David Bowie was born in London in 1947.
He is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, and although a lot of his most original and influential work was in the 70’s, Bowie had a number of huge hits during the 80’s including his best-selling album Let’s Dance (1983) which reached number one in numerous countries around the world and made Bowie a major international superstar. Its title track Let’s Dance reached number 1, and “Modern Love” and “China Girl” both reached number 2 in the UK. Bowie teamed up with Queen in 1981 for “Under Pressure” which became his third number 1 single. The mid-80’s saw Bowie star in the film Absolute Beginners for which he wrote the theme song “Absolute Beginners” which reached number 2 in the UK singles chart.
Over his career and lifetime Bowie won many awards for both music and film. For his role in the scifi film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Bowie won the Saturn Award for Best Actor. His music saw him receive six Grammy Awards and four Brit Awards which included him winning Best British Male Artist twice. His Platinum and Gold awards for his albums reached into double figures, and in 2022 it was announced that Bowie was the best-selling vinyl artist of the 21st century. During his lifetime he sold over 100 million records worldwide making him one of the best-selling artists ever.
Bowie was ranked number 29 in the BBC 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
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