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Olympic gold medallist found dead at just 32

<p>The sporting world is in mourning after the sudden death of a 32-year-old Olympic gold medallist. </p> <p>Tori Bowie, a sprinter from the United States, has been pronounced dead with no official cause of death given, as her management company and USA Track and Field confirmed the news of her passing. </p> <p>“USATF is deeply saddened by the passing of Tori Bowie, a three-time Olympic medallist and two-time world champion," USA Track and Field CEO Max Siegel said in a statement.</p> <p>"A talented athlete, her impact on the sport is immeasurable, and she will be greatly missed."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">USATF is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Tori Bowie, a three-time Olympic medalist and two-time world champion. </p> <p>Her impact on the sport is immeasurable, and she will be greatly missed. <a href="https://t.co/AHu5SejZ5N">pic.twitter.com/AHu5SejZ5N</a></p> <p>— USATF (@usatf) <a href="https://twitter.com/usatf/status/1653757686989684737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>Icon Management also paid tribute to the athlete, writing, “We’ve lost a client, dear friend, daughter and sister. Tori was a champion … a beacon of light that shined so bright! We’re truly heartbroken and our prayers are with the family and friends.”</p> <p>Tori won world championships gold and three Olympic medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games for her sprinting efforts, after she spent her childhood in Mississippi quickly rising through the ranks as a sprinter and long jumper.</p> <p>Bowie turned in an electric performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she won silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200.</p> <p>She then ran the anchor leg on a 4x100 team with Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix and English Gardner to take gold.</p> <p>A year later, she won the 100 at the 2017 world championships in London. She also helped the 4x100 team to gold.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

News

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Warner Music buys David Bowie’s $250 million catalogue

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Warner Music Group has bought David Bowie’s entire musical catalogue that spans across six decades and 26 studio albums. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As well as his entire collection of tracks released throughout his lifetime, the deal between Warner Music and Bowie’s estate included his posthumous studio album called </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Toy</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While Warner Music did not disclose the amount the catalogue sold for or the financial terms of the deal, a person close to the matter said the monumental purchase was worth approximately $250 million. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The deal is the latest move in the media rights sector, where companies have sought to boost royalties through the purchase of artists’ catalogues after the pandemic affected physical music profits. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The sale comes just days before the rockstar would have turned 75 on January 8th. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">David Bowie died at age 69 in 2016, after shooting to fame with his </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Space Oddity</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> release in 1969 that was largely inspired by Stanley Kubrick's film,</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em> 2001: A Space Odyssey</em>.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite this iconic release, it was Bowie’s 1972 portray of a doomed bisexual rock envoy from space, Ziggy Stardust, that propelled him to international noterity. </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Getty Images</span></em></p>

Music

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Why Iman won’t remarry after Bowie’s death

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Supermodel and entrepreneur Iman has spoken about life after the passing of her husband David Bowie, as well as their 26 years together.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I knew him as the man, David Jones, his real name,” she told </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://people.com/style/iman-says-shell-never-remarry-after-david-bowie-death/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">People</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in a new interview. “And not the rockstar.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The pair first met in 1990 in an unusual fashion, after Teddy Antolin, Bowie’s hairdresser and longtime friend, set them up on a blind date.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In an interview with </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/david-bowie-met-wife-iman/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">WC2H smoothradio</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Antolin shared how Iman and Bowie instantly connected.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“She had a big smile, and she and David looked at each other… it was love at first sight, you could feel the electricity, something went off” Antolin </span><a href="https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/love-stories-david-bowie-and-iman-owe-their-love-story-to-a-hairdresser/896551b1-97be-42b3-8343-5ea226af5a0e"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Iman recalled that it took her a few months to feel the same way as Bowie.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/COGEcxoFlcM/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/COGEcxoFlcM/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by IMAN (@the_real_iman)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“David said it was love at first sight. It took me a few months but I got there,” she </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a38278397/iman-will-not-remarry-after-david-bowie-death/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After their first date, the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Starman</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> singer filled Iman’s hotel room with gardenias following her appearance on the Thierry Mugler runway in Paris, and went on to meet her at the airport when she returned to LA.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In her latest interview, Iman recalled another sweet moment: “Early on, we were walking down the street and my shoelace came undone, and he got on his knees to tie it for me and I thought </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">he’s the one</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bowie and Iman were engaged within a few months, before marrying on June 6, 1992 in Florence, Italy.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CSmdaXwrPzn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CSmdaXwrPzn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by IMAN (@the_real_iman)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The couple welcomed their daughter, Alexandra Zahra Jones, eight years later.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite their fame, the pair were quite private and only a few close friends and colleagues knew of Bowie’s various health concerns, including his cancer diagnosis in 2014.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Two days after the release of his album, </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Blackstar</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the star’s 18-month battle with cancer came to an end.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While processing the loss of her husband, Iman said she was inspired to create her first fragrance called Love Memoir. She added that the idea came after she spent time in their New York home during the pandemic, and that it was a “monument to eternal love”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shortly after Bowie’s passing, Iman said she couldn’t face spending too much time at their home.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWqmyktrR-m/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWqmyktrR-m/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Love Memoir by IMAN (@lovememoir)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I just got very sad and would rush back to the city,” the Iman Cosmetics founder said. “I thought I had processed [the loss] but I had not.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The fragrance combines two sweet details honouring the couple’s time together: woodsy vetiver, in a nod to Bowie’s favourite fragrance; and bergamot from Tuscany, where the couple were wed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Recalling the moment her daughter asked if she would ever remarry, Iman said: “I said, ‘No, I will not.’ I still feel married.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Someone a few years ago referred to David as my late husband and I said, ‘No, he’s not my late husband. He’s my husband.’”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: @the_real_iman (Instagram)</span></em></p>

