Posts Tagged ‘david bowie’

The now-famous location featured on the cover of David Bowie‘s seminal 1972 album ‘The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars‘ is to be honoured with its own commemorative plaque to mark the LP’s 40th anniversary.

Influenced by a series of mystical events, the results of a paranoia fueled by an illegal substance he was voluntarily addicted to, his intoxicated lethargy in Los Angeles was interrupted by the necessity to put those old and destructive practices into action in order to reinvent himself once again.

This time flirting with a different character – the return of the Thin White Duke.

He’d been summoned to become the main character in a film by Nicolas Roeg, The Man Who Fell To Earth. Legend has it that a very atypical stage persona characterized by a romantic personality, an apathetic behavior and a refined, cold and mesmerizing appearance began to take shape during long recording hours. In a context where he was prisoner to the dangerous effects of cocaine, in conjunction with a fanatical religious and political tendency and an alleged fondness for occultist Aleister Crowley, David Bowie had created the Thin White Duke.

Yesterday we celebrated the 65 th birthday of one of the UK’s most celebrated musicians, here we take a look through the ever-changing, and ever-brilliant career of David Bowie.

Born David Robert Jones, Bowie moved to Kent with his parents at the age of six where he was educated at Burnt Ash Junior School and later Bromley Technical High School. Like most musicians of his generation, his love of music was cemented while listening to early American rock n roll stars at a young age. By the age of fifteen, he had formed his first band The Konrads, and after performing with various groups in his teens, released his first single, ‘Liza Janes‘ in 1964 with The King Bees.

Footage of David Bowie performing on Top Of The Pops, which until just last week was thought to have been lost forever, will be aired on the BBC tonight.

A spokesman for David Bowie has denied the singer has granted permission for his music to be used in a new musical based on his career.

Reports over the weekend suggested the go-ahead for Bowie tracks to be used on the production ‘Heroes: The Musical‘, a futuristic fantasy about his life, had been given ahead of a planned premiere in London next March.

However, a statement released today denies any deal has been done, and that there are no negotiations on the horizon.

Rock icon David Bowie is to leave EMI, according to a report in the Financial Times today.

The paper claims Universal Music and Sony Music are in talks to take Bowie and his back catalogue on when his current EMI deal expires next January.

If the story proves to be accurate, the departure of Bowie would be another blow for EMI after popstar Robbie Williams also left not too long ago after a hugely successful solo career spent with the label.

Paul Trynka, the author of new David Bowie biography Starman, has admitted he finds it unlikely the legendary songwriter will return to recording and touring duties, which were scaled down dramatically after a major health scare in 2004.

While conducting an interview with Spinner, Trynka said while he hopes Bowie might return to touring and recording new material once again, he finds it hard to see that scenario occurring.

Today’s classic Glastonbury video comes from David Bowie, 2000, described by Michael Eavis at the time as ‘the best ever’.

It’s hard to imagine a world without ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band‘. The physicist C.P. Snow once said if Einstein hadn’t locked himself away, indulged in a spot of chin-stroking and eventually conceived the General Theory of Relativity, which revolutionised the way we think about science, we’d still be waiting for that idea to occur to someone else now. In the same vein, you have to wonder that if The Beatles hadn’t locked themselves away in Abbey Road during those few fruitful months over 40 years ago, following their self-imposed exile from live duties in 1966, whether we might equally still be waiting for a band to revolutionise the face of popular music today.

All the way from LA the funky half of the Ryder Brothers and now ex-pat Paul Ryder recently gave Carl Stanley the chance to throw a few questions at him. Questions like: how life is state-side, his rehabilitation and the reason he picked a bass guitar up in the first place.

Sounding very happy and settled, plus quite busy with a recent house move and wedding, Paul took time out to give his thoughts on what it was like watching brother Shaun in the jungle, and his time with the Happy Mondays.