What do you think?
Rate this book
David Bowie, a Chronology
This book is has extraordinarily detailed information-ranging from Bowies first know use of hair dye, when he was at school, his first gig, places where he played as an unknown, his first associations with Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, and Oona Chaplin and concludes with the most complete discography for both singles and albums ever compiled.
238 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1984
13 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Cann
24 books2 followersKevin Cann has worked as a designer and writer for the last 30 years and in 1983 wrote his first book, David Bowie A Chronology for Vermilion.
In 1988 he co-authored Kate Bush A Visual Documentary with the late Sean Mayes. In 1994 he worked with Mick Ronson’s family to stage Mick Ronson’s Memorial concerts. Also in 1994, Kevin worked with David Bowie for the first time, working as an assistant on his first solo art exhibition in Cork Street, London. In 1999 Kevin researched and coordinated the reissue of Bowie’s back catalogue with EMI (17 albums), and has contributed chronologies for various David Bowie 30th anniversary releases, including Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs. He acted as consultant on Bowie’s and Mick Rock’s Genesis Publications book Moonage Daydream (2002) and Geoff MacCormack’s From Station To Station (2007). He has also worked with many musicians including Bill Nelson, Adam Ant and Brian Eno. He lives in Kent.
In 1988 he co-authored Kate Bush A Visual Documentary with the late Sean Mayes. In 1994 he worked with Mick Ronson’s family to stage Mick Ronson’s Memorial concerts. Also in 1994, Kevin worked with David Bowie for the first time, working as an assistant on his first solo art exhibition in Cork Street, London. In 1999 Kevin researched and coordinated the reissue of Bowie’s back catalogue with EMI (17 albums), and has contributed chronologies for various David Bowie 30th anniversary releases, including Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs. He acted as consultant on Bowie’s and Mick Rock’s Genesis Publications book Moonage Daydream (2002) and Geoff MacCormack’s From Station To Station (2007). He has also worked with many musicians including Bill Nelson, Adam Ant and Brian Eno. He lives in Kent.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 14, 2016
An informative Wikipedia page about Bowie in pre-internet book form!
David Bowie, a Chronology is just that, a fairly straightforward blow-by-blow bio highlighting Bowie's life from birth to 1983.
Odd that this little boy should turn into this man...
This is a relatively old book, published in 1984, that I picked up for a quarter at a used book sale many years ago. While it would've been nice to have a more up-to-date account of Bowie, I mostly wanted to hear about the early part of his career, those golden years when he was knocking out his most iconic work, and that's just what I got!
Filled with soundbites that leave you wanting to know more, all the little incidents between him and celebs are described in one or two quick lines. Maybe they're best left that way, because frankly there's probably nothing more to say about, say that time he and friend Lou Reed got into a shoving match, than what's reported. Perhaps this is the best format for rockstars' "crazy days" bios, a haze of nonsensical flashes of mostly utter inconsequence except to fans.
Once Bowie reached a certain level of notoriety so began the interviews. The book is pockmarked by interview excerpts from far-too-verbose music journalist hacks (especially in the '60s and early '70s). Sometimes bad or embarrassing, they were at best adequate or occasionally informative.
One of the things I enjoyed most was learning about all the work Bowie did with other musicians. I didn't realize he was so busy early on behind the scenes, doing engineering/producing for the likes of Iggy & the Stooges, Mott the Hoople, Springsteen, etc. I also had no idea he wrote so many songs for others, "All the Young Dudes" for one. At one point he was asked to rewrite the English version of "My Way" from the French original, but the deal was Paul Anka'ed out from under him and he ended up writing "Life on Mars" as some kind of retribution. You can kind of hear the dramatic influence of "My Way" in "Life...".
Other random factoids of interest I learned while reading this:
- His funky eye is the result of a childhood fight with a life-long friend.
- Luther Vandross was one of his background singers.
- In his pre-fame days, while with The Manish Boys, he wrote a song called "I Pity the Fool" (LOVE that title), upon which Jimmy Page played the guitar during the recording session.
