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Atlanta
Atlanta (, ) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. Atlanta had an estimated population of about 540,900 people. Its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in the country, inhabited by more than 5.4 million people. The Atlanta Combined Statistical Area has a population approaching six million, making it the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States. Like many areas in the Sun Belt, the Atlanta region has seen explosive growth since about 1976, and it added about 1.1 million residents between 2000 and 2008.
http://wn.com/Atlanta
Boston
Boston (pronounced ) is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. Boston city proper had a 2009 estimated population of 645,169, making it the twentieth largest in the country. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region includes six Massachusetts counties, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Plymouth, and Worcester, all of Rhode Island and parts of New Hampshire; it is home to 7.5 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
http://wn.com/Boston
Chicago
Chicago ( or ) is the largest city in the state of Illinois. With over 2.8 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous city in the country. Its metropolitan area, commonly named "Chicagoland," is the 26th most populous in the world, home to an estimated 9.7 million people spread across the U.S. states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County.
http://wn.com/Chicago
Denver
The City and County of Denver (pronounced ) is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the "Mile-High City" because its elevation is one mile, or above sea level. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station and is the temporal reference for the Mountain Time Zone.
http://wn.com/Denver
Detroit
http://wn.com/Detroit
Houston
http://wn.com/Houston
India
India (), officially the Republic of India ( ; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.18 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Mainland India is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east; and it is bordered by Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the north; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, mainland India and the Lakshadweep Islands are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share maritime border with Thailand and the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Andaman Sea. India has a coastline of .
http://wn.com/India
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios (also known as Microsoft Game Studios Europe) is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god game with elements of artificial life, strategy, and beat 'em up games. Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Mark Webley's hamster, who died not long after the naming of the studio.
http://wn.com/Lionhead_Studios
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; , Spanish for "The Angels") is the second most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of California and the western United States, with a population of 3.83 million within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Los Angeles extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of over 14.8 million and it is the 14th largest urban area in the world, affording it megacity status. The metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is home to nearly 12.9 million residents while the broader Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside combined statistical area (CSA) contains nearly 17.8 million people. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most multicultural counties in the United States. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos" ().
http://wn.com/Los_Angeles
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is a public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system (OS) market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of OSs. The ensuing rise of stock in the company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) made an estimated four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Microsoft would come to dominate other markets as well, notably the office suite market with Microsoft Office.
http://wn.com/Microsoft
Milwaukee
http://wn.com/Milwaukee
Montreal
http://wn.com/Montreal
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's estimated population, as of 2008, was 551,789, with an estimated metro-area population of 1,206,142. In 2008, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,275,758 residents. Oklahoma City's city limits extend into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties, though much of those areas are rural or suburban. The city ranks as the eighth-largest city in the United States by land area which includes consolidated city-counties; it is the largest city in the United States by land area whose government is not consolidated with that of a county (or, in the case of Alaska, a borough, or in the case of Louisiana, a parish). The city is the largest city and metro area in population of the traditional 'plains states' as well as the South Central United States outside of Texas.
http://wn.com/Oklahoma_City
Ottawa
Ottawa ( or ) is the capital of Canada, a municipality and the second largest city within the province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley, in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
http://wn.com/Ottawa
Philadelphia
Philadelphia () is the largest city in Pennsylvania, sixth-most-populous city in the United States and the fifty-first most populous city in the world.
http://wn.com/Philadelphia
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( , O'odham Skikik, Yavapai Wasinka, Western Apache Fiinigis, Navajo Hoozdoh, Mojave ''Hachpa 'Anya Nyava) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,601,587 people according to the 2009 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau, and is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as the Valley of the Sun''), the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with more than 4.3 million people. In addition, Phoenix is the county seat of Maricopa County, and is one of the largest cities in the United States by land area.
http://wn.com/Phoenix_Arizona
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh () is the second-largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it anchors the 22nd largest urban area in the United States. The estimated population of the city in 2009 was 311,647, while the seven-county metropolitan area was estimated at 2,354,957. Downtown Pittsburgh retains substantial economic influence, ranking at 25th in the nation for jobs within the urban core and 6th in job density. The characteristic shape of Pittsburgh's central business district is a triangular tract carved by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, where the Ohio River forms. The city features 151 high-rise buildings, 446 bridges, two inclined railways, and a pre-revolutionary fortification. Pittsburgh is known colloquially as "The City of Bridges" and "The Steel City" for its many bridges and former steel manufacturing base.
http://wn.com/Pittsburgh
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2009, it has an estimated population of 582,130, making it the 30th most populous in the United States. Portland is Oregon's most populous city, and the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, after Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Approximately 2.2 million people live in the Portland metropolitan area (MSA), the 23rd most populous in the United States as of July 2006.
http://wn.com/Portland_Oregon
Sacramento
http://wn.com/Sacramento
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With an estimated population of 183,171, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total estimated population of 1,130,293. Salt Lake City is further situated in a larger urban area known as the Wasatch Front, which has an estimated population of 2,298,915.
http://wn.com/Salt_Lake_City
San Diego
http://wn.com/San_Diego
San Francisco
http://wn.com/San_Francisco
Seattle
http://wn.com/Seattle
Tampa
http://wn.com/Tampa
Toronto
http://wn.com/Toronto
United States
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
http://wn.com/United_States
Vancouver
Vancouver () is a coastal city located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is named for British Captain George Vancouver, who explored the area in the 1790s. The name Vancouver itself originates from the Dutch "van Coevorden", denoting somebody from Coevorden, a city in the Netherlands.
http://wn.com/Vancouver
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. (), formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. Article One of the United States Constitution provides for a federal district, distinct from the states, to serve as the permanent national capital. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the federal territory until an act of Congress in 1871 established a single, unified municipal government for the whole District. It is for this reason that the city, while legally named the District of Columbia, is known as Washington, D.C. The city shares its name with the U.S. state of Washington, which is located on the country's Pacific coast.
http://wn.com/Washington_DC

Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen.
http://wn.com/Bill_Gates
Bing Crosby
http://wn.com/Bing_Crosby
Charles Noski
Charles H. Noski is the current Chief Financial Officer of Bank of America. He was named Chief Financial Officer on April 14, 2010. He was previously an executive for Northrop Grumman.
http://wn.com/Charles_Noski
David Marquardt
David Marquardt is a co-founder of venture capital firm August Capital. Marquardt has served on more than 25 boards of directors during his 20 year venture capital career including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Seagate , Adaptec, and Grand Junction Networks (acquired by Cisco).
http://wn.com/David_Marquardt
Dina Dublon
Dina Dublon is a current member of the boards of directors at Microsoft, Accenture, and PepsiCo. She also serves as a trustee of Carnegie Mellon University and on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Global Fund for Women and the Women's Refugee Commission, where she is a co-chair. She was from 1998 until her retirement in 2004 the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for JPMorgan Chase.
http://wn.com/Dina_Dublon
Helmut Panke
Helmut G.W. Panke is a current member of the board of directors at Microsoft.
http://wn.com/Helmut_Panke
Mainland China
Mainland China, Continental China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
http://wn.com/Mainland_China
Maria Klawe
Maria Klawe (pronounced CLAW-vay) is the fifth president of Harvey Mudd College (since July 1, 2006). She was previously Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University.
http://wn.com/Maria_Klawe
Raymond Gilmartin
Raymond Gilmartin is a professor at Harvard Business School and a member of the board of directors at Microsoft and at General Mills. He was the President and CEO of Merck & Co, Inc. from 1994 until 2005 and was director of the company during the Vioxx debates.
http://wn.com/Raymond_Gilmartin
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( or born on May 13, 1964) is an American political satirist, writer, comedian and television host. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Colbert
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000. , he is one of the richest people in the world with a personal wealth estimated at US$13.1 billion.
http://wn.com/Steve_Ballmer

Bing and Spamcat

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published: 31 Jul 2008

Future Bing - Chair, Couch, Calls 2012.08.12

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published: 12 Aug 2012

Past Bing - Dalek Caravan 2011.10.20

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published: 20 Oct 2012

Future Bing - Better At Accents? 2012.04.18

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published: 19 Apr 2012

Past Bing - 4-Person Couch 2011.10.22

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published: 22 Oct 2012

Future Bing - Success? 2012.10.19

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published: 19 Oct 2012

Past Bing - Golden Joysticks 2011.10.24

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published: 25 Oct 2012

Monty Python - Hospital Sketch

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published: 21 Jun 2006

What is Bing? - Complete Preview

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published: 30 May 2009

Google Webmaster Update, 4 Results & Bing It On

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published: 07 Sep 2012

Bing It On Challenge

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published: 16 Oct 2012

Past Bing - So Greasy 2011.10.18

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published: 18 Oct 2012

Wiz Khalifa Bing Commercial!

