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Few artists have consistently held the world's attention quite like David Bowie. With his cat-like good looks, impish sense of humor, abundant musical talent and a chameleon's genius for reinventing his own image, Bowie is one of the few musicians to truly obtain icon status. Over 40 years, he's been a space alien, a glam god, an urban sophisticate, a pioneering electronic artist and a savvy businessman. On the silver screen, he's played around with Andy Warhol (and played him in 1996's biopic Basquiat,) cameo-ed with Monty Python, gone vampire in the cult flick The Hunger and even starred in the children's fantasy musical Labrynth by Muppet's creator Jim Henson. Bowie began his career as a 60's folk troubadour and first caught the public's attention with his 1969 LP, David Bowie, which contained the epic, psychedelic track "Space Oddity." The haunting melody accompanied the cryptic tale of an astronaut drifting further into space. Following such hits as "Changes" and "The Man Who Sold the World" (covered notoriously in 1994 by Nirvana), Bowie re-emerged on the rock scene with his alter ego, the alien messiah Ziggy Stardust. With sexually charged, gender bending anthems "Ziggy Stardust", "Suffragette City" and "Jean Genie", Bowie became the driving force in modern music and lent his talents to Lou Reed's Transformer and Iggy and the Stooges swan song Raw Power. Bowie retired Ziggy in 1973 and re-invented himself as the Philly soul crooner scoring his first US #1 single with "Fame", penned with long-time friend John Lennon. Fleeing L.A. and his cocaine induced dementia, Bowie joined Iggy Pop and Brian Eno in Berlin where they would go on to create the ground-breaking electronic albums Low and "Heroes" that continue to push musical boundaries and influenced both the punk and new wave movements. Bowie re-emerged in the 80's as more conventional pop star, scoring hits with Queen ("Under Pressure") and Mick Jagger ("Dancing in the Street") as well as his own chart topping "Let's Dance" and "China Girl." David Bowie continues to record and perform (as well as act most recently in the hit movie The Prestige) and has been recognized as a key influencer of modern music, cited by such diverse artists as Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth, Madonna, The Arcade Fire, and My Chemical Romance.

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