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.

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.

Klaus Dingers, his brother Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe formed La Düsseldorf, quoted by David Bowie as " the soundtrack of the eighties ".

Bowie was quoted as saying: " Britain is ready for a fascist leader ...

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.

David Bowie quoted from the song in his 1973 track " Aladdin Sane ( 1913-1938-197 ?).

Bowie was not heavily involved in promoting the film but Jim Henson was nonetheless grateful that he produced a music video to accompany the song " Underground " from the soundtrack, saying " I think it's the best thing he could have done for the film.

Various other stories circulated, with some witnesses claiming that Bowie shot himself and others saying he was killed by soldiers while too weak to lift his head.

Bowie compared this album with his 1980 album Scary Monsters ( and Super Creeps ), saying " I think there's quite a link between Scary Monsters and this album, to a certain extent.

Bowie summed up the meaning of the songs on the album by saying:

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.

New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote a favorable review, saying that David Bowie ' plays a born leader in Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and he plays him like a born film star.

Murcer was fined $ 250 on June 30, 1973, by baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for saying Kuhn didn't have the " guts " to stop Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry from throwing the spitball.

Lulu would recall Bowie inviting her to a concert he gave after which he met her in his hotel room saying: " I want to make an MF of a record with you you're a great singer.

" He concluded by saying: " That this band could run the gamut from Zappa to Bowie, and perhaps inspired both, makes Easy Action a good study and entertaining record.

Britain had produced some significant Blue-eyed soul singers in the 1960s, including Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield and interest had been maintained by figures such as David Bowie, but it was not until the 1980s that a clear genre of British soul music developed with flourishing soul scenes in major cities like London and Manchester, often with many black artists, supported by local and pirate radio stations.

For " Battle for Britain ," Bowie challenged Mike Garson to play based on " the idea from a piece of Stravinsky wrote called " Ragtime for Eleven Instruments.

and Can, and acts from Britain including The Kinks, The Troggs, The Who, David Bowie, T. Rex, Faces, Brian Eno, Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, Doctors of Madness and Hawkwind are commonly cited as the most noteworthy artists that would ultimately influence punk.

Having established himself as a solo artist with " Space Oddity ", Bowie began to sense a lacking: " a full-time band for gigs and recording — people he could relate to personally ".

Veteran music engineer David Richards ( Pink Floyd and Queen ) was brought in to create footage and sound mixes that Jagger and Bowie could perform to in their respective venues.

Bowie may have been the first to induce settlers to apply for empresario grants, which could then be sold in bulk to speculators like Bowie.

The movie was rumored to have originally been written as a vehicle for Mick Jagger and David Bowie, who, according to Bowie were " a bit tweezed that we lost out on a script that could have been reasonably good.

Bowie said " I really thought it would be great if we could do a photo, almost a sonic photograph of what we were like at that time.

In a 2009 retrospective review of the " New Cult Canon ", Scott Tobias wrote " Much like Haynes ' recent I'm Not There, which dissected the various phases of Bob Dylan's life and career by casting six different actors ( including Bale and Cate Blanchett ) as Dylan, Velvet Goldmine doesn't come at glam-rock directly, and both films cause no end of frustration to those who can't get on their wavelength "; " Haynes ' background in semiotics has led some critics to dismiss these films as too academic, but figures like Dylan and Bowie are notoriously elusive, and his effort to access them indirectly, through allusion and representation, pays more dividends than a straightforward biopic ever could.

Most American-made switchblades made after 1900 were patterned after standard utilitarian pocketknives, though a few larger Bowie or Folding Hunter patterns were produced with blade shapes and lengths that could be considered useful as fighting knives.

* David Bowie, then a little known musician, was originally contacted to write the words for the English version, and started to work on it, only to have the deal revoked by the producer later on before he could submit his material.

Other fans speculate that she could have been referring to Bowie with whom she practically grew up with and considered family.

The back of the record lists each of the 24 questions, so a DJ could ask the questions in their own voice, and then by playing the corresponding track could pretend to have a personal Q & A with David Bowie.

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.

Bowie, who had run into Tony Sales in Los Angeles at a wrap party for his Glass Spider Tour, convinced Tony to call his brother Hunt so they could work together.

Bowie, impressed with Neill's leadership, wrote, " No other man in the army could have kept men at this post, under the neglect they have experienced.

The group could have been short-lived — Vaughan was tapped to do some guitar tracks for David Bowie ( the haunting guitar on " Let's Dance ", for instance ), and was then offered the chance to tour with Bowie.