Published: October 05, 2009
An Expansive Biography of One of The Twentieth Century's Greatest Musicians
By Marc Spitz
BOWIE A Biography By Marc Spitz
A breezy, well-lit portrait of the ever-enigmatic rocker . . . Spitz's encyclopedic knowledge and obvious appreciation for Bowie's work separate this book from countless cookie-cutter rock stories. Kirkus Reviews
Spitz concentrates on the complex evolution of Bowie's music to deliver an evenhanded, critically thorough, while still reverential, life of the Thin White Duke. Publishers Weekly
BOWIE is inspired, edge-worn, loud, quiet, observant, humble, gorgeous, and humane. If the record business loved music as much as Marc Spitz does, there would still be a record business. Dan Kennedy, author of Rock On: An Office Power Ballad
He is a style icon and music legend. A master of reinvention. An innovator whose absence from the rock scene for much of this decade has left a void‹a void that proves how vital he has been for these past forty years. To fill that void comes BOWIE: A Biography (Crown; October 27, 2009), a David Bowie biography like no other.
Rock n roll journalist Marc Spitz charts the long and storied arc of Bowie's life, from his childhood in postwar England as David Jones an R & Bloving kid torn between suburban comfort and the fast and rough London of the sixties to his reincarnation as a utopian hippie mime, to his ascent in the seventies as one of the most influential cultural figures of the last half century.
In a major work that was years in the making, Spitz not only recounts Bowie¹s career, he also reveals how much his music has influenced other musicians and how his life and style influenced the times in which he lived. BOWIE takes a fresh and in-depth look at the decades that formed the artist, from postwar England to the advent of rock n roll, as well as the times that Bowie shaped so powerfully, from the seventies ³me decade² up until the information age.
With more than one hundred original interviews with those who knew him best, BOWIE offers fresh insight and unforgettable stories about the rock legend. Interviewees include childhood friend George Underwood, Peter Frampton, Angie Bowie, former manager Kenneth Pitt, mentor Lindsay Kemp, author Hanif Kureishi, Siouxsie Sioux, Dick Cavett, Jon Savage, Steve Strange, Camille Paglia, guitarist Reeves Gabrels, filmmaker Todd Haynes, and Ricky Gervais. Little known details about Bowie include the rock legend¹s strange fascination with speaking in riddles, his refusal to use elevators, his insistence on hiding knives under his bed, and his secret friendship with Frank Sinatra.
Spitz reflects with humor and infectious energy on how growing up with Bowie and writing this exhaustive history changed him in ways that he never expected. Never before published photographs complete this inspired exploration of a true rock n roll revolutionary.
About the Author
Marc Spitz¹s writing on rock n roll and popular culture has appeared in Spin, the New York Times, Maxim, Nylon, Blender, and Uncut (UK). He is the author of How Soon Is Never?; Too Much, Too Late; and Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day and coauthor with Brendan Mullen of We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk.
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BOWIE: A Biography
By Marc Spitz
Crown Publishers October 27, 2009
Pages: 448 Price: $26.99
ISBN: 0307393968
www.CrownPublishing.com
www.DavidBowieBook.com
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