David Bowie: 12 key career moments

9 January 2023

At the age of 17, David Bowie - then known as Davy Jones - was interviewed by Cliff Michelmore for the BBC's Tonight programme. Bowie was speaking about his newly-founded Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men.

David Bowie was the first person to write English lyrics to the original tune of what eventually became the global hit, My Way. Claude Francois, a big name in his native France, wrote and performed the original song called, Comme d’habitude which means ‘As Usual.’ In this clip from Arena's 1978 episode, My Way, you can hear Bowie singing his lyrics on top of the original, complete with period video. Click here to find out more about this fascinating story.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is arguably the most important album in the mind-blowing career of David Bowie. Released in 1972, it's the record that set the mercurial musician on course to becoming one of the best-known pop stars on the planet.

Alan Yentob's Omnibus rockumentary about Bowie was shot in 1974 and transmitted in January 1975. Cracked Actor follows Bowie in Hollywood as he begins to discard the elaborate costume and make-up of his legendary character Ziggy Stardust and assume a new, more enigmatic role.

In 1976, Bowie moved to Berlin and recorded a triptych of albums, Low, Heroes and Lodger. Produced in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti, these dense works were perhaps the most experimental of Bowie's career, mixing electronic sounds and avant-garde lyrics to produce a radical, and influential, song cycle. In this clip from BBC Four's Music Moguls, producer Visconti discusses the recording sessions.

1983 saw Bowie reinvent himself again with the Let's Dance album. Hits like China Girl and Modern Love, coupled with the spectacular Serious Moonlight world tour, introduced Bowie to a whole new generation. In this clip from BBC Two's David Bowie: Five Years documentary, producer Nile Rodgers talks about writing one of the album's best known tracks.

In this archive interview with Mark Radcliffe, recorded in New York in 1995, Bowie - who was touring his Outside album with Nine Inch Nails at the time - talks about his fear of flying, his northern roots, America, his love of The Velvet Underground and the music he’s made and wasn’t too fond of.

Bowie marked his 50th birthday with an all-star concert at New York's Madison Square Garden that featured big names such as Lou Reed and Foo Fighters. As part of the celebrations, Bowie also spoke about his artistic inspirations with Alan Yentob, who made the Omnibus documentary Cracked Actor about the star back in 1975.

Bowie's 22nd studio album was regarded as a return to form and proved his biggest hit in America since 1984's Tonight. In this extended interview with Front Row's John Wilson, Bowie discusses the album ahead of his 2002 world tour.

Bowie made a cameo appearance on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's BBC One sitcom about supporting artists working on film sets and in theatre. In season two, Andy (Gervais) deals with his new celebrity, his scathing reviews and the sadness of success as his critically acclaimed sitcom gains popularity. Here, in a lounge bar, he is ridiculed when David Bowie sings a song about Andy, the 'chubby little loser'.

London's Victoria and Albert Museum was given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive to curate the first international retrospective of his career. The collection - which became the museum's fastest-selling show - features more than 300 objects, including handwritten lyrics, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs and Bowie's own instruments. BBC 6 Music's Cerys Matthews took a closer look.

Bowie released what was to be his final album, the jazz-infused Blackstar, on 8 January 2016 - just two days before his death. Many critics hailed the haunting and experimental album as one of the highlights of his career. According to the writer Paul Morley: "Blackstar was a flickering sequence of sounds, pulses, tone colours and instrumental gestures made by Bowie leading his latest Miles Davis-esque ensemble, the most orthodox jazz line-up of all, although he wasn’t making jazz but as always using its strategies to help compose songs."