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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Gillian Woodward.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm Roger Bassic. Spotlight uses a special English method

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<v Speaker 2>of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no

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<v Speaker 2>matter where in the world they live.

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<v Speaker 1>Nineteen seventy seven, Berlin, A thirty one year old David

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<v Speaker 1>Bowie looks out of his window at the Berlin Wall.

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<v Speaker 1>For most of his life, the young music star had

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<v Speaker 1>spent his time imagining he was other people. He invented

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<v Speaker 1>characters to put forms Ziggy Star Dust, a rock star

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<v Speaker 1>from another planet, the thin white Duke, English Royalty Major Tom,

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<v Speaker 1>someone who traveled to outer space.

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<v Speaker 2>These characters made Boie different than other musicians. The changes

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<v Speaker 2>in the way he showed himself interested everyone. But Boie's

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<v Speaker 2>fame and drug use were hurting him. He felt lost.

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<v Speaker 2>His move to Berlin suggested another change, but this time

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<v Speaker 2>Boie would not invent another character. Berlin was a way

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<v Speaker 2>to discover who he was himself.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's Spotlight is on the English rock star Dave Bowie.

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<v Speaker 1>Most of Boie's musical life was defined by the different

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<v Speaker 1>characters he created. They seemed to be part of an

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<v Speaker 1>ever changing person. Some had their beginning in personal insecurity,

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<v Speaker 1>but Bowie's personalities were also a way of exploring the

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<v Speaker 1>different parts of his life. They were away of showing

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<v Speaker 1>that all of us changed.

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<v Speaker 2>David Bowie was born in nineteen forty seven in London.

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<v Speaker 2>His full name was David Robert Jones. Bowie became interested

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<v Speaker 2>in music when he was very young. He joined his

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<v Speaker 2>first music group when he was just fifteen. They were

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<v Speaker 2>called the Conrads. Bowie was sure he would one day

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<v Speaker 2>be a famous musician.

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<v Speaker 1>Bowie had a difficult beginning. He recorded many of his

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<v Speaker 1>songs on his own, but he did not find much

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<v Speaker 1>success until releasing the song Space Oddity on the surface.

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<v Speaker 1>Space Oddity was about a man named Major Tom. The

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<v Speaker 1>United States launches Major Tom into space, but something goes

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<v Speaker 1>wrong with his ship. Major Tom floats around in space

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<v Speaker 1>speaking to people on Earth, but he knows he will

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<v Speaker 1>never be able to return to them. Soon he goes

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<v Speaker 1>too far to speak to anyone. He is alone. Bowie

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<v Speaker 1>would later say about the song.

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<v Speaker 3>When I originally wrote about Major Tom, I thought I

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<v Speaker 3>knew all about the great American dream. I knew where

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<v Speaker 3>it started and where it should stop. Here was the

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<v Speaker 3>great rocket of American technology. It pushed this man up

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<v Speaker 3>into space, but once he gets there, he is not

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<v Speaker 3>sure why he is there, and that is where I

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<v Speaker 3>left him.

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<v Speaker 2>Space Oddity was also about Boie's life. Bowie was depressed

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<v Speaker 2>about his lack of success. He had recently left someone

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<v Speaker 2>he loved. He felt as if he were a man

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<v Speaker 2>floating with nowhere to go.

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<v Speaker 1>Space Oddity was Bowie's first major success. It was also

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<v Speaker 1>his only one for another three years. Struggling for recognition,

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<v Speaker 1>Bowie began to try different musical styles. He also tried

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<v Speaker 1>different styles of art. Lindsey Kemp was a theater director

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<v Speaker 1>and teacher. He taught Bowie how to act. His style

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<v Speaker 1>was also a great influence on Bowie. In a talk

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy four, Kemp said.

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<v Speaker 4>My performance is exactly the same as my life, but

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<v Speaker 4>it is even more amazing because it has to be

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<v Speaker 4>noticed from farther back. My makeup, for example, people talk

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<v Speaker 4>about the actor covering his face, but there is no covering.

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<v Speaker 4>It is just a way to make what already exists bigger.

