This is a short biography on David Bowie's career, taken from Arrow 93FM. You can visit Arrow 93FM on my links site.
Born in a working class section of London, England, David Jones had a pretty rough childhood for the 1950s. Music, though, was a positive force for young David, who, as David Bowie, would go on to influence generations of musicians ranging from metal heads to new wavers.

David's first gig was in an R&B band called Davie Jones and the King Bees. Although the band, under different names, achieved certain measures of local success, David was disappointed that the band did not hit the big time. To avoid being confused with Davey Jones of the Monkees, he renamed himself David Bowie and recorded his first solo album in 1967, The World Of David Bowie. The album drew little attention, and Bowie spent the next few years pondering Buddhism and acting in community theatre. (Bowie has acted in a number of feature films and stage productions throughout his music career including "The Man Who Fell To Earth" in 1975 and a Broadway production of "The Elephant Man" during the early '80s.)

During the late '60s, Bowie's girlfriend (soon to be wife, then ex-wife) Angela Barnet convinced a friend to listen to the singer's material. What resulted was the 1969 single "Space Oddity," which became Bowie's first hit single. (The BBC even played it during its coverage of the lunar landing that summer.) The song became the title track for his next album. Despite "Space Oddity's" success, commercial success evaded Bowie.

In 1972, Bowie released his legendary album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The record, a tale of space rocker Ziggy Stardust and his fanaticism, earned Bowie a legion of fans.

During the rest of the '70s, Bowie kept himself busy releasing a total of nine albums and had numerous hits including "Fame" (with John Lennon as co-writer and background vocals) and "Young Americans."

The hits continued into the '80s for David Bowie. With Queen, he recorded "Under Pressure," and with Mick Jagger, he re-made Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street." He was successful in his own rite with hits such as "Modern Love" "China Girl" and "Let's Dance."

Bowie started off the 1990s by forming the rock quartet Tin Machine. The band released two self-titled albums, but did not draw enough attention. After marrying supermodel Iman in 1992, Bowie returned to his solo career. One of His latest albums, Earthling, has kept Bowie on the cutting edge just as he enters his 50s.