From Ziggy to Blackstar: The Many Faces of David Bowie

The "Aladdin Sane" superstar's career spanned over four decades, and a dizzying amount of personas, both onstage and off.
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From Ziggy to Blackstar: The Many Faces of David Bowie Richard Young/Rex

On January 11, legendary rock musician David Bowie passed away following an 18-month battle with cancer. Bowie had just released an album, Blackstar, on January 8, his 69th birthday, capping a career that began in 1967 and included over two dozen studio albums. Known for his innovative music, as well as his iconoclastic, androgynous fashion sense and performing style, he was a pioneer of the glam-rock genre, and his penchant for personal reinvention helped redefine the boundaries of rock music, both sonically and conceptually.

David Bowie shakes out his hair during a portrait session on March 3, 1965. Born David Robert Jones in London's Brixton neighborhood in 1947, the music legend's early years were characterized by commercial failures, his first few songs as a solo artist (and with several bands) failing to gain traction until 1969's "Space Oddity." The song was released five days before the Apollo 11 launch, and the song established him as a solo artist, paving the way for later experimentation throughout the 1970s. Potter/Express/Getty