Relationships

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Celebrities pose with their younger selves in stunning art series

<p>Dutch graphic designer<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Bmadul1H9/" target="_blank">Ard Gelinck</a><span> </span>has spent his time for the last ten years creating pictures of celebrities posing with their younger selves.</p> <p>Gelinck uses Photoshop to create the iconic masterpieces, which are perfectly edited to appear side by side the older celebrity.</p> <p>He spoke to<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.unilad.co.uk/celebrity/artist-creates-incredible-pictures-of-celebrities-posing-with-their-younger-selves/" target="_blank">UNILAD</a></em><span> </span>about his hobby, saying that he has been creative since he was a child.</p> <p>“I often challenge myself to create a certain series of images, including the ‘then and now’ series that you see a lot now,” he explained.</p> <p>“The ideas come up and the celebrities that I choose are often random.”</p> <p>Gelinck has received a lot of attention for his creations, with many of his celebrity subjects sharing his creations on their social media pages. However, he stays humble.</p> <p>“I was pleasantly surprised when it was picked up by various media worldwide. [It’s] nice to see that you can entertain people and show something that makes them think and laugh,” he said.</p> <p>Some of the creations that Gelinck is most proud of include David Bowie and Lady Gaga but added there were “too many” to choose from.</p> <p>With examples like Harrison Ford and Han Solo, Mark Hamill and Luke Skywalker as well as beloved Madonna with her younger self, it’s easy to see why he has a hard time choosing a favourite.</p> <p>Scroll through the gallery to see some of these iconic creations.</p> <p><em>Photo credits: Instagram @<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/ardgelinck/" target="_blank">ardgelinck</a></em></p>

Technology

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Why are we seeing so many music documentaries lately?

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Music documentaries about famous singers and musicians are quickly becoming the norm. This is due to movie directors and actors bringing life and providing nostalgia to those who watched the musicians grow up. It also brings music to a new audience who is interested but might not have been born when the musicians were in their prime.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It appears that fans can no longer resist a peek into the backroom world that their favourite musicians inhabited.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Gennaro Castaldo, of the record label trade association the British Phonographic Industry, isn’t surprised.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A compelling synergy exists between movies and music,” he told </span><em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/21/why-music-documentaries-are-all-over-our-screens-beyonce-bob-dylan"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Guardian</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“With a slew of highly anticipated music documentaries either out, or due for release soon, fans can get close to the icons they love, from Led Zeppelin and Leonard Cohen to Beyoncé and PJ Harvey, so we can expect another surge in sales and streams.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He credits the success of Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman to the surge in sales and streams, despite claims that these films are fictionalised and not a realistic account of what the rock stars went through.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The phenomenal success of recent biopics celebrating the work of Queen, Elton John and Abba underline just how fantastic a medium film is for music – culturally but also commercially in terms of the huge global reach it can provide at the cinema and then in the home,” said the BPI’s Castaldo. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Movies provide the perfect emotional context for a piece of music that help to enhance its power and to profoundly resonate with the audience.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In the process, this can reawaken the public’s love of classic repertoire, or of a particular artist, and encourage the next generation of fans to discover music that is new to them.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, film critic Nick James says that a documentary that is strong on sentiment doesn’t always work.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I prefer a documentary to a rock biopic anyday, but I’m wary of nostalgia,” James said. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marianne &amp; Leonard</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is heartfelt and honest, but it’s still to a degree in thrall to the ‘sexual revolution’ whose utter destructiveness it chronicles. [Leonard] Cohen comes out of it badly, but we probably need to see those feet of clay.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fans are responding with their wallets, and it’s looking like that’s the way that companies are going to go: fictionalised accounts of their favourite musicians instead of authentic and gritty stories about their imperfect heroes.</span></p>

Music

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The first look at the new David Bowie biopic is here

<p>A first look image of actor Johnny Flynn as David Bowie in the upcoming film <em>Stardust</em> has been revealed.</p> <p>36-year-old Flynn is set to star as the music icon in the movie, which is set in the early '70s and sees Bowie embarking on his first road trip to the US and creating his famed alter ego Ziggy Stardust.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7829872/stardustz.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/1e28eb46484541379e106c9e7471a5a2" /></p> <p>Bowie’s son Duncan Jones said the film does not have his family’s blessing. “If you want to see a biopic without his music or the family’s blessing, that’s up to the audience,” Jones wrote on a Twitter post.</p> <p>“I’m saying that as it stands, this movie won’t have any of dad’s music in it, and I can’t imagine that changing.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Im not saying this movie is not happening. I honestly wouldn't know.<br />Im saying that as it stands, this movie won't have any of dads music in it, &amp; I can't imagine that changing. If you want to see a biopic without his music or the families blessing, thats up to the audience.</p> — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) <a href="https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/1091065215842570240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>In response to the statement, the producers said the project is “not a biopic”, but “an origins story” and “a moment in time film”, likening it to <em>Control for Joy Division</em> and <em>Nowhere Boy</em> for John Lennon.</p> <p>“It is a moment in time film at a turning point in David’s life, and is not reliant on Bowie’s music,” the producers told the <a rel="noopener" href="https://ew.com/movies/2019/08/21/johnny-flynn-david-bowie-photo-stardust/" target="_blank"><em>Entertainment Weekly</em></a>.</p> <p>“The film was written as an ‘origins story’ about the beginning of David’s journey as he invented his Ziggy Stardust character, and focuses on the character study of the artist, as opposed to a hits driven ‘music’ biopic.”</p> <p>Producer Paul Van Carter confirmed that <em>Stardust</em> will not use any of Bowie’s songs. “We always knew that we weren’t going to.”</p> <p><em>Stardust</em> is directed by Gabriel Range (<em>I Am Slave</em>) and written by Christopher Bell (Netflix’s <em>The Last Czars</em>). Flynn will portray the English musician alongside Marc Maron (<em>GLOW</em>), who plays Bowie’s publicist Ron Oberman, and Jena Malone (<em>The Hunger Games</em>) who plays Bowie’s wife Angie.</p>