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published: 11 Feb 2012

Future Bing & Jack Howard Continue to Take a Break... 2012.10.17

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published: 17 Oct 2012

#16. Østersøen (Ödland, Sankta Lucia)

Ödland, album Sankta Lucia (october 2011). www.odland.fr/shop/sankta-lucia Directed by Vin...

published: 16 May 2012

Author: Lorenzo Papace

Jaydiohead "Ignorant Swan Medley"

www.subvoyant.com Produced and Directed by Jason Cacioppo Music by Max Tannone http://jayd...

published: 23 May 2010

Author: SUBVOYANT

Rimino - A Human Touch on Mobile Experience

Rimino is an e-paper mobile experience concept designed by Amid Moradganjeh. It represents...

published: 30 May 2011

Author: Amid Moradganjeh

Ecosia: Die grüne Suche

Ecosia ist eine grüne Suchmaschine, die mindestens 80% der Sucheinnahmen für die Arbeit de...

published: 03 Feb 2010

Author: in60seconds

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Creative Commons / IllaZilla
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US Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Cynthia Clark
US Navy / U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Greg Johnson
US Navy / U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Greg Johnson
US Navy / U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Greg Johnson
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Photo: WN / Yolanda Leyba

Virgin for sale: Website auctions off virginity of college student for $780,000 (Video)

The Examiner

26 Oct 2012

Related topics virgin auctionvirginity auction Advertisement A 20 year-old Brazilian student has sold her virginity for the sum of $780,000 through an online auction on a website simply called Virgins...

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Photo: Creative Commons / Neogeolegend

Kim Jong-il Funeral ceremony .Kim Jong-il died of a suspected heart attack on 17 December 2011 at 08:30 while traveling by train to an area outside Pyongyang.

N. Korean Army General Executed with Mortar for Drinking

Novosti

25 Oct 2012

MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - A high-ranking North Korean Army official was reportedly executed with a mortar round for drinking liquor during the 100-day...

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Photo: US Navy / MCS2 Justin Ailes

Hurricane Sandy makes landfall at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, October 24, 2012.

Slow-moving Hurricane Sandy marches toward East Coast

CNBC

27 Oct 2012

MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy pulled away from the Bahamas on Saturday after killing at least 41 people in the Caribbean, beginning a slow march toward the U.S. East Coast where it threatens to...

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Photo: AP / Khin Maung Win

Myanmar Buddhist monks march, protesting against plans to open office of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Oct. 15, 2012.

Muslims flee Myanmar as unrest continues

New Straits/Business Times

25 Oct 2012

YANGON: A new wave of sectarian violence in western Myanmar has left five people dead and dozens injured in recent days, triggering another exodus of Muslims to emergency camps, officials said...

Chat

Photo: AP / Collin Reid

Waves, brought by Hurricane Sandy, crash on a house in the Caribbean Terrace neighborhood in eastern Kingston, Jamaica, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012.

Hurricane Sandy growing stronger as it nears Cuba

Yahoo Daily News

25 Oct 2012

HAVANA (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy, growing stronger over warm Caribbean waters, lashed eastern Cuba with heavy rains and rising winds on Wednesday as it bore down on the communist island after...

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Timeline:
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No. 4 Kansas State romps over No. 15 Texas Tech, 55-24 28 Oct 2012

The Los Angeles Times The Wildcats blow open a 13-10 game to improve to 8-0 for the first time since 1999. Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein bolsters his credentials for Heisman Trophy with impressive game....(size: 44.5Kb)

Area golf scorecard 28 Oct 2012

The Florida Times Union HOT SHOTS Holes-in-one: Bent Creek — Connie Manning, No. 7, 113 yards, 8-iron. Jacksonville Golf and Country Club — Grady Jones, No. 12, 185 yards, hybrid. Hyde Park — Mike Millis, No. 11, 170 yards, hybrid. Age-shooters: San Jose — Bob French 79, 81 (age 81); Doug Dickey 80 (age 80). Career lows:...(size: 6.4Kb)

Clark Kent's got a new job. But where next for Morse, Jeeves and Mr Chips? 28 Oct 2012

The Observer Those of us who worry about the old media have had a fraught week – and we're used to stress. The last few days have been up there with those anxious months in the 1480s when the bottom fell out of illuminated manuscripts. They've seen the demise of Ceefax – probably the most recent of all the old...(size: 8.4Kb)

Texas Tech can't corral Collin Klein as Kansas State runs away from Raiders in second half 28 Oct 2012

The Dallas Morning News Click here for the Texas Tech-Kansas State box score MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Collin Klein accounted for four touchdowns, Arthur Brown returned an interception 37 yards for another score and No. 4 Kansas State roughed up No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 on Saturday. Klein was 19 of 26 for 233 yards and two...(size: 4.2Kb)

No. 4 K-State routs No. 15 Texas Tech, 55-24 28 Oct 2012

The Charlotte Observer MANHATTAN, Kan. Collin Klein accounted for four touchdowns, Arthur Brown returned an interception 37 yards for another score and No. 4 Kansas State roughed up No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 on Saturday. Klein was 19 of 26 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, and had 83 yards and two more scores on the ground...(size: 3.6Kb)

Klein has 4 TDs as No. 4 Kansas State blows out Texas Tech 28 Oct 2012

TSN Canada MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Collin Klein accounted for four touchdowns, Arthur Brown returned an interception 37 yards for another score and No. 4 Kansas State roughed up No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 on Saturday. Klein was 19 of 26 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, and had 83 yards and two more scores on the...(size: 3.5Kb)

No. 4 K-State routs No. 15 Texas Tech, 55-24 - Wire College Football - The ... 28 Oct 2012

Sacramento Bee MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Collin Klein accounted for four touchdowns, Arthur Brown returned an interception 37 yards for another score and No. 4 Kansas State roughed up No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 on Saturday. Klein was 19 of 26 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, and had 83 yards and two more scores on the...(size: 3.5Kb)

Klein has 4 TDs, Hubert adds 2 as No. 4 Kansas State blows out No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 28 Oct 2012

The Washington Post MANHATTAN, Kan. — Collin Klein accounted for four touchdowns, Arthur Brown returned an interception 37 yards for another score and No. 4 Kansas State roughed up No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 on Saturday. Klein was 19 of 26 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, and had 83 yards and two more scores on the...(size: 4.2Kb)

K-State clobbers Texas Tech in 2nd half of 55-24 rout 28 Oct 2012

Klein has 4 TDs, Hubert adds 2 as No. 4 Kansas State blows out No. ... 28 Oct 2012

Star Tribune MANHATTAN, Kan. - Collin Klein accounted for four touchdowns, Arthur Brown returned an interception 37 yards for another score and No. 4 Kansas State roughed up No. 15 Texas Tech 55-24 on Saturday. Klein was 19 of 26 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, and had 83 yards and two more scores on the...(size: 3.7Kb)

