David Bowie is a performer on the cutting edge of music culture, whose glamour, fluid sexual identity, and mystery influenced musicians such as Michael Jackson and Culture Club. Bowie shifted like a chameleon over a career spanning seedy British club performances in the 1960s to successful and extravagant world tours in the 1980s. His incarnations include androgynous space messiah Ziggy Stardust, film roles in art house movies, music videos with Mick Jagger and collaborations with electronic music pioneer Brian Eno. He incited outrage with frank interviews about his bisexuality and his appearance in a dress on the LP cover of the hard rock album The Man Who Sold the World (1970). In the 1990s, the artist invented himself anew as a suave, elegant eccentric and faded from the music mainstream, but he continues to be a style icon and reference point.

David Bowie