David Bowie (1947-2016)
David Bowie (1947-2016)
David Bowie was an English
singer, songwriter and actor who is often considered to be one of the most
influential musicians of the 20th century. He was a leading figure in popular
music and was acclaimed by critics and fellow musicians, particularly for his
innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and
visual presentation, with his music and stagecraft significantly influencing
popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million
albums worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. In
the UK, he was awarded ten platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight
silver, releasing eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five
platinum and nine gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1996.
Accomplishments:
Bowie's 1969 commercial breakthrough, the song "Space Oddity", won
him an Ivor Novello Special Award For Originality. For his performance in the
1976 science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, he won a Saturn Award for
Best Actor. In the ensuing decades he was honoured with numerous awards for his
music and its accompanying videos, receiving, among others, six Grammy Awards and
four Brit Awards—winning Best British Male Artist twice; the award for
Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1996; and the Brits Icon award for his
"lasting impact on British culture", given posthumously in 2016.
In 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres by the French government. He received an honorary doctorate from
Berklee College of Music the same year. He declined the royal honour of
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000, and turned down a
knighthood in 2003. Bowie later stated "I would never have any intention
of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not
what I spent my life working for."
The Telegraph in 2016 estimated Bowie's total worldwide sales at
140 million records. In the United Kingdom, he was awarded 9 platinum, 11 gold,
and 8 silver albums, and in the United States, 5 platinum and 9 gold.
In 2003, six of Bowie's albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of
the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2004, four of Bowie's songs appeared on
the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Additionally,
four of Bowie's songs are included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500
Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked
29. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100
Greatest Rock Artists of All Time. Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996 and named a member of the Science Fiction and
Fantasy Hall of Fame in June 2013. In 2016, Rolling Stone proclaimed Bowie
"the greatest rock star ever".
In 2008, the spider Heteropoda davidbowie was named in Bowie's
honour. On 5 January 2015, a main-belt asteroid was named 342843 Davidbowie. On
13 January 2016, Belgian amateur astronomers at MIRA Public Observatory created
a "Bowie asterism" of seven stars which had been in the vicinity of
Mars at the time of Bowie's death; the "constellation" forms the
lightning bolt on Bowie's face from the cover of his Aladdin Sane album.
On 25 March 2018 a statue of Bowie was unveiled in Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire, the town where he debuted Ziggy Stardust. The statue features
a likeness of Bowie in 2002 accompanied with his alter egos, with Ziggy at the
front.
Charities:
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