More than 500 volunteers make a difference, board up vacant Detroit homes 28 Oct 2012

Detroit Free Press Inside, there are remnants of life: Tinkerbell sheets. Clothes piled on the bed. A leopard print curtain, swaying behind a broken glass window. Its an uninhabitable house, ravaged by fire, just steps from Detroits Cody High. On Saturday, volunteers secured the home, boarding it up so students...(size: 3.8Kb)

Still on the rebound, Detroit hosts World Series 28 Oct 2012

Chicago Sun-Times Updated: October 27, 2012 5:50PM DETROIT — An ace pitcher and some of the game’s best sluggers are the winning combination that has put the Detroit Tigers in the World Series for the second time since 2006. But miles away from Comerica Park, much of the city still seems many seasons from its own...(size: 6.2Kb)

Ricky Hatton: Fighting back from near-suicide is my greatest victory 28 Oct 2012

BBC News Ricky Hatton says he is ashamed of himself for "becoming a failure". But the former world champion at two weights, who retired from the ring in 2009, hopes to redeem himself when he makes his boxing comeback in November. Ricky Hatton's career Born Stockport, 6 Oct 1978 Turns pro in...(size: 6.4Kb)

timeline:
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2011
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2001

For other uses, see Bing (disambiguation).

Bing

Bing Homepage in April 2011 The Bing homepage features an image or video that changes daily.
URL	www.bing.com
Slogan	Bing is for doing (2012) Bing and decide (2010)
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Web search engine
Registration	Optional
Available language(s)	40 languages
Owner	Microsoft
Created by	Microsoft
Launched	June 3, 2009; 3 years ago (2009-June-03)
Alexa rank	30 (June 2012^[update])^[1]
Current status	Active

Bing (formerly Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search) is a web search engine (advertised as a "decision engine"^[2]) from Microsoft. Bing was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 28, 2009 at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego. It went fully online on June 3, 2009,^[3] with a preview version released on June 1, 2009.

Notable changes include the listing of search suggestions as queries are entered and a list of related searches (called "Explore pane") based on^[4] semantic technology from Powerset that Microsoft purchased in 2008.^[5]

On July 29, 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced a deal in which Bing would power Yahoo! Search.^[6] All Yahoo! Search global customers and partners are expected to have made the transition by early 2012.^[7]

In October 2011, Bing announced it is working on new back-end search infrastructure, with the goal of delivering faster and slightly more relevant search results for users. Known as “Tiger,” the new index-serving technology has being incorporated into Bing globally, since August 2011.^[8] In May 2012, Bing announced another redesign of its search engine that includes "Sidebar," a social feature that searches users' social networks for information relevant to the search query.^[9]

1 History
2 Features
3 International
- 3.1 Languages in which Bing can find results
- 3.2 Languages in which Bing can be displayed
4 Search products
5 Software
6 Marketing and advertisements
7 Name origin
- 7.1 Legal challenges
8 Adult content
- 8.1 Video content
- 8.2 Regional censorship
9 Criticism
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

History [link]

MSN Search [link]

File:MSN Search screenshot.png

MSN Search homepage in 2006

File:WLSearch.jpg

Windows Live Search homepage

File:Live Search New.png

Live Search homepage, which would help to create the Bing homepage later on.

MSN Search was a search engine by Microsoft that consisted of a search engine, index, and web crawler. MSN Search first launched in the third quarter of 1998 and used search results from Inktomi. In early 1999, MSN Search launched a version which displayed listings from Looksmart blended with results from Inktomi except for a short time in 1999 when results from AltaVista were used instead. Since then Microsoft upgraded MSN Search to provide its own self-built search engine results, the index of which was updated weekly and sometimes daily. The upgrade started as a beta program in November 2004, and came out of beta in February 2005. Image search was powered by a third party, Picsearch. The service also started providing its search results to other search engine portals in an effort to better compete in the market.

Windows Live Search [link]

The first public beta of Windows Live Search was unveiled on March 8, 2006, with the final release on September 11, 2006 replacing MSN Search. The new search engine used search tabs that include Web, news, images, music, desktop, local, and Microsoft Encarta.

In the roll-over from MSN Search to Windows Live Search, Microsoft stopped using Picsearch as their image search provider and started performing their own image search, fueled by their own internal image search algorithms.^[10]

Live Search [link]

On March 21, 2007, Microsoft announced that it would separate its search developments from the Windows Live services family, rebranding the service as Live Search. Live Search was integrated into the Live Search and Ad Platform headed by Satya Nadella, part of Microsoft's Platform and Systems division. As part of this change, Live Search was merged with Microsoft adCenter.^[11]

A series of reorganisations and consolidations of Microsoft's search offerings were made under the Live Search branding. On May 23, 2008, Microsoft announced the discontinuation of Live Search Books and Live Search Academic and integrated all academic and book search results into regular search, and as a result this also included the closure of Live Search Books Publisher Program. Soon after, Windows Live Expo was discontinued on July 31, 2008. Live Search Macros, a service for users to create their own custom search engines or use macros created by other users, was also discontinued shortly after. On May 15, 2009, Live Product Upload, a service which allowed merchants to upload products information onto Live Search Products, was discontinued. The final reorganisation came as Live Search QnA was rebranded as MSN QnA on February 18, 2009, however, it was subsequently discontinued on May 21, 2009.^[12]

Microsoft recognised that there would be a brand issue as long as the word "Live" remained in the name.^[13] As an effort to create a new identity for Microsoft's search services, Live Search was officially replaced by Bing on June 3, 2009.^[14]

Yahoo! search deal [link]

On July 29, 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced that they had made a 10-year deal in which the Yahoo! search engine would be replaced by Bing. Yahoo! will get to keep 88% of the revenue from all search ad sales on its site for the first five years of the deal, and have the right to sell adverts on some Microsoft sites. Yahoo! Search will still maintain its own user interface, but will eventually feature "Powered by Bing™" branding.^[15]^[16] All Yahoo! Search global customers and partners are expected to be transitioned by early 2012.^[7]

Market share [link]

Before the launch of Bing, the marketshare of Microsoft web search pages (MSN and Live search) had been small but steady. By January 2011, Experian Hitwise show that Bing's market share had increased to 12.8% at the expense of Yahoo and Google. Bing powered searches also continued to have a higher "success rate" compared to Google, with more users clicking on the resulting links.^[17] In the same period, comScore’s “2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review” report showed that "Bing was the big gainer in year-over-year search activity, picking up 29% more searches in 2010 than it did in 2009."^[18] The Wall Street Journal notes the 1% jump in share "appeared to come at the expense of rival Google Inc".^[19] In February 2011 Bing beat out Yahoo! for the first time ever in terms of search marketshare. Bing received 4.37% search share while Yahoo! received 3.93% according to StatCounter.^[20]

In March 2011, Bing-powered search accounts for over 30% of US searches, up 5% over February. In the same period, Google fell 3%.^[21]

Counting core searches only, i.e. those where the user has an intent to interact with the search result, Bing achieved a market share of 14.54% in the second quarter of 2011 in the US.^[22]^[23]

In December of 2011, Bing search queries overtook Yahoo for the first time ever. Bing's share of searches was 15.1% in December 2011, as compared to Yahoo's, which fell to 14.5%. ^[24]

After three years, Bing had a 15 percent US market share compared to 66 for Google.^[25]

Three-column display [link]

On May 10, 2012, Bing announced its most dramatic format change since changing from Live Search. Testing begins May 15 on a three-column display that will help Bing compete with Google. The first column, or pane, shows the traditional search results. The middle pane, called "Snapshot", will let users make purchases or get directions, though it will not be available during testing. The third pane, or "Sidebar", is the most notable change in that it provides data from Facebook and Twitter that is not provided to Google. ^[25]

Features [link]

Interface features [link]

Daily changing of background image. The images are mostly of noteworthy places in the world, though it sometimes displays animals, people, and sports. The background image also contains information about the element(s) shown in the image.
Video homepage for HTML-5 enabled browsers on occasional events, similar to the daily background images.
Images page shows the main picture from that day and four searches that refers to that image with three preview pictures per search term.
Left side navigation pane. Includes navigation and, on results pages, related searches and prior searches.
Right side extended preview which shows a bigger view of the page and gives URLs to links inside of the page.
Sublinks. On certain search results, the search result page also shows section links within the article (this is also done on other search engines, including Google)
Enhanced view where third party site information can be viewed inside Bing.
On certain sites, search from within the website on the results page.
On certain sites, Bing will display the Customer Service number on the results page.

