David Bowie: Finding Fame (2019)

A look at the early years in the life of rock star, David Bowie.

Director:

Francis Whately

Stars:

David Bowie, Phil Lancaster, Denis Taylor

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Bowie	...	Himself (archive footage)
Phil Lancaster	...	Himself
Denis Taylor	...	Himself
Tony Hatch	...	Himself
Geoff MacGormack	...	Himself
George Underwood	...	Himself
John Hutchinson	...	Himself
Dana Gillespie	...	Herself
Mark Plati	...	Himself
Earl Slick	...	Himself
Gail Ann Dorsey	...	Herself
Del Roll	...	Himself
Butch Davis	...	Himself
Kenneth Pitt	...	Himself, David Bowie's manager (1967-1970) (archive footage)
Gus Dudgeon	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

A look at the early years in the life of rock star, David Bowie.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 February 2019 (UK)

Also Known As:

David Bowie: The First Five Years

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

User Reviews

Building Bowie

David Jones, better known by his stage name David Bowie, is often considered the last word in cool, with his musical innovations, ambiguous sexuality, and varied constructed public personas. But an interesting feature of his early career was just how uncool it was. Bowie wanted to be a star, was interested in all forms of art, but as a performer, essentially made novelty records. Even his breakout hit, "Space Oddity", was really just one such novelty, albeit one he built upon (and even then not instantaneously) to provide the platform for his ultimate fame. This intriguing documentary gives us a glimpse of the young Bowie, ambitious but gauche, and scratching around as he tries to make a living on the outer fringes of the musical scene. It's interesting, even if you don't particularly appreciate his music: we often praise artists for being "authentic", and Bowie was authentic in the sense that he wanted to perform, but it's clear that we got from him were performances, and in the early cases, not very good ones. And in an age where stars are scouted, trained and marketed from earliest youth, it's intriguing to look back on a misfit's rather unlikely path to global fame.