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Bowie
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
16 posts | 4 read | 1 reading | 4 to read
Discover the man behind the myth in this new biography of one of the most pioneering and influential performers of our timeDavid Bowie.David Bowiethe iconic superstar of rock, fashion, art, design, and the quintessential sexual liberatoris a living legend. However, for the past five decades, he has managed to retain his Hollywood star mystique. Now, New York Times bestselling author Wendy Leigh reveals the real man behind the mythology. Through scores of interviews with Bowies lovers (both male and female), his girlfriends, business associates, groupies, and band members, Leigh, who grew up just a mile from where Bowie was born and went to school, has written an intimate biography of rocks greatest enigma.In an unexpurgated exploration of Bowies kaleidoscopic personal life, she reveals his star-crossed inheritancehis mother was once an acolyte of the British Fascist party; his father, the PR genius who masterminded his early careerin a dramatic contrast to those family members grappling with mental illness, fears that would haunt Bowie for most of his life.Above all, there is Bowies hard-won rise to fame and fortune, his astounding creativity, his courage as a performer, and his shape-shifting style, coupled with a ruthless ambition that caused him to submit to the casting couch on his way to the top. In the process, Leigh tells of Bowies strong bond with John Lennon, his love/hate relationship with Mick Jagger, his male sexual partners, and his women, as disparate as Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Sarandon, Tina Turner, Marianne Faithful, Nina Simone, and most notable, his marriage to Iman, which has lasted for the past quarter of a century.Featuring a sixteen-page insert with many never-before-seen photographs of David Bowie and those close to him, this biography is a once-in-a-lifetime look at the iconic superstar who changed the world.
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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Pickpick

OK, I really liked this book! It didn't get very good reviews, but I don't give a hoot. Sure, it read like a gossip column at times and focused a lot on Bowie's sex life, but I still found it interesting to read about all the famous people he rubbed elbows with (or perhaps I should say "all the famous people that rubbed elbows with HIM"). Such a different lifestyle than I'm accustomed to, that's for sure!

PageShifter Again a good example how you should read what you're interested in and not to trust too much others' opinions. I am glad that you enjoyed and this sounds interesting! 2y
SRWCF @PageShifter You make a very good point! I typically never read reviews BEFORE I start a book, but I must have accidentally stumbled upon them this time around. Never again! 2y
PageShifter I try to avoid them as well! I know how it can take some pleasure away if someone says how she/he didn't like that book 🤔 2y
See All 8 Comments
SRWCF @PageShifter The only time I usually read reviews is when I'm in the middle of a book that I do not like. I want to make sure I'm not alone in my hatin'! 😅 2y
PageShifter Haha, yeah there is that too. Sometimes it's so nice to see that maybe it isn't just you, it might be the book. 🤣 2y
SRWCF @PageShifter It's so funny, when I'm reading negative reviews and I'm all like, "Yeah, this book really sucked!" I sometimes feel a momentary twinge of guilt, like I'm participating in idle gossip! ??? 2y
PageShifter Yeah we love books and appreciate the work that author has done. But then we experience things differently and we can't love every piece. It feels bad but so it is 🤷‍♀️ 2y
SRWCF @PageShifter very well said! 👏 2y
44 likes8 comments
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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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David Bowie and Kate Moss in late 2003.

Be still my beating heart! ❣️

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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David had always been a voracious reader. By the end of the 1990s, he had been hired by Barnesandnoble.com to write online reviews of books. How cool is that?!

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Just sitting outside reading and enjoying the warmer weather (42° F 😂) with my pet chicken, Ms. Thang. She's a 14-year-old, blind, white crested polish chook.

#chicksoflitsy

GondorGirl I love your chicken! Is she the only one you have? 2y
SRWCF @GondorGirl She is a ton of fun! Yes, she is the only one left. We started raising 🐔s about 20 years ago, and she was a part of a flock of 4 that we got 14 years ago. All her sisters died of natural causes, but she has managed to hang on. She has a real zest for life! We don't plan on getting any more; it's just too sad for me when they die. I cry like a baby. 😭 2y
GondorGirl @SRWCF I understand completely! I've always really loved chickens, but I live in the city. They are so pretty and such quirky characters! 2y
SRWCF @GondorGirl Oh, they definitely are! We named her Ms. Thang immediately after we got her because she strutted around like a diva. Even tho she's old and blind now, her feisty attitude has not changed! 🤣 2y
58 likes4 comments
blurb
SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Chapter Fifteen: JUST A GIGOLO

David stars in the movie "Just a Gigolo" opposite one of his idols, Marlene Dietrich.

Bookwomble Possible spoiler alert....................... I don't think Bowie and Dietrich were on the set at the same time, and David was well pissed off as meeting his idol was the main reason he took the role (do correct me if I'm misremembering). 2y
SRWCF @Bookwomble You are absolutely correct! He was spitting nails that Dietrich insisted on filming separately, Bowie in Berlin and Dietrich in Paris. It is speculated that Dietrich did this because she was in her 70s at the time and no longer the vixen she had been in younger years, so she felt she could control the narrative better by not filming together. 2y
31 likes2 comments
blurb
SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Cherry Vanilla (born Kathleen Dorritie) was one of Andy Warhol's Factory girls and went on to become David's publicist.

#biography
#DavidBowie
#AndyWarhol
#FactoryGirl

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Chapter Eight: ZIGGY

Ahhhh, such a beautiful creation! 😍

#ZiggyStardust
#DavidBowie
#biography

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Chapter Seven: STARMAN

"David's wife, Angie, complained that half her day was spent trying to convince him to get out of bed and then persuading him to eat. 'He was all coffee and cigarettes, coffee and cigarettes.' "

johncadams Love the pic. 2y
SRWCF @johncadams me, too! It's a still from a movie called "Coffee and Cigarettes." ? 2y
johncadams @SRWCF How have I never seen this film? 2y
SRWCF @johncadams I asked myself the very same question! I used the quote from the book as a prompt when searching for a picture and thought this still was perfect. I mean, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits are only two of the megastars that are featured in this film. It just HAS to be an epic movie! 2y
38 likes2 stack adds4 comments
blurb
SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Chapter Three: SELLING HIMSELF TO THE WORLD

David Bowie pictured with teenage love, Dana Gillespie.

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Chapter Two: STARBOY

"God Save the Queen Elizabeth"

♡ courtesy of Banksy ♡

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Chapter One: ABSOLUTE BEGINNING

"David Bowie's first hit, 'Space Oddity,' insured that he would be forever associated with the planets, space, the moon, and the stars."

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SRWCF
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Up next! I'm really looking forward to reading this one since I have had a school girl crush on this beautiful being for ages. This book was published in Fall 2014, a year and a half before David Bowie's untimely death. 😪The reviews aren't that great, but I don't care. Onward!

#newread
#DavidBowie
#ZiggyStardust
#biography

Bookwomble 🧡👨🏼‍🎤❤😍 2y
SRWCF @Bookwomble I knew you'd understand! 🤜👊🤛 2y
Bookwomble What's not to love? 😁 2y
SRWCF @Bookwomble true story! 2y
34 likes4 comments
review
LittleMummyMe
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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Mehso-so

An ok book. Good if you want to know lots about Bowie's sex partners. Not so good if you wanted more info about his career.

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LittleMummyMe
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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"My father opened up my world because he taught me the habit of reading. I got so much information, so many of the things I wanted to do came from books."

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LittleMummyMe
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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It's Australia Day. 🇦🇺
I scored a new library bag from the mobile library and borrowed a book.

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Rookiered
Bowie: The Biography | Wendy Leigh
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