Media features [link]

Video thumbnail Preview where, by hovering over a video thumbnail, the video automatically starts playing
Image search with continuous scrolling images results page that has adjustable settings for size, layout, color, style and people.^[26]
Advanced filters - allow users to refine search results based on properties such as image size, aspect ratio, color or black and white, photo or illustration, and facial features recognition
Video search with adjustable setting for length, screen size, resolution and source

Instant answers [link]

Sports. Bing can directly display scores from a specific day, recent scores from a league or scores and statistics on teams or players.
Finance. When entering a company name or stock symbol and either stock or quote in the search box Bing will show direct stock information like a stockchart, price, volume, and p/e ratio^[27] in a webslice that users can subscribe to.
Conversion of units (e.g., 1 oz in tbs, 1 cup in oz)
Math calculations (e.g., 2 * pi * 24).^[28] Users can enter math expressions in the search box using a variety of math operators and trigonometric functions^[29] and Bing will provide a direct calculation of the expression.
Advanced computations. Using the WolframAlpha computational engine, Bing can also give results to advanced math problems (e.g. lim x/2x as x->2) and other WolframAlpha related queries (e.g. calories in pizza).
Package tracking and tracing. When a user types the name of the shipping company and the tracking number, Bing will provide direct tracking information.
Dictionary. When "define", "definition" or "what is" followed by a word is entered in the searchbox Bing will show a direct answer from the Encarta dictionary.
Spell check. Will change frequently misspelled search terms to the more commonly spelled alternative.
Best match (plus similar sites)
Product shopping and "Bing cashback"
Health information
Flight tracking
Translate. Auto translation of certain search phrases, often with phrases including "translate" or "in English." For example, to translate "me llamo" from Spanish to English you would simply type "translate" me llamo in english and you will be redirected to a search results page with Bing Translator with your translation from Spanish to English.

Local info [link]

Current traffic information
Business listing
People listing
Collections
Localized searching for restaurants and services
Localized searching for coupons and deals
Restaurant reviews
Movies played in an area. When a current movie title is entered in the search box Bing will provide listings of local theaters showing the movie. When a city is added to the search box, Bing provides the movie listings localized for that city.
City hotel listings. When 'hotels' and a city name is entered in the search box Bing can provide hotel listings with a map. The listing leads to a detail search page with the hotels listed that holds extended information on the hotels and contains links to reviews, directions reservations and bird eye view of the hotel. On the page with the listings the list can be refined by settings on ratings, pricing, amenities, payment and parking

Integration with Hotmail [link]

With Hotmail’s "Quick Add" feature, users can insert derivatives of Bing search results such as restaurant reviews, movie times, images, videos, and maps directly into their e-mail messages.^[30]

Integration with Facebook [link]

Bing's search results can display one's Facebook friends when a Facebook account is linked with Bing via Facebook Connect.
Users have the option to send messages to their friends in the search results.
As part of the changes announced May 10, 2012, the "sidebar" column of the new three-column search results display will include recommendations from Facebook and the ability to interact with others from the same page. For the previous year search results had included Facebook recommendations using the "like" button but most users did not want this; the new display makes this feature separate from search results in general.^[25]

International [link]

Bing is available in many languages and has been localized for many countries.^[31]

Search products [link]

In addition to its tool for searching web pages, Bing also provides the following search offerings:^[32]

Service	Description
Dictionary	Bing Dictionary enables users to quickly search for definitions of English words. Bing Dictionary results are based on Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary. In addition, Bing Dictionary also provides an audio player for users to hear the pronunciation of the dictionary words.
Entertainment	Bing Entertainment allow users to view and search for detailed information and reviews for music, movies, television shows, and video games. Bing Entertainment partners with Microsoft Games to allow users to directly play online games within Bing Online Games.
Events	Bing Events allow users to search for upcoming events from Zvents, and displays the date and time, venue details, brief description, as well as method to purchase tickets for the events listed. Users can also filter the search results by date and categories.
Finance	Bing Finance enables users to search for exchange listed stocks and displays the relevant stock information, company profile and statistics, financial statements, stock ratings, analyst recommendations, as well as news related to the particular stock or company. Bing Finance also allow users to view the historical data of the particular stock, and allows comparison of the stock to major indices. In addition, Bing Finance also features a JavaScript-based Stock screener, allowing investors to quickly filter for value, contrarian, high-yield, and bargain investment strategies.
Health	Bing Health refines health searches using related medical concepts to get relevant health information and to allow users to navigate complex medical topics with inline article results from experts. This feature is based on the Medstory acquisition.
Images	Bing Images enables the user to quickly search and display most relevant photos and images of interest. The infinite scroll feature allows browsing a large number of images quickly. The advance filters allows refining search results in terms of properties such as image size, aspect ratio, color or black and white, photo or illustration, and facial features recognition.
Local	Bing Local searches local business listings with business details and reviews, allowing users to make more informed decisions.
Maps	Bing Maps enables the user to search for businesses, addresses, landmarks and street names worldwide, and can select from a road-map style view, a satellite view or a hybrid of the two. Also available are "bird's-eye" images for many cities worldwide, and 3D maps which include virtual 3D navigation and to-scale terrain and 3D buildings. For business users it will be available as "Bing Maps For Enterprise".
News	Bing News is a news aggregator and provides news results relevant to the search query from a wide range of online news and information services.
Recipe	Bing Recipe allow users to search for cooking recipes sourced from Delish.com, MyRecipes.com, and Epicurious.com, and allow users to filter recipe results based on their ratings, cuisine, convenience, occasion, ingredient, course, cooking method, and recipe provider.
Reference	Bing Reference semantically indexes Wikipedia content and displays them in an enhanced view within Bing.^{[citation needed]} It also allow users to input search queries that resembles full questions and highlights the answer within search results. This feature is based on the Powerset acquisition.
Social	Bing Social allow users to search for and retrieve real-time information from Twitter and Facebook services. Bing Social search also provides "best match" and "social captions" functionalities that prioritises results based on relevance and contexts. Only public feeds from the past 7 days will be displayed in Bing Social search results.
Shopping	Bing Shopping lets users search from a wide range of online suppliers and marketer's merchandise for all types of products and goods. This service also integrates with Bing cashback offering money back for certain purchases made through the site. This feature is based on the Jellyfish.com acquisition, but will be discontinued July 30, 2010.
Translator	Bing Translator lets users translate texts or entire web pages into different languages.
Travel	Bing Travel searches for airfare and hotel reservations online and predicts the best time to purchase them. This feature is based on the Farecast acquisition.
University	Bing University allow users to search for and view detailed information about United States universities, including information such as admissions, cost, financial aid, student body, and graduation rate.
Videos	Bing Videos enables the user to quickly search and view videos online from various websites. The Smart Preview feature allows the user to instantly watch a short preview of an original video. Bing Videos also allow users to access editorial video contents from MSN Video.
Visual Search	Bing Visual Search (now deprecated) allowed users to refine their search queries for structured results through data-grouping image galleries that resembles "large online catalogues", powered by Silverlight^[33]
Weather	Bing Weather allow users to search for the local weather for cities around the world, displaying the current weather information and also extended weather forecasts for the next 10 days. Weather information are provided by Intellicast and Foreca.
Wolfram Alpha	Bing Wolfram Alpha allow users to directly enter factual queries within Bing and provides answers and relevant visualizations from a core knowledge base of curated, structured data provided by Wolfram Alpha. Bing Wolfram Alpha can also answer mathematical and algebraic questions.
xRank	Bing xRank allowed users to search for celebrities, musicians, politicians and bloggers, read short biographies and news about them, and track their trends or popularity rankings. As of October 2010, this feature was shut down.