- He was a close friend to and all but saved Iggy Pop's life.
Around 1973 David admitted "Ziggy" was really all he had to say about rock'n'roll, but it got pushed into a sequel with "Aladdin Sane", and that makes sense, because his late '70s output is not quite as listenable for fans of his earlier stuff. It coincides with a period in his life - living in Berlin and Switzerland - spent in museums staring at artwork and delving into German synthesized music with Brian Eno. Therefore the listener gets experimental soundscapes of imagery like "Warszawa". The man had become so huge it was difficult to live a normal life, so you end up with meta songs like "Fame." I admit my interest in this portion of the book flagged. Rock musicians writing songs about themselves is tedious in the extreme.
I can't say David Bowie, a Chronology is a book I'd recommend to anyone. Bowie fans, sure. But they could get the same info online with just as many odd and ambiguous turns of phrase or contradictory statements within the same paragraph as what you find herein.
David Bowie, a Chronology is just that, a fairly straightforward blow-by-blow bio highlighting Bowie's life from birth to 1983.
Odd that this little boy should turn into this man...
This is a relatively old book, published in 1984, that I picked up for a quarter at a used book sale many years ago. While it would've been nice to have a more up-to-date account of Bowie, I mostly wanted to hear about the early part of his career, those golden years when he was knocking out his most iconic work, and that's just what I got!
Filled with soundbites that leave you wanting to know more, all the little incidents between him and celebs are described in one or two quick lines. Maybe they're best left that way, because frankly there's probably nothing more to say about, say that time he and friend Lou Reed got into a shoving match, than what's reported. Perhaps this is the best format for rockstars' "crazy days" bios, a haze of nonsensical flashes of mostly utter inconsequence except to fans.
Once Bowie reached a certain level of notoriety so began the interviews. The book is pockmarked by interview excerpts from far-too-verbose music journalist hacks (especially in the '60s and early '70s). Sometimes bad or embarrassing, they were at best adequate or occasionally informative.
One of the things I enjoyed most was learning about all the work Bowie did with other musicians. I didn't realize he was so busy early on behind the scenes, doing engineering/producing for the likes of Iggy & the Stooges, Mott the Hoople, Springsteen, etc. I also had no idea he wrote so many songs for others, "All the Young Dudes" for one. At one point he was asked to rewrite the English version of "My Way" from the French original, but the deal was Paul Anka'ed out from under him and he ended up writing "Life on Mars" as some kind of retribution. You can kind of hear the dramatic influence of "My Way" in "Life...".
Other random factoids of interest I learned while reading this:
- His funky eye is the result of a childhood fight with a life-long friend.
- Luther Vandross was one of his background singers.
- In his pre-fame days, while with The Manish Boys, he wrote a song called "I Pity the Fool" (LOVE that title), upon which Jimmy Page played the guitar during the recording session.
- He was a close friend to and all but saved Iggy Pop's life.
Around 1973 David admitted "Ziggy" was really all he had to say about rock'n'roll, but it got pushed into a sequel with "Aladdin Sane", and that makes sense, because his late '70s output is not quite as listenable for fans of his earlier stuff. It coincides with a period in his life - living in Berlin and Switzerland - spent in museums staring at artwork and delving into German synthesized music with Brian Eno. Therefore the listener gets experimental soundscapes of imagery like "Warszawa". The man had become so huge it was difficult to live a normal life, so you end up with meta songs like "Fame." I admit my interest in this portion of the book flagged. Rock musicians writing songs about themselves is tedious in the extreme.
I can't say David Bowie, a Chronology is a book I'd recommend to anyone. Bowie fans, sure. But they could get the same info online with just as many odd and ambiguous turns of phrase or contradictory statements within the same paragraph as what you find herein.
February 28, 2018
I wasn't looking for something so specific, precise and objective, but it might be a good choice if you are.
October 11, 2014
inaccurate in parts, but this was Cann's first attempt, in the early 80s (& pre internet, obvs), to create some sort of chronology for Bowie's life and should be applauded for how much he did get right.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews