DAVID BOWIE

Let's Dance

Whether Bowie was where the action was or the action was where David Bowie was, sometimes it is hard to assess, but either way the seismic plates of history were shifting under Berlin's Hansa Studio by the Wall during Bowie's 1976 sessions there. The iron curtain still firmly divided Europe and nowhere more so than in Berlin where David and Iggy were famously holed up. The subsequent music provided an atmospheric counterpoint to the emerging punk scene in London. David made a suitably mysterious return to the UK stage playing keyboards with Iggy in 1977, the bare bones production highlighting his unseen, all pervasive influence and fitting the mood of the times perfectly. It wasn't long, however, before Bowie was to step back out of the shadows once again.

Ziggy

As his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's androgynous look became a defining image of the 1970s. His face painted with a pink-and-blue lightning bolt for the Aladdin Sane album cover is also one of the most enduring images of the musician, and was the most-replicated by illustrators paying tribute after news of his death. The shoot for the artwork was directed by Celia Philo and photographed by Brian Duffy at his studio in London's Primrose Hill, with makeup by Pierre La Roche.

ODDITY

David Bowie has always been musically gifted. From a young age, they were singing, performing, and playing a variety of instruments. Throughout the course of their musical career, David Bowie has won over the hearts of music lovers from all walks of life; performing at a variety of venues, making loads of public appearances, all the while recording new music.