Webmaster services [link]

Bing allows webmasters to manage the web crawling status of their own websites through Bing Webmaster Center. Additionally, users may also submit contents to Bing via the following methods:

Bing Local Listing Center allow businesses to add business listings onto Bing Maps and Bing Local
Soapbox on MSN Video allow users to upload videos for searching via Bing Videos

Mobile services [link]

Bing Mobile allow users to conduct search queries on their mobile devices, either via the mobile browser or a downloadable mobile application. In the United States, Microsoft also operates a toll-free number for directory assistance called Bing 411.^[32]

Developer services [link]

Bing Application Programming Interface enables developers to programmatically submit queries and retrieve results from the Bing Engine. http://www.bing.com/developers

To use the Bing API developers have to obtain an Application ID, http://www.bing.com/developers/createapp.aspx

Bing API can be used with following protocols:

XML
JSON
SOAP

Query examples:

http://api.bing.net/xml.aspx?AppId=YOUR_APPID&Version=2.2&Market=en-US&Query=YOUR_QUERY&Sources=web+spell&Web.Count=1
http://api.bing.net/json.aspx?AppId=YOUR_APPID&Version=2.2&Market=en-US&Query=YOUR_QUERY&Sources=web+spell&Web.Count=1
http://api.bing.net/search.wsdl?AppID=YourAppId&Version=2.2

Other services [link]

BingTweets is a service that combines Twitter trends with Bing search results, enabling users to see real-time information about the hottest topics on Twitter. The BingTweets service was initiated on July 14, 2009 in a partnership between Microsoft, Twitter and Federated Media.^[34]

Bing Rewards is a service that allows users to earn points for searching with Bing. These points can be redeemed for various products such as electronics, multimedia and gift cards.

Software [link]

Toolbars [link]

Both Windows Live Toolbar and MSN Toolbar will be powered by Bing and aim to offer users a way to access Bing search results. Together with the launch of Bing, MSN Toolbar 4.0 will be released with inclusion of new Bing-related features such as Bing cashback offer alerts.^[32] (See "Bing Rewards")

Gadgets [link]

File:Live Search Gadgets.jpg

The discontinued Live Search versions of the Windows Sidebar gadgets

The Bing Search gadget is a Windows Sidebar Gadget that uses Bing Search to fetch the user's search results and render them directly in the gadget. Another gadget, the Bing Maps gadget, displays real-time traffic conditions using Bing Maps.^[35] The gadget provides shortcuts to driving directions, local search and full-screen traffic view of major US and Canadian cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montreal, New York City, Oklahoma City, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C.

Bing Desktop is also a gadget-like Windows program for Windows 7 that adds a search bar to Windows Desktop and changes the desktop background to that of Bing's image of the day.^[36]

Prior to October 30, 2007, the gadgets were known as Live Search gadget and Live Search Maps gadget; both gadgets were removed from Windows Live Gallery due to possible security concerns.^[37] The Live Search Maps gadget was made available for download again on January 24, 2008 with the security concern addressed.^[38] However around the introduction of Bing in June 2009 both gadgets have been removed again for download from Windows Live Gallery.

Accelerators [link]

Accelerators allow users to access Bing features directly from selected text in a webpage. Accelerators provided by the Bing team include:

Bing Translator
Bing Maps
Bing Shopping

Web Slices [link]

Web Slices can be used to monitor information gathered by Bing. Web Slices provided by the Bing team include:

Weather from Bing
Finance from Bing
Traffic from Bing

Add-ons [link]

The Bing team provides an official Bing Firefox add-on, which adds search suggestions to the Firefox search box from Bing.^[39]

Marketing and advertisements [link]

Live Search [link]

Since 2006, Microsoft had conducted a number of tie-ins and promotions for promoting Microsoft's search offerings. These include:

Amazon's A9 search service and the experimental Ms. Dewey interactive search site syndicated all search results from Microsoft's then search engine, Live Search. This tie-in started on May 1, 2006.
Search and Give - a promotional website launched on 17 January 2007 where all searches done from a special portal site would lead to a donation to the UNHCR's organization for refugee children, ninemillion.org. Reuters AlertNet reported in 2007 that the amount to be donated would be $0.01 per search, with a minimum of $100,000 and a maximum of $250,000 (equivalent to 25 million searches).^[40] According to the website the service was decommissioned on June 1, 2009, having donated over $500,000 to charity and schools.^[41]
Club Bing - a promotional website where users can win prizes by playing word games that generate search queries on Microsoft's then search service Live Search. This website began in April 2007 as Live Search Club.
Big Snap Search - a promotional website similar to Live Search Club. This website began in February 2008, but was discontinued shortly after.^[42]
Live Search SearchPerks! - a promotional website which allowed users to redeem tickets for prizes while using Microsoft's search engine. This website began on October 1, 2008 and was decommissioned on April 15, 2009.

Debut [link]

Bing's debut featured an $80 to $100 million online, TV, print, and radio advertising campaign in the US. The advertisements do not mention other search engine competitors, such as Google and Yahoo, directly by name; rather, they attempt to convince users to switch to Bing by focusing on Bing's search features and functionality.^[43] The ads claim that Bing does a better job countering "search overload".^[44]

Bing Rewards [link]

Launched by Microsoft in September 2010, Bing Rewards provides credits to users through regular Bing searches and special promotions.^[45] These credits are then redeemed for various products including electronics, gift cards and charitable donations.^[46] Initially, participants in the program were required to download and use the Bing Bar for Internet Explorer in order to earn credits; however, this is no longer the case, and the service now works with all major browsers.^[47] The Bing Rewards program is similar to two earlier services, SearchPerks! and Bing Cashback, which have now been discontinued.

[edit] The Colbert Report

During the episode of The Colbert Report that aired on June 8, 2010, Stephen Colbert stated that Microsoft would donate $2,500 to help clean up the Gulf oil spill each time he mentioned the word "Bing" on air. Colbert mostly mentioned Bing in out-of-context situations, such as Bing Crosby and Bing cherries. By the end of the show, Colbert had said the word 40 times, for a total donation of $100,000. Colbert poked fun at their rivalry with Google, stating "Bing is a great website for doing Internet searches. I know that, because I Googled it."^[48]^[49]

[edit] Los Links Son Malos

An advertising campaign during 2010, Los Links Son Malos (English: The Links are Bad), took the form of a Mexican telenovela, with people conversing in Spanish, subtitled in English. In it, somebody rides in on a horse and takes a woman away when he shows her how easy Bing is to use in order to get movie tickets or travel.

Search deals [link]

File:BlackberryBeforeAfter.jpg

Verizon Wireless BlackBerry devices before and after agreement, with other options removed and Bing listed as the only native search option.