News

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Space Oddity at 50: The novelty song that became a cultural touchstone

<p>When the 22-year-old David Bowie penned Space Oddity, a song that would ultimately become a <a href="https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/space-oddity/">recognised</a> classic, he was a burgeoning pop artist without a record deal. A folk singer without a gig, a sometime mime, and a purveyor of <a href="https://youtu.be/NUiboPRPOzo">ice creams</a>. His first serious relationship, with the actress <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/01/david-bowie-girl-mousy-hair-muse">Hermione Farthingale</a>, was in free fall.</p> <p>It was December 1968, and Bowie’s manager Kenneth Pitt was collating a promotional film to pimp his client’s wares to London television and film producers. He requested Bowie pen a “special piece of new material” to contemporise the otherwise retrospective nature of the film.</p> <p>And then, on Christmas Eve, astronaut Bill Anders captured his iconic photograph of Earth from the Apollo 8 spacecraft while circumnavigating the Moon.</p> <p>The Earthrise image was still resonating in the public’s imagination when Bowie retreated to his room in Clareville Grove, London to write his space cabaret. Composing on a 12-string Hagstrom guitar with a little sonic weirdness from a Stylophone given to him by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Bolan">Marc Bolan</a>, he came up with Space Oddity.</p> <p>A blatant commercial object, a “pragmatic” turn by a fledgling artist, the song would become an anthem for space exploration for decades (and for TV news obituaries on the occasion of Bowie’s <a href="https://youtu.be/mH3-HV2WDdQ">death</a> in 2016).</p> <p>Space Oddity tells of an astronaut Major Tom, launched into space in a manner akin to the Apollo missions. Yet in this instance all does not go according to plan and he is left adrift in the abyss of space, “floating ‘round my tin can, far above the Moon.”</p> <p>At the time it was considered a “novelty song” to hang alongside other opportunists riding the vapor trails of the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-was-the-saturn-v-58.html">Saturn V</a>. (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/fashion/watches-omega-speedmaster-moonwatch-anniversary.html">Omega</a> watches, <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/space/apollo-11-anniversary/os-ne-apollo-11-tang-20190704-ahrgsi5hmfdunfy4ldazrgvkr4-story.html">Tang</a>, <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/first-energy-bar">Space Food Sticks</a> etc). Bowie was acutely aware of the commercialisation of the space exploration story, of course. “You have really made the grade, and the papers want to know whose shirts you wear,” exalts ground control as Tom hurtles towards the heavens.</p> <p>Eschewing the typical pop song template, Bowie designed the piece as if it was a dramatic play. “I think I wanted to write a new kind of musical,” he <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2015/12/david-bowie-and-enda-walsh-musical-lazarus-reviewed.html">reflected</a> in 2002, “and that’s how I saw my future at the time.”</p> <p>The song – one of his earliest and perhaps most outrageous musical assemblages – is also indicative of the artist he would become, a restless creative magpie perched by the wireless, plucking phrases and vocal stylings from the inbound radio waves.</p> <p>The definitive version, recorded in late June 1969 at Trident Studios, was pressed and released as a single within three weeks – on July 11 – to leverage the hype of the impending Apollo moon landing. It also sealed a new recording deal with Mercury Records. Bowie was back.</p> <p>However, his long-time producing partner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Visconti">Tony Visconti</a> refused to work on the song, citing it as a distasteful departure from the singer’s hippie folk leanings. Visconti’s unease led him to recommend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Dudgeon">Gus Dudgeon</a> (who would later work with Elton John) as producer. The song’s adventurous orchestration and unsettling harmonics owe much to Dudgeon’s ambition.</p> <p>Through resonance, tone and unexpected harmonic shifts Bowie and Dudgeon achieved a meta-pop song full of cultural and musical references. There are lyrical and tonal references to the Bee Gees’ <a href="https://youtu.be/S43YhQ_eGTw">New York Mining Disaster 1941</a> while an acoustic passage signposts <a href="https://youtu.be/gP3-TU6xPvc">Old Friends</a> by Simon &amp; Garfunkel. Even the metallic chimes of the Stylophone recall the pulsating intro of the Beatles’ <a href="https://youtu.be/t1Jm5epJr10">I Am The Walrus</a>. This was music for space, both inside and out, an experimental sonic palette that would open up a whole <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613762/space-music-drugs/">new genre</a> of musical art direction.</p> <p>Of course, Kubrick’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/">2001: A Space Odyssey</a> hangs heavily over proceedings. The two works are not only linked by name, but by their respective critiques of the cultural zeitgeist of “space fever”.</p> <p>A sense of melancholia and detachment permeates Bowie’s recording. Yet, Major Tom’s predicament – floating in a tin can far above the world – is perhaps not the perilous event we might suspect. He seems quite OK with it all. Even his observation that there is “nothing I can do” comes across as somewhat of a relief.</p> <p>We are never really sure whether the communication breakdown with ground control was accidental or by design. In Norman Mailer’s Apollo 11 chronicle <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238970.Of_a_Fire_on_the_Moon">Of a Fire on the Moon</a>, he notes that the “obvious pleasure” of the astronaut, “was to be alone in the sky”.</p> <p><strong>Rushing towards the stars</strong></p> <p>Still, in a 1980 <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/10/06/555850186/how-ashes-to-ashes-put-the-first-act-of-david-bowies-career-to-rest">interview</a>, Bowie revealed Major Tom’s dilemma was a comment on what he saw at the time as the limits of American exceptionalism:</p> <p>Here we had the great blast of American technological know-how shoving this guy up into space, but once he gets there, he’s not quite sure why he’s there. And that’s where I left him.</p> <p>For such a challenging work, the press reaction in Britain to Space Oddity was largely positive, Tony Palmer, writing in the Observer, appreciated the song’s cynical air at a time when “we cling pathetically to every moonman’s dribbling joke, when we admire unquestioningly the so-called achievement of our helmeted heroes.”</p> <p>Music journalist Penny Valentine’s review for the ensuing album, which would feature Space Oddity as the lead track, observed that Bowie had captured “the rather frightening atmosphere we all live in as the backdrop to his songs.”</p> <p>Indeed, come July 1969, the promise of the sixties and the hippy trip of the free love movement were a few festivals and a bunch of ghoulish murders away from coming to an end. The sense of being adrift like Major Tom was not just a fantasy construction any more.</p> <p>The song’s television debut would be on July 20 when the BBC aired the track during the Apollo broadcast, albeit after the Lunar Module had safely touched down. A scenario that even surprised Bowie – “of course, I was overjoyed that they did”.</p> <p>Despite its contrived beginnings, Bowie designed a cultural touchstone for a historic moment of human engineering and blind courage. Even 50 years hence, he appears to us fully formed on Space Oddity as a moonstruck balladeer and completely in synch with the times.</p> <p>The immaculately dressed changeling who would go on to hit the glam rock jackpot with his alien stage persona <a href="https://youtu.be/3qrOvBuWJ-c">Ziggy Stardust</a>. A character who captured the abrasive temperament of the moment as he straddled the jet-trails of our collective rushing towards the stars.</p> <p><em>Written by Mitch Goodwin. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/space-oddity-at-50-the-novelty-song-that-became-a-cultural-touchstone-120071"><em>The Conversation</em></a><em>.</em></p>

