David Bowie in the 80s

In terms of music David Bowie is in the bracket of innovator and his work has spread well over four decades. He is best known for his Glam rock alter ego Ziggy Stardust and his career is certainly one of invention, innovation and his visual look.

Although his work started in the 1970s with great success, this spread into the eighties but it needed hard work and a personal look at himself to get the ball rolling. In 1976 he moved to Switzerland to reinvent and his interest in the underground Krautrock scene influenced by Kraftwerk and Neu!, he began to work with Brian Eno and Iggy Pop and started to influence a more ambient sound. During the 'Berlin years' he produced 3 classic albums and this led him nicely into the eighties with renewed vigour.

He released the album 'Scary Monsters' and this produced the huge hit 'ashes to ashes' which went to number one in the UK singles chart. Again there was an underground feel to this as this gave exposure to the New Romantic scene after he visited the famous Blitz club. Steve Strange from the Blitz club and member of Visage featured in the video which at the time was considered unique. The album was a bit more rockier than the Berlin period and featured contributions from Pete Townshend and Chuck Hammer amongst others.

In 1981 he duetted with Queen to produce another number one with 'under pressure' and the bass riff was then sampled by Vanilla Ice on his number one in 1990 with 'ice ice baby'. In 1983 saw his stock rise further with the release of 'Let's Dance' which had a more pop feel to it's production skills of Nile Rodgers. Three singles were released and proved huge hits with 'lets dance', 'china girl' and 'modern love' all had interesting video promo and earned massive play on MTV.

A tour followed and another dance pop album followed in 1984 called 'tonight' and this featured the hit 'blue jean'. In 1985 he featured on the Live Aid concert and he and Mick Jagger did there own fundraising by releasing 'dancing in the streets' which went to number one. His talent wasn't just limited to music he also threw in a bit of acting and he starred in the 1986 film 'absolute beginners' where he wrote the title song and released as a single. He also did the same in the film Labyrinth where he starred and wrote some of the score.

He released his last album of the decade in 1987 'never let me down' and a few hits featured such as 'day-in day-out' and 'time will crawl'. He put his solo career on hold and worked on a band project called Tin Machine and they released the self titled debut album to acclaim but the project never was long term and within 2 years Bowie left the band.

He released during the eighties 27 solo singles and 3 more with Tin Machine. He gained ten top 10 hits with three number ones. He also gained three number two's with 'china girl', 'modern love' and 'absolute beginners'. He also released four studio albums and one with Tin Machine. He earned three number one's in the UK with 'scary monsters', 'let's dance' and 'tonight'. He has also earned many accolades with Grammy awards and BRIT awards and an induction into the rock and roll hall of fame. A true legend.
  
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