As of Opera 10.6, Bing has been incorporated into the Opera browser, but Google is still the default search engine. Bing will also be incorporated into all future versions of Opera.^[50] Mozilla Firefox has made a deal with Microsoft to jointly release "Firefox with Bing", an edition of Firefox where Bing has replaced Google as the default search engine.^[51]^[52] However, the default edition of Firefox still has Google as its default search engine, but has included Bing in its default list of search providers since Firefox version 4.0.^[53]

In addition, Microsoft also paid Verizon Wireless $550 million USD^[54] to use Bing as the default search provider on Verizon's Blackberry, and in turn, have Verizon "turn off" (via Blackberry service books) the other search providers available. Though users can still access other search engines via the mobile browser.^[55]

Name origin [link]

Through focus groups, Microsoft decided that the name Bing was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that it would function well as a URL around the world. The word would remind people of the sound made during "the moment of discovery and decision making."^[56] Microsoft was assisted by branding consultancy Interbrand in their search for the best name for the new search engine.^[57] The name also has strong similarity to the word 'bingo', which is used to mean that something sought has been found or realized, as is interjected when winning the game Bingo. Microsoft advertising strategist David Webster originally proposed the name "Bang" for the same reasons the name Bing was ultimately chosen (easy to spell, one syllable, and easy to remember). He noted, "It's there, it's an exclamation point [...] It's the opposite of a question mark." This name was ultimately not chosen because it could not be properly used as a verb in the context of an internet search.^[58]

According to the Guardian "[Microsoft] hasn't confirmed that it stands recursively for Bing Is Not Google, but that's the sort of joke software engineers enjoy."^[59] Qi Lu, president of Microsoft Online Services, also announced that Bing's official Chinese name is bì yìng (simplified Chinese: 必应; traditional Chinese: 必應), which literally means "very certain to respond" or "very certain to answer" in Chinese.^[60]

While being tested internally by Microsoft employees, Bing's codename was Kumo (くも),^[61] which came from the Japanese word for spider (蜘蛛; くも, kumo) as well as cloud (雲; くも, kumo), referring to the manner in which search engines "spider" Internet resources to add them to their database, as well as cloud computing.

Legal challenges [link]

On July 31, 2009, The Laptop Company, Inc. released a press release stating that it is challenging Bing's trademark application, alleging that Bing may cause confusion in the marketplace as Bing and their product BongoBing both do online product search.^[62] Software company TeraByte Unlimited, which has a product called BootIt Next Generation (abbreviated to BING), also contended the trademark application on similar grounds, as did a Missouri-based design company called Bing! Information Design.^[63]

Microsoft contends that claims challenging its trademark are without merit because these companies filed for U.S. federal trademark applications only after Microsoft filed for the Bing trademark in March 2009.^[64]

Adult content [link]

Video content [link]

Bing's video search tool has a preview mode that could potentially be used to preview pornographic videos.^[65] By simply turning off safe search, users can search for and view pornographic videos by hovering the cursor over a thumbnail, since the video and audio, in some cases, are cached on Microsoft's Server.^{[citation needed]}

Since the videos are playing within Bing instead of the site where they are hosted, the videos are not necessarily blocked by parental control filters. Monitoring programs designed to tell parents what sites their children have visited are likely to simply report "Bing.com" instead of the site that actually hosts the video. The same situation can be said about corporate filters, many of which have been fooled by this feature.^[66] Users do not need to leave Bing's site to view these videos.^[67]^[68]

Microsoft responded in a blog post on June 4, 2009, with a short term work-around.^[69] By adding “&adlt=strict” to the end of a query, no matter what the settings are for that session it will return results as if safe search were set to strict. The query would look like this: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=adulttermgoeshere&adlt=strict (case sensitive).

On June 12, 2009, Microsoft announced two changes regarding Bing's Smart Motion Preview and SafeSearch features. All potentially explicit content will be coming from a separate single domain, explicit.bing.net. Additionally, Bing will also return source URL information in the query string for image and video contents. Both changes allow both home users and corporate users to filter content by domain regardless of what the SafeSearch settings might be.^[70]

Regional censorship [link]

Bing censors results for adult search terms for some of the regions including India, People's Republic of China, Germany and Arab countries.^[71] This censoring is done based on the local laws of those countries.^[72] However, Bing allows users to simply change their country/region preference to somewhere without restrictions – such as the United States, United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland – to sidestep this censorship.

Criticism [link]

Censorship [link]

Microsoft has been criticized for censoring Bing search results to queries made in simplified Chinese characters, used in mainland China. This is done to comply with the censorship requirements of the government in China.^[73] Microsoft has not indicated a willingness to stop censoring search results in simplified Chinese characters in the wake of Google's decision to do so.^[74] All simplified Chinese searches in Bing are censored regardless of the user's country.^[75]

Performance issues [link]

Bing has been criticized for being slower to index websites than Google. It has also been criticized for not indexing some websites at all.^[76]^[77]^[78]

Copying Google's results [link]

Bing has been criticized by competitor Google, for utilizing user input via Internet Explorer, the Bing Toolbar, or Suggested Sites, to add results to Bing. After discovering in October 2010 that Bing appeared to be imitating Google's auto-correct results for a misspelling, despite not actually fixing the spelling of the term, Google set up a honeypot, configuring the Google search engine to return specific unrelated results for 100 nonsensical queries such as hiybbprqag.^[79] Over the next couple of weeks, Google engineers entered the search term into Google, while using Microsoft Internet Explorer, with the Bing Toolbar installed and the optional Suggested Sites enabled. In 9 out of the 100 queries, Bing later started returning the same results as Google, despite the only apparent connection between the result and search term being that Google's results connected the two.^[80]^[81]

Microsoft's response to this issue, coming from a company's spokesperson, was clear: "We do not copy Google's results." Bing's Vice President, Harry Shum, later reiterated that the search result data Google claimed that Bing copied had in fact come from Bing's very own users. Shum further wrote that “we use over 1,000 different signals and features in our ranking algorithm. A small piece of that is clickstream data we get from some of our customers, who opt-in to sharing anonymous data as they navigate the web in order to help us improve the experience for all users." ^[82] Microsoft commented that clickstream data from customers who had opted in was collected, but said that it was just a small piece of over 1000 signals used in their ranking algorithm, and that their intention was to learn from their collective customers. They stated that Bing was not intended to be a duplicate of any existing search engines.^[83] Representatives for Google have said the company simply wants the practice to stop.^[80]

References [link]

^[84]

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^ "Microsoft Bing rides open source to semantic search". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/04/bing_and_powerset/. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
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^ ^a ^b "When will the change happen? How long will the transition take?". Yahoo!. 1 December 2011. http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/alliance/alliance-2.html;_ylt=AvrC8b99B5.r4JmW33gA5ChaMnlG. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
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^ Tamar Weinberg (3 June 2008). "Keynote with Kevin Johnson at Microsoft". Search Engine roundtable. http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/017296.html. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
^ Ryan Singel (28 May 2009). "Hands On With Microsoft’s New Search Engine: Bing, But No Boom". Wired. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/microsofts-bing-hides-its-best-features/. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
^ "Microsoft and Yahoo seal web deal". BBC News. Wednesday, 29 July 2009 13:58 UK. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8174763.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
^ Tiffany Wu; Derek Caney (Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:27am EDT). "REFILE-UPDATE 1-Microsoft, Yahoo in 10-year Web search deal". Thomson Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/CMPSRV/idUSN2921665320090729. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
^ "Experian Hitwise reports Bing searches increase 21 percent in January 2011". http://www.hitwise.com/us/press-center/press-releases/bing-searches-increase-twenty-one-percent/.
^ "Bing Search Volume Up 29% In 2010, Google Up 13%, comScore Says". http://searchengineland.com/bing-search-volume-up-29-in-2010-google-up-13-comscore-says-64075.
^ Wingfield, Nick (February 10, 2011). "Microsoft's Bing Gains Share". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703745704576136742065119876.html?mod=wsjcrmain.
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External links [link]

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http://wn.com/Bing

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http://de.wn.com/Bing (Suchmaschine)

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing

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Monty Python
275px The Python troupe in 1969 Back row: Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam Front row: Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin
Medium	Television, film, theatre, audio recordings, books
Nationality	British^[1]
Years active	1969–1983
Genres	Satire, surreal humour, dark comedy
Influences	The Goons, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook
Influenced	Douglas Adams, Eddie Izzard, George Carlin, Vic and Bob, Steve Pemberton, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Matt Groening
Notable works and roles	Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) And Now for Something Completely Different (1971) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
Members	Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin
Website	PythOnline

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons)^[2]^[3] was a British surreal comedy group who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.^[4]^[5]

The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content.^[6]^[7] A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons' creative control allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.

