David Bowie: 20 Remarkable Facts About The King of Glam Rock

David Bowie was known as a multi-instrumentalist. In addition to his playing guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and saxophone, he played stylophone, viola, cello, koto, thumb piano, drums, and percussion.

David Bowie was the first major artist to release a downloadable single (Telling Lies) in 1996.

His real name was David Jones. He even recorded his first single “Liza Jane” under the name Davie Jones. He later changed his name to not be confused with Davy Jones, the lead singer of the Monkees, who was already famous in the United States.

When David Bowie heard Nirvana’s cover of “The Man Who Sold the World”, he said he was “blown away” by the fact that Kurt Cobain liked his work, and said, “it would have been nice to have worked with him, but just talking with him would have been real cool.”

While making ‘Station To Station,’ his diet consisted of only red peppers, milk, and cocaine. He said that he doesn’t even remember the recording sessions because he was so coked out.

David Bowie was briefly banned from SNL in 1997 for playing a song that reminded Lorne Michaels too much of the time when he was a heavy coke user.

“Under Pressure” was written by David Bowie and Queen during a 24-hour wine and cocaine marathon.

When David Bowie played his song “Andy Warhol” to Andy Warhol, he did not like it. When the song had finished playing, Warhol and Bowie reportedly just stared at each other for a while until Warhol said “I like your shoes” and the pair then had a conversation about shoes.

David Bowie was the first sexually ambiguous British pop star, declaring himself bisexual in 1972 (before contemporaries such as Freddie Mercury and Elton John made similar declarations) and only five years since male homosexuality had been decriminalized in the UK. In a magazine interview, he stated that he met his first wife when they were in a relationship with the same man.

The baby noises heard in “Magic Dance” in The Labyrinth was dubbed over by David Bowie himself because he felt the actual baby didn’t perform as required.