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<v Speaker 2>Boie would take Kemp's guidance very seriously for his first

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<v Speaker 2>major recording, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and

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<v Speaker 2>the Spiders from Mars Ziggy Stardust about a being who

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<v Speaker 2>came to Earth to play music, but in his performances,

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<v Speaker 2>Boie would also play a character called Ziggy Stardust. He

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<v Speaker 2>called his group the Spiders from Mars. The character Ziggy

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<v Speaker 2>Stardust enlarged different parts of Boie's personality. Bowie had always

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<v Speaker 2>felt strange among normal people. Pretending as a person from

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<v Speaker 2>another planet made this feeling solid. It turned part of

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<v Speaker 2>his life that he did not care for into something

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<v Speaker 2>to be celebrated.

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<v Speaker 1>Boie's music and persona got the public to notice him.

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<v Speaker 1>Almost everyone knew his name by the mid nineteen seventies,

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<v Speaker 1>but Bowie's growing fame was beginning to be a problem.

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<v Speaker 1>He started using cocaine heavily. This drug caused intense feelings

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<v Speaker 1>of pleasure, but cocaine also made Bowie extremely fearful. He

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<v Speaker 1>continued to invent new characters for himself to play.

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<v Speaker 4>With.

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<v Speaker 1>Each new record came a new character, but Boie began

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<v Speaker 1>to lose himself in them. He no longer knew who

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<v Speaker 1>he was.

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<v Speaker 2>Bowie's move to Berlin in the late seventies came as

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<v Speaker 2>a shock to many fans. He was at the height

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<v Speaker 2>of his popularity, but to those who knew Bowie, it

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<v Speaker 2>was a welcome change. The star's health was very bad.

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<v Speaker 2>His cocaine us made it difficult for him to see reality.

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<v Speaker 2>He was emotionally and physically broken.

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<v Speaker 1>This move could have been the end for Bowie. Fans

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<v Speaker 1>wanted his show. They loved his new characters and his

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<v Speaker 1>music as it was. But instead of continuing on with

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<v Speaker 1>the same unhealthy path, Bowie did what he was best at.

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<v Speaker 1>He changed.

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<v Speaker 2>Bowie's next several records. Low and Heroes were different than

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<v Speaker 2>anything he had done before. Instead of rock, he created

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<v Speaker 2>electronic music, and when he performed it was not as

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<v Speaker 2>someone else. Boie would continue to be interested in acting

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<v Speaker 2>in theater, but it would no longer take him over.

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<v Speaker 2>From now on, Boie would only be Boie.

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<v Speaker 3>He said, I needed to discover for myself a new

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<v Speaker 3>form of musical language. I could not continue writing otherwise.

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<v Speaker 3>Low and Heroes are not complete on their own. They

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<v Speaker 3>are a process of discovery. I am searching for a

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<v Speaker 3>new artistic language so that I can go farther.

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<v Speaker 1>The rest of Boie's life would be a process of

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<v Speaker 1>self discovery. He experimented with musical styles to express what

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<v Speaker 1>he thought, thought and felt music writers called each of

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<v Speaker 1>his new records reinventions. They thought that Boie was creating

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<v Speaker 1>himself anew but really he was just exploring different parts

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<v Speaker 1>of his music. He changed, but he changed because we

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<v Speaker 1>all do. His popularity grew because of it.

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<v Speaker 2>Boie's last recording was called Black Star. It was recorded

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<v Speaker 2>just before his death by cancer in twenty sixteen. Boie

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<v Speaker 2>wrote the music knowing that he was dying, but this

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<v Speaker 2>did not stop him from learning and growing. Released two

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<v Speaker 2>days before his death, black Star held some of the

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<v Speaker 2>most interesting music Boie ever.

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<v Speaker 1>Made, Even though they caused problems, Bowie's changes were a

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<v Speaker 1>part of him. He could have stayed with one kind

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<v Speaker 1>of music. He could have created different characters for his

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<v Speaker 1>whole life, but Bowie's art followed his life. He was

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<v Speaker 1>always finding out who he was.

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<v Speaker 2>How have you changed in your life? Have you ever

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<v Speaker 2>tried to start over like David Bowie? Could you? You

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<v Speaker 2>can leave a comment on our website at Spotlight English

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<v Speaker 2>dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok,

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<v Speaker 2>and x. You can also get our programs delivered directly

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<v Speaker 2>to your Android or Apple device through our free officials

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<v Speaker 2>Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 1>The writer and producer of this program was Dan Christman.

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<v Speaker 1>The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and

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<v Speaker 1>the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program

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<v Speaker 1>and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called David Bowie Changes.

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<v Speaker 2>We hope you can join us again for the next

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<v Speaker 2>Spotlight program. Goodbye,