David Bowie

David Robert Jones , known as David Bowie , was an English singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. He was a figure in popular music for over five decades, regarded by critics and musicians as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the worlds bestselling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, releasing eleven numberone albums. In the US, he received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bowie was born in Brixton, south London. His mother, Margaret Mary Peggy , who although born in Kent was of Irish descent, worked as a waitress, while his father, Haywood Stenton John Jones, from Yorkshire, was a promotions officer for the childrens charity Barnardos. The family lived atStansfield Road, near the border of the south London areas of Brixton and Stockwell. Bowie attended Stockwell Infants School until he was six years old, acquiring a reputation as a gifted and singleminded childand a defiant brawler.

Source: Wikipedia