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6 things you never knew about David Bowie

<p>It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since David Bowie’s death, but as devastating as his loss was to his fans and his peers, at least his music and his legacy will endure forever. So to celebrate his life, we’re taking a look at some little-known facts about the music icon.</p> <p><strong>1. Why he changed his name</strong></p> <p>When David Robert Jones decided to pursue his music career, The Monkees were at the height of their fame, and David was worried he would become confused with Davy Jones. So he changed his name to Bowie, and the rest is history! In a letter to a 14-year-old fan in 1967, Bowie wrote that his manager told him, “Nobody’s going to make a monkey out of you”.</p> <p><strong>2. His eyes are NOT different colours</strong></p> <p>Contrary to popular belief, Bowie did not have heterochromia, a genetic condition resulting in two different coloured eyes. However, he did have another ocular quirk – aniscoria, a permanently dilated pupil. It happened after a 15-year-old Bowie and his friend George Underwood got into a fight over a girl, and Underwood’s fingernail accidentally sliced Bowie’s eye. Luckily, there were no hard feelings and the two later collaborated several times.</p> <p><strong>3. He had some famous friends as a child</strong></p> <p>While attending Bromley Technical High School, Bowie met Peter Frampton and the two bonded over their love of music. They remained close mates for the rest of Bowie’s life and worked together professionally a number of times.</p> <p>Bowie also counted Reginald Kenneth Dwight (none other than the iconic Elton John) among his friends as a teenager. However, the two grew apart over the years and hadn’t talked much in about 40 years. In an interview with <em>Rolling Stone,</em> Sir Elton said they simply weren’t each other’s “cup of tea”.</p> <p><strong>4. He was an activist from a young age</strong></p> <p>In 1964, aged just 17, Bowie formed the “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men”. Yes, you read that right. The organisation’s aim was to protest the negative treatment that men who opted for longer hair styles received on the street. He was even interviewed by the BBC for it!</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m5zxeLwUSdk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>5. “Space Oddity” was released at the perfect time</strong></p> <p>Bowie’s iconic song “Space Oddity” was released on July 11, 1969. Just nine days later, the BBC played the song during its coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, prompting it to become Bowie’s first big hit in his home country.</p> <p><strong>6. He predicted the rise of the internet</strong></p> <p>Ever the futurist, when the world wide web was just getting started in 1999, Bowie instantly knew it was going to change the world. In an interview with the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman, who suggested that the internet’s potential had been “greatly exaggerated”, Bowie responded with eerie accuracy.</p> <p>“I really embrace the idea that there’s a new demystification process between the artist and the audience. The interplay between the user and the provider will be so in sympatico it’s going to crush our ideas of what mediums are all about.”</p>

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Why David Bowie always preferred to cruise rather than fly

