He was born in Brixton and was named David Robert Jones by his parents.
However, he changed his name later in life so that he would not be confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees.
The family lived on the border between Brixton and Stockwell and Bowie started his education at Stockwell Infants School until he was six-years-old.
Then, Bowie and his family moved to Bickley and then Bromley Common before settling in Sundridge Park where he went to Burnt Ash Junior School.
Burnt Ash Junior School is still open today and can be found on Rangefield Road, Bromley.
After taking the eleven-plus exam when finishing at this school, he went on to Bromley Technical High School.
This school is now known as Ravens Wood School, situated on Oakley Road, and is an all-boys school with a co-educational sixth form.
Bowie was first part of a band when he was 15, playing rock and roll music at gatherings and weddings.
When he left school, was eager to become a pop star.
Eventually, Kenneth Pitt signed on as Bowie’s manager and his career began with numerous singles that didn’t become very famous.
It was not until almost 1970 that Bowie began to see major success, especially with the song Space Oddity which reached number five in the UK charts.
Nine days after the song was released, the BBC even used it to play over coverage of Apollo 11’s lunar landing.
He then went on to release numerous other smash albums such as The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Lodger, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and more.
His final album was released in 2016 entitled Blackstar.
In 2021, a posthumous album named Toy was released, the final Bowie album that fans have heard.
