further recognition to the fraternity.

In a live performance with his new band Rocktopus ( now As Fast As ) on WAAF-FM, former Rustic keyboard player Spencer Albee claimed that he had been smoking David Bowie's custom-made ultra-ultra-light cigarettes, which Bowie had evidently given him during the time when they were recording Viva Nueva !.

Reeves ' wife had given Bowie a tape of Reeves ' guitar playing, and after listening to the tape, Bowie approached Reeves so they could work together.

Van Winkle later paid Queen and Bowie and as a result, all members of Queen and Bowie have since been given songwriting credit for the sample.

The first Relief release was also his first Green Velvet production, 1993's " Velvet Tracks ," which came from a name given to him by a girlfriend's dad, emerged as the flamboyant, neon-haired electro punk, although in interviews he denied being linked to the Punk lifestyle and fashion, as he was more inspired by the likes of David Bowie and Sly and the Family Stone, he created excellent mid-1990s hits such as " Preacher Man ," on which a Moral Majority-type of preacher spoke ( the Reverend Clarence LaVaughn Franklin-father of Aretha Franklin and ally of Martin Luther King, Jr .); " Answering Machine ," a darkly funny house track consisting of taped messages from an answering machine, including a bad news message from a girlfriend and a noise complaint message from his landlord — all made with Jones's voice ; and " Flash ," which was a # 1 US dance hit in 1995 and was included on many DJ-mixed compilation albums.

Just a Gigolo ( 1979 ), an Anglo-German co-production directed by David Hemmings, saw Bowie in the lead role as Prussian officer Paul von Przygodski, who, returning from World War I, is discovered by a Baroness ( Marlene Dietrich ) and put into her Gigolo Stable.

The only song Bowie did not perform lead vocal on is " Chilly Down ", which was performed by Charles Augins, Richard Bodkin, Kevin Clash and Danny John-Jules, the actors who voiced the ' Firey ' creatures in the film.

After Houston received word that Santa Anna was leading a large force to San Antonio, Bowie offered to lead volunteers to defend the Alamo from the expected attack.

Among those who would lead the defense of Earth against the Robotech Masters are Lieutenant Dana Sterling, Private Louie Nichols, Private Bowie Grant, Major General Rolf Emerson, GMP officer Nova Satori, and Lieutenant Marie Crystal.

It was decided that a star lead in the role of Count von Krolock would be just the trick ; feelers were put out to names as diverse as David Bowie, John Travolta, Richard Gere and Placido Domingo.

The governor initially supported the plan, and asked Houston to organize the expedition ; Houston appointed James Bowie to lead the expedition, but Bowie did not receive his orders for several weeks.

In 2011 Burford joined the cast of the Australian production of Rock of Ages, in the lead role of Drew Bowie.

It was produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti and features lead guitar by Robert Fripp.

Played by Alan Parker, it was one of the few instances on the Diamond Dogs album where Bowie himself did not take the lead guitar part.

Like his audience and his critics, Bowie himself became increasingly disaffected with his role as just one member of a band.

Bowie took the title role in the Broadway theatre production The Elephant Man, earning high praise for an expressive performance.

The inscription reads " Hier steh ich an den Marken meiner Tage " ( Here I stand at the marches of my days ), a paraphrased line from the sonnet Abschied vom Leben ( Farewell from Life ) by Theodor Körner ( author ) | Theodor Körner. Dietrich's final on-camera film appearance was a cameo role in Just a Gigolo ( 1979 ), starring David Bowie and directed by David Hemmings.

In the early 1980s, Hulce was chosen over intense competition ( which included David Bowie and Mikhail Baryshnikov ) to play the role of Mozart in director Milos Forman's film version of Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus.

Henson continued to pursue Bowie for the role of Jareth, and sent him each revised draft of the film's script for his comments.

For example David Bowie initially adopted a role as an alien Ziggy Stardust, and later as The Thin White Duke.

Many of Kitano's routines involved him portraying a gangster or other harsh character, and his first major film role, in Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence ( where he starred opposite Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie ), featured him cast as a tough ( but sympathetic ) POW camp sergeant during World War II.

James " Jim " Bowie ( pronounced ) ( c. 1796 – March 6, 1836 ), a 19th-century American pioneer, soldier, smuggler, slave trader, and land speculator, played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo.

David Bowie was hired for the role of Jack Celliers after director Nagisa Oshima saw Bowie in a production of The Elephant Man on Broadway, saying Bowie had " an inner spirit that is indestructible.

The demands of his role may sometimes be improbable and elaborate, but Mr. Bowie fills them in a remarkably plain and direct way.

The Hunger starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve and introduced Willem Dafoe in a small role.

The story quoted retired RCMP inspector Bruce Bowie, who had played a role in preparing the original Canadian legislation, requiring that large cash transactions be reported, which was passed through parliament during Mulroney's own prime ministership.

The other main role is played by Bowie Lam, who plays Dr. Henry Lai Kwok Chu as an accident and emergency doctor who is best friends with Paul.

Afterwards, he held a series of cliché struggling actor gigs: bartender, waiter, phone answering service attendant and a handful of Off Off Broadway roles, finally earning a role in the music video for David Bowie's " Fashion " for which he was paid $ 50 a day and got to meet David Bowie.

The player assumes the role of the Shining Force leader, Bowie.

The script also included a role for a musician ; the staff had hoped to get David Bowie or Morrissey for the part but nothing came together.

David Bowie cut his hair short to audition for a role, which he didn't receive.

The film was directed by Julien Temple, featured David Bowie and Sade, and a breakthrough role by Patsy Kensit.