<p>The Thin White Duke was a big fan of cruising, but the reason might surprise you.</p> <p>In the early 1970s David Bowie was on a stormy flight that triggered a severe fear of flying. For years afterwards, he refused to set foot on a plane. He was quoted as saying at the time “If it flies, it’s death. I won’t fly because I’ve had a premonition I’ll be killed in a plane crash if I do. If nothing happens by 1976 I’ll start to fly again.”</p> <p>The only problem was, Bowie has a huge world tour on the books beginning in 1972. The British singer-songwriter was now popular in the USA and was about to embark on his first ever tour, the Ziggy Stardust Tour. The 83-day tour criss-crossed the country, covering more than 25,000 kilometres with concerts in New York City, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. And all of it was done by road or rail.</p> <p>Once the US tour was completed, the next stop was Japan. So Bowie and his crew boarded a ship to cruise across the Pacific. He then completed the Japanese leg of his tour by land. To return home to the UK, Bowie chose a journey on one of the world’s most iconic trains, the Trans-Siberian Express.</p> <p>Over the years, Bowie continued to tour around the world and – even though his 1976 deadline had passed – he often used cruise ships when he had the time. He sailed on the famous QE2 as well as the SS Leonardo Da Vinci, the Canberra and the Oronsay. Often he would give impromptu acoustic performances for the passengers and crew while onboard.</p>

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Sydney NYE Fireworks to honour Bowie, Prince and Wilder

<p>Sydney’s fireworks are always one of the real highlights of the New Year’s festivities, and this year’s pyrotechnics will take on special significance with the City of Sydney confirming there will be tributes to David Bowie, Prince and Gene Wilder.</p> <p>Barges on the harbour have reportedly been loaded with 120 tonnes of fireworks ahead of the incredible display, which will entertain visitors from all around the world.</p> <p>Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore told <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Huffington Post</strong></em></span></a>, "This year sadly saw the loss of many music and entertainment legends around the world. Celebrating their music as part of the Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks displays is an opportunity to reflect on the year that's been and celebrate what the future holds.</p> <p>"Sydney is especially significant for David Bowie, who called Elizabeth Bay home for a decade from the early eighties, filming music videos and recording an album here.</p> <p>"Prince performed in Australia many times and his Sydney Opera House concert was one of his last. And I know children and adults everywhere will delight in the colourful Willy Wonka moment during the midnight fireworks."</p> <p>Are you looking forward to the fireworks?</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/12/what-does-2017-hold-for-you/"><strong>What does 2017 hold for you?</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/domestic-travel/2016/12/5-best-places-to-spend-nye-in-australia/"><strong>5 best places to spend New Year’s Eve in Australia</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2016/08/david-bowies-son-welcomes-baby-boy/"><strong>David Bowie’s son welcomes baby boy</strong></a></em></span></p>

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David Bowie best songs

<p>Can you believe it’s almost been two years since the death of music icon David Bowie? As sad as we are that he’s gone, what better way to honour his incredible life with a retrospective of his classic hits?</p> <p>Take a walk down memory lane and revisit the work of the musical genius that was David Bowie with our playlist of his top 10 best songs.</p> <p><strong>1. “Life on Mars?”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v--IqqusnNQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>2. “Let’s Dance”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N4d7Wp9kKjA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>3. “Changes”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xMQ0Ryy01yE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>4. “Heroes”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BPPSu0vaNWA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>5. “Space Oddity”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cYMCLz5PQVw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>6. “Starman”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sI66hcu9fIs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>7. “Fame”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ypgq0qdgVZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>8. “Ashes to Ashes”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CMThz7eQ6K0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>9. “Rebel Rebel”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vy-rvsHsi1o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><strong>10. “Lazarus”</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-JqH1M4Ya8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>What’s your favourite song from David Bowie? Let us know in the comments!</p>

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New David Bowie biography reveals all

