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David Bowie

English musician and actor (1947–2016)

  • Audience2.2M
  • Fame85.3
  • Momentum3.8
Source-basedStable
2.2M youtube followers
  • Audience2.2M
  • Fame85.3
  • Momentum3.8
  • Global rank#210
  • United Kingdom rank#25
  • Musicians rank#49
Lived 1947–2016, aged 69United Kingdom
United Kingdom flagUnited KingdomMusiciansSinger / Musician
  • Biggest on YouTube
    2.2M
    @@davidbowie
  • Wikipedia
    118 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Global rank
    #210
    Fame.am leaderboard
  • Era
    1947–2016
    Aged 69
  • Known for
    The Prestige
    2006
Summary
Updated 2026-08-31

The chameleon of rock: an English musician who spent five decades shedding skins — Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, Halloween Jack — treating identity as raw material and reinvention as the point itself.

Biography

About

David Robert Jones studied art and design before launching a music career in 1962, releasing unsuccessful singles until 'Space Oddity' cracked the UK top five in 1969. His commercial breakthrough arrived in 1972 with the Ziggy Stardust persona and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, defining the glam rock era. He spent the 1970s experimenting across funk, art rock, electronic and ambient — most notably the 1977–1979 Berlin Trilogy (Low, 'Heroes', Lodger) — while cycling through personas like Halloween Jack and the Thin White Duke. Let's Dance (1983) brought his great…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from David Bowie

David Bowie
said
It's odd but even when I was a kid, I would write about "old and other times" as though I had a lot of years behind me. Now I do, so there is a difference in the weight of memory.
— Livewire interview (16 June 2002)
David Bowie
said
Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write. I didn't like writing "Heathen". There was something so ominous and final about it.
— Livewire interview (16 June 2002)
David Bowie
said
Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly.
— Livewire interview (16 June 2002)
David Bowie
said
Music has given me over 40 years of extraordinary experiences. I can't say that life's pains or more tragic episodes have been diminished because of it.
— Commencement Address for the Berklee College of Music, at Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts (8 May 1999)
David Bowie
said
Never play to the gallery... Never work for other people in what you do.
— Inspirations (1997), quoted in "Looking back at David Bowie's invaluable advice for young artists"
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Press play

Listen & Watch

Spotify
Latest

On YouTube

Deep cuts

Albums

Low confidence
  • ★
    2016
  • 1.Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle
    1995
By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
85.3
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum3.8
Historical42.1
Now attention25.7
Source confidence100.0
Completeness90.0
Global rank
#210
Country rank
#25
Category rank
#49
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence