Top 10 Facts You Probably Did Not Know About David Bowie
Here are some cool, crazy, wild and interesting facts you probably did not know about late English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie, also Ziggy Stardust.
David Bowie's birth name was David Robert Jones. Early in his music career, he discovered another well-known Davy Jones, associated with the successful band The Monkees, popular in America and Europe. To avoid confusion, David Jones adopted the name David Bowie. He even received his first fan mail at the age of 14, which mentioned his name change.
As said about his insanity due to Ziggy Stardust, he struggled with mental stability. 1976 was his worst year on drugs, and he lived on a diet only consisting of red peppers, milk, and drugs. He barely slept, as he worked throughout the night. It was also unbelievable that Bowie started behaving unusually, keeping urine in his refrigerator so that "no other wizard could use it to enchant him." He also suffered from paranoid delusions.
His life was horrible. I have no idea how he lived this long with all these mental health issues.
In 2002, Bowie revealed the wild adventures he and Lennon embarked on while holidaying in Hong Kong during the 1970s. They were on a quest to try exotic dishes, such as monkeys' brains. Lennon later shared that he had consumed snake's blood and presented Bowie with a "thousand-day-old egg cooked in horse urine." Bowie described it as the worst thing he had ever eaten.
I suspect he may have just been guessing what it was. Still, it was a pretty cruel prank.
Before becoming famous, Bowie and John quickly became friends and often discussed music together. However, after Bowie's death, John revealed that they had not been close for about 40 years. He recalled that they "were really good friends, hanging out with Marc Bolan, going to gay clubs, and being called 'rock 'n' roll's token queen.'" Despite their early friendship, they eventually found that they were not each other's cup of tea.
In 1996, Bowie became the first major artist to release a single via internet download with "Telling Lies," which took about 11 minutes to download. Two years later, he announced the launch of his own internet service provider, BowieNet.
Bowie had a horrible experience with tea during his childhood. His parents took him on a boat trip up the Thames, where he drank tea that has been stewing for seven years. Bowie grew up to never touch the stuff again.
Bowie claimed that his well-known iconic alter ego haunted him when he stopped performing as Ziggy in 1973. He had difficulty with mental stability back in the 1970s due to his rampant drug use.
While performing in Oslo, Norway in 2004, Bowie was struck in the eye by a lollipop thrown by a fan. An aide quickly came onstage to check if he was seriously injured. Fortunately, Bowie was not harmed and resumed his performance shortly after.
One of Bowie's then-new songs, "Space Oddity," was played by the BBC over its coverage of Apollo 11's lunar landing. It ended up becoming his first hit and led him to become one of the greatest musical icons of all time.
A few months after Bowie died, a lock of his hair cut in 1983 by a wig mistress at Madame Tussauds went up for auction and sold for $18,750.