One of the true originals in popular music, David Bowie embodied the concept of an artist as innovator, educator and provocateur. A trendsetter in every sense of the word, he flirted with wildly differing musical styles that he distilled into his own unique genre.

As a teenager, David aspired to be a saxophonist and joined many amateur and professional bands. He had some recorded singles under his belt and one self-titled album that didn't really make ripples in the charts.

In 1969, Bowie hit on something big with the sci-fi themed "Space Oddity," an ominous and beautiful tale of a disillusioned astronaut who cuts all ties with Earth. The song was superbly topical in the year of the seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey--which inspired Bowie to write the song--and of the actual Moon landing. "Space Oddity" quickly became the soundtrack of the space age, giving voice to all the uncertainty and ennui that accompanied man's venture into the cosmos.

And that was just for starters. The 70s were the Bowie decade and he released The Man Who Sold the World, moving away from the acoustic guitar sound and toward electric guitar riffs laid down by Mick Ronson. Starting to cultivate his androgynous image, Bowie appeared on the cover of that album in a dress (that cover was changed for the American release).

After the more pop-oriented Hunky Dory, Bowie launched himself into the stratosphere with the concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, a glam rock opus in the style of T. Rex. David assumed the persona of a fey alien prince who visits Earth to spread love, music and sparkly tights.
That album included rock classics like "Ziggy Stardust," "Moonage Beam," "Hang On to Youself" and "Suffragette City."

Bowie built up an entire mythos around the Ziggy Stardust character and went on a world tour to promote the album. Appearing on stage in a wild red wig and spacesuit-inspired outfits was not an experience that could be soon forgotten by the thousands of devoted fans who rushed to imitate their idol's fashion style.

Ziggy Stardust had to retire sometime; fearful of losing himself in the character he created, Bowie moved on to his next projects, the bluesy Aladdin Sane and the Orwellian Diamond Dogs. The third album after Ziggy was a radical departure from Bowie's earlier work and became his biggest hit in America. Young Americans featured funky R&B sounds and contained the hit title track and "Fame," another smash hit, co-written by John Lennon.

The late 70s brought more successful albums and singles, some not-so-successful releases and a whole lot of drugs for Mr. Bowie. He took a small break from it all, drying out with Iggy Pop, not exactly the poster boy for healthy living, and the two enjoyed a long professional collaboration that lasted into the 80s.

Bowie had already starred in a film--The Man Who Fell to Earth--and in 1980 he took Broadway by storm in the title role of The Elephant Man. Another very popular album, Scary Monsters was released the next year, as was Queen's "Under Pressure," which Bowie co-wrote and performed with the band. The single was Bowie's third #1 hit and he followed it with two more successful dance albums, Let's Dance and Tonight.

In the 80s and 90s, Bowie appeared in more movies and/or contributed to soundtracks, most notably playing Jareth the Goblin King in the 80s-rrific (totally a word) Labyrinth. As Jareth, he wore very tight pants. Very tight pants.

Despite his tight pants, David managed to put together Tin Machine, an alternative rock group, for live performances and also released several solo albums, this time delving into electronica. In recent years, Bowie was the first rocker to sell stock in his back catalogue of music and reached out to a new generation with his own website.