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.

" Failing his eleven plus exam at the conclusion of his Burnt Ash Junior education, Bowie joined Bromley Technical High School.

Frustrated by his band-mates ' limited aspirations, Bowie left the Konrads and joined another band, the King Bees.

While with the Buzz, Bowie also joined the Riot Squad ; their recordings, which included a Bowie number and Velvet Underground material, went unreleased.

Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street.

Echoing Lows minimalist, instrumental approach, the second of the trilogy, " Heroes " ( 1977 ), incorporated pop and rock to a greater extent, seeing Bowie joined by guitarist Robert Fripp.

Towards the end of the year, Bowie performed the song for Marc Bolan's television show Marc, and again two days later for Bing Crosby's televised Christmas special, when he joined Crosby in " Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy ", a version of " The Little Drummer Boy " with a new, contrapuntal verse.

On 9 January 1997, Smith joined David Bowie on stage at Bowie's 50th Birthday Party concert at Madison Square Garden to duet on two Bowie songs, " The Last Thing You Should Do " and " Quicksand ".

The most memorable scene consists of the surreal sight of Crosby being joined by David Bowie for the duet " Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy ".

They were later joined by guitarist Rob Dean, and signed a recording contract with the German disco label Hansa-Ariola in 1977, becoming an alternative glam rock outfit in the mould of David Bowie, T. Rex, and The New York Dolls.

In the 1990s, former Duran Duran drummer Sterling Campbell joined the band, but left in 2000 to tour with David Bowie and was replaced that year by Zachary Alford, who had recorded and toured with the band during the Cosmic Thing era.

At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Bowie joined the Texas militia, leading forces at the Battle of Concepción and the Grass Fight.

They would be joined in a Phoenix shirt by returning goaltender Steve Fone as well as exciting British defenceman Joe Graham, young Scottish forward Iain Bowie and Phoenix ENIHL regular Ben Wood.

Salazar joined the Orioles system in 2007, when he played for the Bowie Baysox of the Double-A Eastern League.

Just weeks after Watts joined, the band played secret warm up gigs in Buckley, Greenock and Lancaster, before heading to North Hollywood to record with David Bowie and T. Rex producer Tony Visconti.

Shortly after his bandmates Clark and Gaddy died in 1969, Jarman joined Mitchell, Maghostut and Lester Bowie ( trumpet ) in the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble in 1967 ; the group would be later rounded out with the addition of Don Moye on drums.

Aikens was originally suspended by Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for a year, however, following a May 15, review, he was reinstated, and joined his Toronto teammates in Minnesota the next day.

Errico joined the David Bowie band for his Diamond Dogs 1974 tour of the U. S. during September 1974.

As new members joined the fray through the years, Soophie Nun Squad became a sonic melting pot, primarily influenced by Big Boys, Salt N Pepa, R. Kelly, Public Enemy, Laurie Anderson, Rites of Spring, David Bowie, and 69 Boyz, and became increasingly more focused on the relationship between their songs and performative narratives tying disparate movements into a larger body of music ( reaching its zenith in " The Scab Fairy ", a seven-part rock opera on 2003's " Passion Slays the Dragon ").

Drummer Hunt Sales said that the group's name " reflects the sound of the band ," and Bowie stated that he and his bandmates joined up " to make the kind of music that we enjoyed listening to.

Popular legend holds that Rose was a member of Colonel James Bowie's forces and had fought during the siege of Bexar, and that he then joined Bowie in reinforcing the Alamo Mission in San Antonio de Bexar in late January 1836.

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