<p>David Bowie's death a year ago was a shock. It came out of leftfield, stunning everyone but his family and close friends, who knew he had been ill for a long time.</p> <p>His critically acclaimed album <em>Blackstar</em>, released just days before, was a fitting epitaph, but the imagination and energy it contained made his loss almost unbearable, leaving a public hungry for more.</p> <p>In a new book, <em>David Bowie: the Golden Years</em>, Australian author Roger Griffin doesn't so much bring Bowie back to life, as transport the reader back in time to be with him. It chronicles Bowie's life in his own words, and those of his friends and colleagues, beginning on January 4, 1970, and ending on December 15, 1980 (an epilogue tidies up some loose ends).</p> <p>It begins in the aftermath of <em>Space Oddity</em>'s success, when Bowie seemed on the verge of becoming a one-hit wonder, and ends with him an international star, waiting out financially suffocating contracts, before embarking on the most commercially successful phase of his career.</p> <p>As Griffin wryly notes in the brief foreword: "Bowie made his money after 1980, but in the 70s he made his art."</p> <p>The Golden Years chronicles arguably the most creative decade of Bowie's life, and certainly the most prolific.</p> <p>It takes the reader into recording studios and rehearsal rooms, on tour and behind the scenes; to New York, London, Berlin, Switzerland and Sydney. There are numbers for nerds – record release dates and chart positions – but there are also parties, photo shoots and red carpets.</p> <p>There are pages and pages of rarely seen photographs of Bowie at work and play; in elaborate costumes and kimonos, and everything in between (and sometimes not much at all).</p> <p>Griffin says he deliberately avoided going into Bowie's personal life, but anything that played out in the public arena – or anything anyone was happy to talk about – is included: the disintegration of his marriage to Angie and the fate of their son Zowie (Duncan Jones); the financial troubles with his manager Tony DeFries and his label RCA; his acknowledged issues with drugs; his grief at the untimely death of his dear friend Marc Bolan.</p> <p>"It's told by the people that are there. It puts you in the room," says Griffin, who read hundreds of books and magazine and newspaper articles and transcribed hours of video for the project.</p> <p>"I wanted people's perspective from the time. Like the interview with Bianca Jagger from 1977 in Paris when they've been dating. As opposed to trying to get Bianca to remember something from 40 years ago, 'Oh yes I think we dated once or twice. I can't remember a thing about it'. It's very fly on the wall."  </p> <p>Bowie spent years on the road in the 70s, and these sections are full of quotes from the stars who attended his shows, went backstage and partied with him afterwards. It's a peek into the glitzy world of the rich and famous and also a testament to the awe Bowie inspired among his peers.</p> <p>Griffin has laid out the book in a diary format, not just chronologically, but in bite-size chunks, making it a delight to dip into.</p> <p>On September 16, 1975, Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John and Desi Arnez went to see Bowie perform.</p> <p>"Elizabeth Taylor went backstage and swept into the dressing room," writes Griffin.  It was the beginning of a brief, intense friendship.</p> <p>Taylor hung out with Bowie as he and the band rehearsed. She tried to convince him to star in a film called <em>The Blue Bird</em> with her; but the relationship cooled when he knocked her back. "That was a rotten film … and a rotten part," he says. "It's being directed by a wonderful director but the whole film stinks and I turned it down."</p> <p>Bowie was famous for teaming up with other musicians but when they are all collected together into one 448-page book, the roll call of famous people he met, inspired or collaborated with is simply astonishing: John Lennon, Paul and Linda McCartney, Marc Bolan, Rick Wakeman, William Burroughs, Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, Bing Crosby, Cher, Lulu, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Brian Eno, Bette Midler, Luther Vandross, Bob Dylan …</p> <p>After Diana Ross took the Jackson 5 to a concert on the Diamond Dogs tour in September, 1974, Michael Jackson invited Bowie to the Jackson home for dinner afterwards.</p> <p>"Michael spent much of the evening asking me about the production and how we built the [$400,000 Hunger City] set and where the ideas came from for the visuals," says Bowie.</p> <p>"I was taught a 'backwards walk' by Toni Basil who choreographed The Lockers, one of the first black street-dance troupes … It's entirely possible that he copped the walk fourth hand, so to speak." </p> <p>While Bowie's own concerts are star-studded affairs, the gigs he goes to are clear signposts to the kinds of sounds that will show up in his music: a Philip Glass show also attended by Eno (though not together) in December 1970; a Jackson 5 and Ohio Players double bill in July of 1974.</p> <p>At a Stevie Wonder after-show party in 73, he meets guitarist Carlos Alomar, bassist Emir Kassan and singer Ava Cherry, who would all go on to play with him.</p> <p>Griffin has been a fan of Bowie since he first heard <em>Starman</em> as a child, but it seems that it's Bowie's collaborative nature, perhaps even more than his music, that drew him to this project.</p> <p>"He sought people out. He had an unerring instinct for the right people to work with. Where did he meet all these people? [I wanted to know] how all these careers interlocked. It was intriguing for me and quite an addictive process."</p> <p>Griffin, a graphic designer, began the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.bowiegoldenyears.com/index.html" target="_blank">Bowie Golden Years</a></strong></span> website in 2000 when he wanted to get into web design to show prospective clients what he could do.</p> <p>He needed a subject for his online project and thought, "What do I know a lot about? Well I know a lot about David Bowie." He had an archive of material to draw from, and as no one else had created a Bowie site that laid out his life and work chronologically, he set to work.</p> <p>It took Griffin about three years, with a full-time job and small children to see to at the same time, to cover the years from 1974 to 1980. As he worked, other people would contact him and contribute obscure interviews. In 2010, The Guardian named it website of the week, then Omnibus asked whether he'd like to turn it into a book.</p> <p>Bowie is the central character, but he touched so many lives that the book becomes not just a chronicle of his life, but of the times. The entry for December 6, 1980, quotes John Lennon discussing Bowie's performance in the Broadway production of The Elephant Man. Two days later he was shot dead by Mark Chapman.</p> <p>Lennon and Ono were supposed to have attended The Elephant Man the following evening; and Bowie said he was next on Chapman's list.  "Chapman had a front-row ticket to The Elephant Man the next night … The night after John was killed there were three empty seats in the front row. I can't tell you how difficult that was to go on."</p> <p>Now Bowie, too, is gone. How did Griffin feel when he heard the news?</p> <p>"Everyone was texting me and going 'Are you OK'? But my mum was already dying that week so … it was strange … it was bad enough that I was losing my mum. It seemed cruelly ironic that he survived the destructive 70s and 80s and then, whack! But I kind of wasn't surprised in a way. Ever since the heart attack in 2004 it was like, yeah, four packs of cigarettes a day for decades has got to catch up with you some time, even if you've chucked 'em in."</p> <p>The book took five years for Griffin to put together – eight if you count the years spent working on the website. Is he finished with Bowie after this tremendous labour of love?</p> <p>"I’m hoping to do another book on him on a different aspect. Something a lot simpler," he says with a laugh.</p> <p><em>Written by Gabriel Wilder. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>. Image: Michael Ochs Archives</em></p>

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David Bowie musical to open in London

