David Bowie: Finding Fame (2019)

Documentary following five years of Bowie's early career, from the late 1960s through to the on-stage death of Ziggy Stardust in 1973 and features never seen before archive interviews with some of Bowie's earliest collaborators.

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

David Bowie's death in January 2016 felt like a major milestone. He was one of the most influential music artists of his generation, but Bowie before the creation of Ziggy Stardust, the alter ego that made him famous, remains largely unknown. This film follows five years of his early career, from the late 1960s through to the on-stage death of Ziggy Stardust in 1973. It shows how many of the ideas that originated during these early years and features never seen before archive interviews with some of Bowie's earliest collaborators.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

SHOWTIME

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 February 2019 (UK)

Also Known As:

David Bowie. Los primeros años

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Love You Till Tuesday (1969)

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.