In a 2005 UK poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, three of the six Pythons members were voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders to be among the top 50 greatest comedians ever: Cleese at #2, Idle at #21, and Palin at #30.^[8]

1 Before Flying Circus
2 Monty Python's Flying Circus
3 Life after the Flying Circus
4 Python members
- 4.1 Associate Pythons
- 4.2 Other contributors
5 Cultural influence
6 Media
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links

[edit] Before Flying Circus

Palin and Jones met at Oxford University, where they performed together with the Oxford Revue. Cleese and Chapman met at Cambridge. Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Cleese and Chapman. Cleese met Gilliam in New York while on tour with the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus (originally entitled A Clump of Plinths). Chapman, Cleese and Idle were members of the Footlights, which at that time also included the future Goodies (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden), and Jonathan Lynn (co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister). During Idle's presidency of the Club, feminist writer Germaine Greer and broadcaster Clive James were members. Recordings of Footlights revues (called "Smokers") at Pembroke College include sketches and performances by Idle and Cleese. They are kept in the archives of the Pembroke Players, along with tapes of Idle's performances in some of the college drama society's theatrical productions.

Python members appeared in and/or wrote the following shows before Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Frost Report is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles:

I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (radio) (1964–1973) [Cleese: cast member & writer] – [Idle and Chapman: writers]
The Frost Report (1966–1967) [Cleese: cast member and writer] – [Idle: writer of Frost's monologues] – [Chapman, Palin and Jones: writers]
At Last the 1948 Show (1967) [Chapman and Cleese: writers and cast members] – [Idle: writer]
Twice a Fortnight (1967) [Palin and Jones: cast members and writers]
Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967–1969) [Idle, Jones, and Palin: cast members & writers] – [Gilliam: animation]
— Bonzo Dog Band: musical interludes]
We Have Ways of Making You Laugh (1968) [Idle: cast member & writer] – [Gilliam: animation]
How to Irritate People (1968) [Cleese and Chapman: cast members & writers] – [Palin: cast member]
The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969) [Palin and Jones: cast members & writers]
Doctor in the House (1969) [Cleese & Chapman: writers]

Several featured other important British comedy writers or performers of the future, including Marty Feldman, Jonathan Lynn, David Jason and David Frost, as well as members of other future comedy teams, Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker (the Two Ronnies), and Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie (the Goodies).

Following the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, originally intended to be a children's programme, with adults, ITV offered Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam their own series together. At the same time Cleese and Chapman were offered a show by the BBC, which had been impressed by their work on The Frost Report and At Last The 1948 Show. Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin and invited him to join the team. With the ITV series still in pre-production, Palin agreed and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn suggested that Gilliam could provide animations for the projected series. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.^[9]

[edit] Monty Python's Flying Circus

Main article: Monty Python's Flying Circus

Development of the series [link]

The Pythons had a definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore on Beyond the Fringe, and had worked on Frost, which was similar in style. They enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show Not Only... But Also. One problem the Pythons perceived with these programmes was that though the body of the sketch would be strong, the writers would often struggle to then find a punchline funny enough to end on, and this would detract from the overall sketch quality. They decided that they would simply not bother to "cap" their sketches in the traditional manner, and early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline (one scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that "This is the silliest sketch I've ever been in"—they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set). However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, Spike Milligan, recording his groundbreaking series Q5 (1969). Not only was the programme more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy, Milligan would often "give up" on sketches halfway through and wander off set (often muttering "Did I write this?"). It was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate.

After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for Do Not Adjust Your Set called Beware of the Elephants, which had intrigued him with its stream-of-consciousness style. Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series: allowing sketches to blend into one another. Palin had been equally fascinated by another of Gilliam's efforts, entitled Christmas Cards, and agreed that it represented "a way of doing things differently". Since Cleese, Chapman and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the programme, it was Jones, Palin and Gilliam who became largely responsible for the presentation style of the Flying Circus series, in which disparate sketches are linked to give each episode the appearance of a single stream-of-consciousness (often using a Gilliam animation to move from the closing image of one sketch to the opening scene of another).

Writing started at 9 am and finished at 5 pm. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days, they would join together with Gilliam, critique their scripts, and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a 'writer', rather than an actor desperate for screen time. When the themes for sketches were chosen, Gilliam had carte blanche to decide how to bridge them with animations, using a camera, scissors, and airbrush.

While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members (Jones and Palin) was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In Anagrams). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's".^[10] Gilliam's animations, meanwhile, ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship).

Several names for the show were considered before Monty Python's Flying Circus was settled upon. Some were Owl Stretching Time, Toad Elevating Moment, A Bucket, a Horse and a Spoon, Vaseline Review and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot. Flying Circus stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it. Many variations on the name in front of this title then came and went (popular legend holds that the BBC considered Monty Python's Flying Circus to be a ridiculous name, at which point the group threatened to change their name every week until the BBC relented). "Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus" was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. "Baron Von Took's Flying Circus" was considered as an affectionate tribute to Barry Took, the man who had brought them together. Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus was suggested, then discarded.

There are differing, somewhat confusing accounts of the origins of the Python name although the members agree that its only "significance" was that they thought it sounded funny. In the 1998 documentary Live At Aspen during the US Comedy Arts Festival, where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute, the group implied that "Monty" was selected (Eric Idle's idea) as a gently-mocking tribute to Field Marshal Lord Montgomery, a legendary British general of World War II; requiring a "slippery-sounding" surname, they settled on "Python". On other occasions Idle has claimed that the name "Monty" was that of a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub; people would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. The name Monty Python was later described by the BBC as being "envisaged by the team as the perfect name for a sleazy entertainment agent".^[11]

Style of the show [link]

Flying Circus popularised innovative formal techniques, such as the cold open, in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements.^[12] An example of this is the "It's" man: Palin, outfitted in Robinson Crusoe garb, making a tortuous journey across various terrains, before finally approaching the camera to state, "It's...", only to be then cut off by the title sequence and theme music. On several occasions the cold open lasted until mid show, after which the regular opening titles ran. Occasionally the Pythons tricked viewers by rolling the closing credits halfway through the show, usually continuing the joke by fading to the familiar globe logo used for BBC continuity, over which Cleese would parody the clipped tones of a BBC announcer. On one occasion the credits ran directly after the opening titles. Because of their dislike of finishing with punchlines, they experimented with ending the sketches by cutting abruptly to another scene or animation, walking offstage, addressing the camera (breaking the fourth wall), or introducing a totally unrelated event or character. A classic example of this approach was the use of Chapman's "Colonel" character, who walked into several sketches and ordered them to be stopped because things were becoming "far too silly." Another favourite way of ending sketches was to drop a cartoonish "16-ton weight" prop on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum, or a knight in full armour (played by Terry Gilliam) would wander on-set and hit characters over the head with a rubber chicken,^[13] before cutting to the next scene. Yet another way of changing scenes was when John Cleese, usually outfitted in a dinner suit, would come in as a radio commentator and make the formal and determined announcement, "And now for something completely different."