<p><em>Lazarus</em>, the jukebox musical featuring the songs of the late, great David Bowie, is set to make its way to London next month. It is the stage sequel to Walter Tevis’ novel <em>The Man Who Fell to Earth</em>, the film adaptation of which starred Bowie and perfectly reflected one of his most iconic alter egos, Ziggy Stardust.</p> <p>The musical, written by Bowie with the help of Irish playwright Enda Walsh, premiered in New York last November and marked Bowie’s last public appearance. It revisits the humanoid extra-terrestrial (played by <em>Dexter</em> star Michael C. Hall) who fell to earth 40 years ago and has since become an alcoholic loner.</p> <p>One of the musical’s most poignant lines is, “I’m a dying man who can’t die,” which gives a whole new meaning to the death of a man who will live on forever in the annals of music history.</p> <p>In addition to hits from Bowie’s extensive catalogue, the musical also features three never-before-heard tracks written specifically for the production – “No Plan”, “Killing A Little Time” and “When I Met You”.</p> <p>Described by <em>The Guardian</em> as “unapologetically weird”, <em>Lazarus</em> could be the perfect tribute to the man who could just as easily be described in the same way. If you’re lucky enough to be in London between 25 October and 22 January 2017, you can catch <em>Lazarus</em> at the Kings Cross Theatre. Let’s just hope it makes its way here soon!</p> <p><em>Image: Jan Versweyveld</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/08/15-photos-of-musicians-before-they-were-famous/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">15 photos of musicians before they were famous</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/06/15-most-iconic-album-covers/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>15 most iconic album covers</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/05/1970s-songs-that-defined-a-decade/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>1970s: songs that defined a decade</strong></em></span></a></p>

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13 musicians’ jobs before they were famous

<p>They say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. Well, before they found fame and began earning a living from their passion, these musicians were just like the rest of us, working in shops, restaurants and offices. Prepare to be shocked when you find out what these 13 rock stars did before they were famous.</p> <ol> <li><strong>David Bowie</strong> was a delivery boy for the local butchery from the age of 13. He used the money he earned to pay for saxophone lessons with iconic saxophonist Ronnie Ross, whom he later collaborated with.</li> <li><strong>Ozzy Osborne</strong> worked in an abattoir prior to finding fame as a member of Black Sabbath. “I had to slice open the cow carcasses and get all the gunk out of their stomachs,” he says. “I used to vomit every day; the smell was something else.” Gross!</li> <li><strong>Mick Jagger</strong> had a part-time job at Bexley Psychiatric Hospital as a porter at the age of 18. He earned four pounds, 10 shillings each week (about $125 today).</li> <li><strong>Debbie Harry</strong> was a Playboy bunny in the ‘70s. To deal with the creepy men who often frequented the New York club, Harry says she “fooled around with drugs and was consequently often half-asleep.”</li> <li><strong>Freddie Mercury</strong> owned a stall at the Kensington Market from 1969, selling artwork he created as well as second-hand clothes. Queen drummer Roger Taylor often helped out at the stall, which Mercury kept running even after the release of the band’s debut album.</li> <li><strong>Rod Stewart</strong> had many jobs prior to becoming a rock star, including as a silk screen printer, newspaper delivery boy, fence builder, sign writer, funeral parlour worker and he also worked as a labourer at a London cemetery.</li> <li><strong>Patti Smith</strong> worked in a toy factory, but the rocker says it wasn’t all fun and games. “The stuff those women did to me in that factory was horrible. They’d gang up on me and stick my head in a toilet.”</li> <li><strong>Keith Richards</strong> was a ball boy at the local tennis club. “My parents played tennis and I was dragged every weekend to the court as their ball boy, so I got to know the ins and outs of the game!”</li> <li><strong>Art Garfunkel</strong> was a maths teacher when “Bridge Over Troubled Water” hit the top spot on the charts. He worked at a private school in Connecticut after Simon &amp; Garfunkel broke up in 1970.</li> <li><strong>Jon Bon Jovi</strong> used to design and make Christmas decorations and often spent his childhood summers selling newspapers in Pennsylvania. He was working as a janitor at his cousin’s recording studio when he made his first record.</li> <li><strong>Madonna</strong> worked as a showgirl in France before making it big in the US and the rest of the world. She also had a job at a donut store but was reportedly fired for squirting jam at a customer.</li> <li><strong>Cyndi Lauper</strong> was a dog walker before she hit the big time, and also had jobs piercing ears, mending clothes, sorting mail, dancing, modelling for an art class and worked as a receptionist at a publishing company.</li> <li><strong>Gene Simmons</strong> had an editorial assistant job at two high-profile magazines, <em>Glamour</em> and <em>Vogue</em>, which explains how he was able to create the iconic looks of KISS.</li> </ol> <p>Which of these musicians’ former jobs surprised you the most? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/06/15-most-iconic-album-covers/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>15 most iconic album covers</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/06/original-names-of-famous-bands/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>The surprising original names of famous bands</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/music/2016/05/actors-turned-musicians/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>7 actors we didn’t know were also musicians</strong></em></span></a></p>

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David Bowie’s wife Iman shares rare photo of their daughter

