•
Key words
2
Quick quiz
1
Do the quiz. Then, scan the article to check your answers.
1. David Bowie was ...
a. … a British singer, songwriter and actor. b. … a British painter and actor.
c. … an American musician and artist. 2. What do these people have in common?
• Ziggy Stardust • the Thin White Duke
3. Put the following David Bowie albums in order of their release (one per decade).
• Blackstar • David Bowie
• Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) • Young Americans
• Black Tie White Noise
Match the key words with the definitions below. Then, find them in the article to read them in context. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.
1. someone who is the first to do something or to discover something _________________________ (para 2)
2. the feeling that you want very much to become successful, rich and famous _________________________
(para 4)
3. start to do something alone rather than with others _________________________ (para 4)
4. a time when you begin to be successful at something _________________________ (para 5) 5. thinking and worrying about something a lot _________________________ (para 6)
6. natural ability to do some things well _________________________ (para 6)
7. a musical record with only one song or piece of music on each side _________________________ (para 8) 8. a list showing the music that people have bought the most copies of in the previous week
_________________________ (para 10)
9. a role or character adopted by a performer _________________________ (para 11) 10. a great success _________________________ (para 12)
11. the period of time when a person, idea or object is most successful or popular _________________________ (para 15)
12. the activity of trying to persuade people or organizations to give money for a specific purpose, especially for a charity _________________________ (para 16)
13. something you do to show respect for someone _________________________ (para 17)
14. an event organized to make money for people or a charity _________________________ (para 20)
ambition benefit breakthrough broody chart fundraising
David Bowie obituary
Adam Sweeting
11 January, 2016
1 Until the end, David Bowie, who has died of cancer, was still full of surprises. His latest album,
Blackstar, appeared on his 69th birthday on 8 January 2016 and proved that he hadn’t lost his
gift for making dramatic statements as well as challenging, disturbing music.
2 Throughout the 1970s, Bowie was a trailblazer
of musical trends and pop fashion. He became a singer-songwriter, a pioneer of glam-rock, then got into what he called “plastic soul”, before moving to Berlin to create innovative electronic music. His ability to mix brilliant changes of sound and image is unique in pop history.
3 Bowie was born David Robert Jones in south
London. In 1953, the family moved to Kent,
where David showed talent for singing and playing the recorder. Later, he studied art, music and design.
4 At 15, David formed his first band, the Kon-rads. It was clear that David’s talents and ambition
meant that he should go solo. David took the name Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.
5 Bowie’s first album, released in June 1967, was
titled simply David Bowie. In July 1969, Bowie
released Space Oddity, the song that would give
him his first commercial breakthrough. Timed to
coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing, it was a
top five UK hit.
6 In March 1970, Bowie married art student, Angela
Barnett. The Man Who Sold the World was
released in the US in late 1970 and in the UK the
following year. With its daring songwriting and
broody, hard-rock sound, it was the first album to
planet Earth. The hit single Starman brought instant success for the album.
9 Everything Bowie touched turned to gold. He had
his first UK number 1 album with Aladdin Sane
(1973), which included the hit singles The Jean Genie and Drive-in Saturday. But Bowie was already planning his next career moves.
10 His increasing interest in funk and soul music could be heard on the album Young Americans (1975), which gave him a US chart-topper with Fame (with John Lennon as a guest vocalist). 11 With the album Station to Station (1976), Bowie
introduced a new persona, the Thin White Duke. This persona was the same as his role as a sad
space traveller in Nicolas Roeg’s film The Man Who Fell to Earth.
12 Bowie’s relationship with his wife had been
suffering under the pressures of success and
the couple divorced in 1980. This was a year of further creative triumph, bringing a fine album, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and its chart-topping single, Ashes to Ashes, followed by a period playing the title role in The Elephant Man
on the Broadway stage.
13 He achieved a number 1 single with his 1981
partnership with Queen, Under Pressure, and became increasingly involved with different media. He appeared in the German movie
Christiane F (1981) and wrote music for the
soundtrack. He had another chart hit with Cat People (Putting Out Fire) from Paul Schrader’s
movie Cat People (1982).
14 1983 was the year in which he put his energy into
the album Let’s Dance and follow-up concerts.
Let’s Dance turned Bowie into a crowd-friendly global rock star, with the album and its singles
Let’s Dance, China Girl and Modern Love all becoming huge international hits.
•
Biographical information
3
Answer the questions about David Bowie’s life with information from the article. 1. Where was David Bowie born and in what year?
