The Bowie Bible is an online repository of information on David Bowie from a range of sources. It is an unofficial site and not affiliated in any way with David Bowie, his record labels, or anyone else connected to Bowie or his representatives.
About the author
My name’s Joe. I’m a writer and website producer. My other big site, since 2008, is the Beatles Bible. The Bowie Bible launched 10 years later in 2018.
I was born in England in 1976, and grew up with David Bowie’s music. I became a proper fan around 1990 when I got a copy of the ChangesBowie compilation on cassette tape. I fell in love with the man and his music, and from then on nothing was quite the same.
The Bowie Bible was planned immediately after David passed away in 2016, although it took a while longer to put together. After writing in-depth features about each of the studio and live albums, the site soft-launched on 30 November 2018. The aim was to collate as much information as I could lay my hands on about David, to have an outlet for all the facts that I’d been carrying around in my head for years, and to put it in one place.
The Bowie Bible is written and published in Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Spelling and grammar generally leans towards standard UK English; however, where possible information about Bowie’s success in both the US and the UK has been included.
A note about sources
The Bowie Bible is a mixture of original research and fact-based information from a range of sources. All writing on this site is original, and should not be reproduced without explicit written permission from the site owner. A contact link is at the foot of every page.
The sources used are too numerous to mention every one. However, these books proved invaluable during the research process:
- The Complete David Bowie by Nicholas Pegg. This should be on the bookshelves of every discerning fan. The ultimate guide to Bowie’s songs, albums, tours, and so much more.
- Golden Years by Roger Griffin, and Any Day Now by Kevin Cann. These are fabulous day-by-day guides to Bowie’s life and career, which sadly go no further than the 1980s. Hopefully the authors will one day publish follow-up books.
- Starman by Paul Trykna and Strange Fascination by David Buckley. There are a great many Bowie biographies out there, but these two are the most essential.
- Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy by Tony Visconti. Tony should need no introduction. He’s a lovely guy with an endlessly interesting back story. Although the book does not cover his later collaborations with Bowie, his insights into the 1970s works are well worth a read.
- David Bowie: A Life by Dylan Jones. An oral history with recollections from many Bowie collaborators.
Photographs have been taken from a range of sources. Where possible I have tried to use images believed to be in the public domain. Copyright holders are welcome to contact me and I will either take down the image or provide a suitable text credit. I mean no offence.
Comments policy
Generally people are free to post what they want on the site. However, I’d like to keep the quality higher than your average YouTube page. So, meaningless, offensive or abusive comments may be removed. Spam messages certainly will be. Constructive discussions of Bowie’s music and history certainly won’t, as long as they’re appropriate.
I like comments to be relevant to the page in question. So, if you choose to start an anti-Angie rant on the Hunky Dory page, it probably won’t get published. I reserve the right to edit comments to improve the discourse, whether it’s to keep the conversation flowing or to amend typos. If, however, you hate David Bowie, don’t bother letting me know – try another site instead.
If you spot any errors, either factual or grammatical, please point them out. The easiest way is normally by leaving a comment on the relevant page. Corrections may be made without the comment being published, but all suggestions are gratefully received nonetheless. If you submit a factual correction, please provide a citation or source so it’s clear that it’s not just your opinion. However, please remember that this site is written in UK English, so your idea of a spelling mistake may be different from mine.
It would be great to get more info on tracks like “Over The Wall We Go” and “Little Toy Solider”, which cribs the refrain from “Venus In Furs”. And any other obscure/unreleased songs. Thanks!
Hi Joe
Do you have a link or reference to the 1976 bbc interview for David ‘s comment on the “crack in the sky” that you mention on your “David Bowie sees Cream live” page, please ? Thank you very much for all this excellent work!
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte. If you mean this page, the quotation is from an NME (New Musical Express) article, not a BBC interview. The full article is here.
I see on this site a way to contribute to The Beatles Bible, but what about giving to The Bowie Bible? It must be a helluva lot harder to maintain than passe’ Beatles stuff, as there is still so much to discover with Bowie’s oeuvre. It’s a continuously evolving project, as far as I can tell. So, if you need more $$s to do this, Joe, tell us how!
Hi spurrier. It’s mainly time that I need. I’ve spent a good chunk of this year working on Bowie live dates and recording sessions. There’s still a long way to go, but there’s only one of me (my choice; I prefer to do it alone) and I add pages when I can.
You’re wrong about the Beatles being passé though 🙂
Looking for an interview that was early on, where David says “why be the radio when you can be television” have you seen this? I can’t find it anywhere.