<p>Music legend David Bowie’s wife, Iman, has shared a photograph of their daughter Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones on her 16th birthday.</p> <p>The usually private supermodel couldn’t be happier celebrating her daughter’s milestone birthday, posting the picture to her Instagram with the caption: “Happy sweet 16th birthday to my baby girl Lexi! Stay sweet ‘Classy with a hint of sassy’ #selfportrait #LexiLove.”</p> <p><img width="500" height="600" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/26055/lexi-jones_500x600.jpg" alt="Lexi Jones" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>The black-and-white photo of Lexi bears a striking resemblance to her model mum, but internet users were quick to point out the likeness to her late father.</p> <p>“She's beautiful, I see a lot of David Bowie,” one user commented.</p> <p>It’s been a tough year for Iman and Lexi with the death of Bowie in January, who passed away at age 69 after a long battle with cancer.</p> <p>Bowie’s son Duncan Jones and his wife Rodene Ronquillo <strong><a href="/news/news/2016/08/david-bowies-son-welcomes-baby-boy/">welcomed their first child</a> </strong>exactly six months after the death of the pop icon.</p> <p>Do you think Lexi looks more like her father or mother? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. </p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/07/what-10-stars-looked-like-when-they-were-young/"><em>What 10 stars looked like when they were young</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/06/favourite-musical-films/"><em>Our favourite musical films</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/05/highest-earning-films-of-all-time/">Highest-earning films of all time</a></em></strong></span></p>

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David Bowie’s son welcomes baby boy

<p>David Bowie’s only son, Duncan Jones, has welcomed his first child with wife Rodene Ronquillo.</p> <p>On July 10, the six-month anniversary of his father’s death, Jones son was born into the world. The child would have been Bowie’s first grandchild and Jones’ fittingly paid tribute to his late father by naming his newborn son Stenton David Jones.</p> <p>The BAFTA Award-winner announced his news through Twitter, with a comedic cartoon of the three generations – his father, himself and his new son.</p> <p>He captioned the photo: “Stanton David Jones. Born July 10th, exactly six months after his granddad made room for him,” adding, “Love you both so.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Stenton David Jones. Born July 10th, exactly six months after his grandad made room for him. <br />Love you both so. ❤️❤️ <a href="https://t.co/Axdee1iRhE">pic.twitter.com/Axdee1iRhE</a></p> — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) <a href="https://twitter.com/ManMadeMoon/status/759171744590553088">July 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <p>He also shared a touching message to his wife, writing, “All my love and awe to the incredible @rodeneronquillo who made a human being in her belly.”</p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/06/expert-tips-for-connecting-with-your-grandchildren/"><em>5 expert tips for connecting with your grandchildren</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/05/life-lessons-my-96-year-old-mother-inadvertently-taught-me/"><em>Life lessons my 96-year-old mother inadvertently taught me</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/05/raising-my-grandchild-is-tough-but-amazing/"><em>Taking over raising our grandchild was tough but the most amazing thing we’ve done</em></a></strong></span></p>

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6 films that became unexpected cult classics

<p>We hear the term “cult classic” quite a lot nowadays, so much so that it’s hard to tell what is and what isn’t a true cult classic. Defined as an obscure or low-budget film that had little success with mainstream audiences, these films found critical success and attracted cult-like followings – often years after their original release. Let’s take a look at some of the films that became unexpected classics.</p> <p><strong><em>Labyrinth</em> (1986)</strong></p> <p>Starring the late, great David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, musical fantasy film <em>Labyrinth</em> wasn’t exactly a low budget film, costing $25 million to produce. However, the movie bombed at the box office and became a home video and DVD success years later, finding a cult-following among both film buffs and Bowie fans alike.</p> <p><strong><em>Plan 9 from Outer Space</em> (1959)</strong></p> <p>One of those movies that’s so bad it’s good, Ed Wood’s <em>Plan 9 from Outer Space</em> starred legendary horror actor Bela Lugosi as a resurrected man controlled by aliens. Many critics consider it the worst film ever made, but it experienced a surge in popularity in the ‘80s when it was picked up by TV stations and played in the late-night movie slot.</p> <p><strong><em>Mad Max</em> (1979)</strong></p> <p>Director George Miller had no idea when he was shooting <em>Mad Max</em> that it would become a worldwide blockbuster. Starring Mel Gibson in his breakthrough role, the film turned its $400,000 budget into US$100 million at the box office. It spawned three sequels, the most recent of which (<em>Fury Road</em>) won six Oscars.</p> <p><strong><em>A Clockwork Orange</em> (1971)</strong></p> <p>Based on Anthony Burgess’ novel of the same name, this highly controversial, ultra-violent dystopian film directed by Stanley Kubrick became a fixture in pop culture. The film shot Malcolm McDowell to fame, and his character Alex DeLarge has been referenced and parodied hundreds of times since the movie’s release in 1971.</p> <p><strong><em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show</em> (1975)</strong></p> <p>The quintessential cult classic, the film adaptation of the <em>Rocky Horror Show</em> remains so popular today that it is frequently shown in cinemas around the world, attracting unprecedented audience participation. Starring Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, this kitschy film is a celebration of the quirkiness in all of us.</p> <p><strong><em>This Is Spinal Tap</em> (1984)</strong></p> <p>Starring Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, this 1984 comedic mockumentary shot a fictional band to fame. Though not hugely successful at the box office, <em>This Is Spinal Tap</em> became a huge hit, particularly for musicians like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne, for whom the film hit quite close to home.</p> <p>What’s your favourite cult classic? Let us know in the comments below!</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/05/8-classic-films-getting-remakes/"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">8 classic films getting remakes</span></strong></em></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/05/most-iconic-movie-shots/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">10 most iconic movie shots of all time</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/movies/2016/03/best-modern-classic-movies/"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">6 modern-classic movies everyone needs to see</span></strong></em></a></p>

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