2. What was Bowie’s birth name?
3. Why did he change his name? 4. What did he study at college?
5. What was the name of his first band?
6. What style of music is he most connected with? 7. How many times was he married?
8. How many children did he have?
April 1992, Bowie married the Somalian model Iman and the couple bought a home in New York.
18 For the album Black Tie White Noise (1993), he included elements of soul, electronica and hip
hop. It topped the UK album chart and gave him a top 10 single, Jump They Say.
19 New media and technology influenced his
recordings, too. His 1999 album Hours…
was based around music he had written for a computer game called Omikron, in which Bowie and Iman appeared as characters. The birth of
Bowie and Iman’s daughter, Alexandria, followed in August 2000.
20 As an adopted New Yorker, Bowie was the opening act at the Concert for New York City in
October 2001, where he joined Paul McCartney,
Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, the Who and Elton John
in a benefit show six weeks after the 9/11 attacks.
21 During his Reality tour in 2004, Bowie had chest
pains while performing in Germany and needed emergency surgery in Hamburg.
22 He saw the medical emergency as a warning and
started to slow down. In February 2006, he was
given a Grammy lifetime achievement award. He was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1996.
23 The Next Day (2013) was his first album of new
material in a decade. It included the single Where Are We Now?, which gave him his first UK top 10
hit since 1993. The album went to the top of the
charts in Britain and around the world. In 2014,
Bowie was given the Brit Award for Best British Male, making him the oldest person to get the award.
24 He is survived by Iman, their daughter, Alexandria, his stepdaughter, Zulekha, and his
son, Duncan, from his first marriage. 25 • David Bowie (David Robert Jones), singer,
songwriter and actor, born 8 January, 1947; died 10 January, 2016
© Guardian News and Media 2016
6. famine 7. opening
8. hit 9. medical
10. international
Bowie’s first ______________________ ______________________ (1) came with the song Space Oddity in 1969. Well known for his different personas and ______________________ ______________________ (2), in 1972, Bowie presented himself as a ______________________ ______________________ (3) named Ziggy Stardust,
an intergalactic glam-rock star visiting planet Earth.
The song Starman brought ______________________ ______________________ (4) for the album titled The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
He first topped the US charts with Fame, which featured John Lennon as a ______________________ ______________________ (5).
The 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) included the ______________________ ______________________ (6) Ashes to Ashes.
His next album Let’s Dance, with its ______________________ ______________________ (7), turned Bowie into
a crowd-friendly global rock star.
f. hits g. emergency h. relief i. single j. act
Collocations
4
Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make expressions from the text. 1. guest 2. science-fiction 3. instant 4. dramatic 5. commercial a. statements b. vocalist c. breakthrough d. character e. success
•
a. Complete the word wheels with words from the article that the author used to describe Bowie’s music and songwriting, and his styles of music.
b. Use some of the words to talk about other musicians.
Word fields
5
Words describing Bowie’s songwriting Bowie’s music stylesWebquest
7
See photos of some the David Bowie’s key looks (including Ziggy Stardust) here: www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2016/jan/11/david-bowie-key-looks-pictures See pictures from his life and career here:
www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2016/jan/11/david-bowies-life-and-career-in-pictures
Discussion
6
We all know that music is strongly connected with memories.
• Do you connect any of Bowie’s music with particular memories or periods of your life?
KEY
1 Quick quiz
1. a
2. They are personas created by David Bowie. 3. David Bowie (1967)
Young Americans (1975)
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) Black Tie White Noise (1993)
Blackstar (2016)
2 Key words
1. trailblazer 2. ambition 3. go solo 4. breakthrough 5. broody 6. gifts 7. single 8. chart 9. persona 10. triumph 11. heyday 12. fundraising 13. tribute 14. benefit3 Biographical information
1. in South London; in 19472. David Robert Jones
3. to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the pop group the Monkees
4 Collocations
1. b 2. d 3. e 4. a 5. c 1. commercial breakthrough 2. dramatic statements 3. science-fiction character 4. instant success 5. guest vocalist 6. h 7. j 8. i 9. g 10. f 6. hit single 7. international hits 8. famine relief 9. opening act 10. medical emergency5 Word fields
Bowie’s songwriting: challenging, disturbing, innovative, daring, broody, wordy, elaborate Bowie’s music styles: glam-rock, plastic soul, electronic, electronica, hard rock, funk, soul, hip hop