The Python theme music is The Liberty Bell, a march by John Philip Sousa, which was chosen, among other reasons, because the recording was in the public domain.^[12]

The use of Gilliam's surreal, collage stop motion animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style. Many of the images Gilliam used were lifted from famous works of art, and from Victorian illustrations and engravings. The giant foot which crushes the show's title at the end of the opening credits is in fact the foot of Cupid, cut from a reproduction of the Renaissance masterpiece Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time by Bronzino. This foot, and Gilliam's style in general, are visual trademarks of the series.

The Pythons used the British tradition of cross-dressing comedy by donning frocks and makeup and playing female roles themselves while speaking in falsetto. Generally speaking, female roles were played by a woman (usually Carol Cleveland) only when the scene specifically required that the character be sexually attractive (although sometimes they used Idle for this). In some episodes and later in Monty Python's Life of Brian they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men (in the stoning scene).

Many sketches are well-known and widely quoted. "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "Spam", "Nudge Nudge", "The Spanish Inquisition", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Cheese Shop" and "The Ministry of Silly Walks" are just a few examples.

Introduction to North America [link]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) added Monty Python’s Flying Circus to its national September 1970 fall lineup.^[14] They aired the 13 episodes of Series 1, which had first run on the BBC the previous fall (October 1969 to January 1970), as well as the first 6 episodes of Series 2 only a few weeks after they first appeared on the BBC (September to November 1970).^[14] The CBC dropped the show when it returned to regular programming after the Christmas 1970 break, choosing to not place the remaining 7 episodes of series 2 on the January 1971 CBC schedule.^[14] Within a week the CBC received hundreds of calls complaining of the cancellation, and more than 100 people staged a demonstration at the CBC’s Montreal studios.^[14]

Time-Life Films had the right to distribute all BBC-TV programs in the United States, however they had decided that British comedy simply would not work in America. Therefore, it was not worth the investment to convert the Python episodes from the European PAL standard to the American NTSC standard.

Sketches from Monty Python’s Flying Circus were introduced to American audiences in August 1972, with the release of the Python movie And Now for Something Completely Different, featuring sketches from series 1 and 2 of the television show. This 1972 release met limited box office success.

In the summer of 1974 Ron Devillier, the program director for non-profit PBS television station KERA in Dallas, Texas, started airing episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Ratings shot through the roof, providing an encouraging sign to the other 100 PBS stations that had signed up to begin airing the show in October 1974—exactly 5 years after their BBC debut. There was also cross-promotion from FM radio stations across the country, whose airing of tracks from the Python LPs had already introduced American audiences to this bizarre brand of comedy. The popularity on PBS resulted in the 1974 re-release of the 1972 "...Completely Different" movie, with much greater box office success.

The ability to show Monty Python’s Flying Circus under the American NTSC standard had been made possible by the commercial actions of American television producer Greg Garrison. Garrison produced the NBC series The Dean Martin Comedy World, which ran during the summer of 1974. The concept was to show clips from comedy shows produced in other countries, including tape of the Python sketches "Bicycle Repairman" and "The Dull Life of a Stockbroker". Payment for use of these two sketches was enough to allow Time-Life Films to convert the entire Python library to NTSC standard, allowing for the sale to the PBS network stations who then brought the entire show to US audiences.

With the popularity of Python throughout the rest of the 1970s and through most of the 1980s, PBS stations looked at other British comedies, leading to UK shows such as Are You Being Served? gaining a US audience, and leading, over time, to many PBS stations having a "British Comedy Night" which airs many popular UK comedies.^[15]

[edit] End of Flying Circus

Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese left the Flying Circus at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show, and claimed that only two Cleese-and-Chapman-penned sketches in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts.^[9] He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. According to an interview with Idle, "It was on an Air Canada flight on the way to Toronto, when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom."^[16]

The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" series before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. The name Monty Python's Flying Circus appears in the opening animation for series four, but in the end credits the show is listed as simply "Monty Python". Despite his official departure from the group, Cleese supposedly made a (non-speaking) cameo appearance in the fourth series, but never appeared in the credits as a performer. Several episodes credit him as a co-writer since some sketches were recycled from scenes cut from the Holy Grail script. While the first three series contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after six.

[edit] Life after the Flying Circus

Filmography [link]

[edit] And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Main article: And Now for Something Completely Different

The Pythons' first feature film (directed by Ian MacNaughton, reprising his role from the television series). It was composed of sketches from the first two seasons of the Flying Circus, reshot on a low budget (and often slightly edited) for cinema release. Material selected for the film includes: "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Hell's Grannies", "Self-Defence Class", "How Not To Be Seen" and "Nudge Nudge". Financed by Playboy's UK executive Victor Lownes, it was intended as a way of breaking Monty Python into America, and although it was ultimately unsuccessful in this, the film did good business in the UK (this still being in the era before home video would make it much more accessible to view the material again). The group did not consider the film a success.

[edit] Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)

Main article: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

In 1974, between production on the third and fourth seasons, the group decided to embark on their first "proper" feature film, containing entirely new material. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was based on Arthurian Legend and was directed by Jones and Gilliam. Again, the latter also contributed linking animations (and put together the opening credits). Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film, but it was Chapman who took the lead as King Arthur. Cleese returned to the group for the film, feeling that the group were once again breaking new ground. Holy Grail was filmed on location, in picturesque rural areas of Scotland, with a budget of only £229,000; the money was raised in part with investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin—and UK music industry entrepreneur Tony Stratton-Smith (founder and owner of the Charisma Records label, for which the Pythons recorded their comedy albums).

The backers of the film wanted to cut the famous Black Knight scene (in which the Black Knight loses his limbs in a duel) but it was eventually kept in the movie.^[17]

[edit] Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

Main article: Monty Python's Life of Brian

Following the success of Holy Grail, reporters asked for the title of the next Python film, despite the fact that the team had not even begun to consider a third one. Eventually, Idle flippantly replied "Jesus Christ – Lust for Glory", which became the group's stock answer once they realised that it shut reporters up. However, they soon began to seriously consider a film lampooning the New Testament era in the same way Holy Grail had lampooned Arthurian legend. Despite them all sharing a distrust of organised religion, they agreed not to mock Jesus nor his teachings directly. Instead, they decided to write a satire on credulity and hypocrisy among the followers of someone who had been mistaken for the "Messiah," but who had no desire to be followed as such. Chapman was cast in the lead role of Brian.

The focus therefore shifted to a separate individual born at the same time, in a neighbouring stable. When Jesus appears in the film (first, as a baby in the stable, and then later on the Mount, speaking the Beatitudes), he is played straight (by actor Kenneth Colley) and portrayed with respect. The comedy begins when members of the crowd mishear his statements of peace, love and tolerance. ("I think he said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers.'")

Directing duties were handled solely by Jones, having amicably agreed with Gilliam that Jones' approach to film-making was better suited for Python's general performing style. Holy Grail's production had often been stilted by their differences behind the camera. Gilliam again contributed two animated sequences (one being the opening credits) and took charge of set design. The film was shot on location in Tunisia, the finances being provided this time by former Beatle George Harrison, who together with Denis O'Brien formed the production company Hand-Made Films for the movie. He had a cameo role as the 'owner of the Mount.'

Despite its subject matter attracting controversy, particularly upon its initial release, it has (together with its predecessor) been ranked among the greatest comedy films. A Channel 4 poll in 2005 ranked Holy Grail in sixth place, with Life of Brian at the top.^[18]

[edit] Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)

Main article: Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Filmed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles during preparations for The Meaning of Life, this was a concert film (directed by Terry Hughes) in which the Pythons performed sketches from the television series in front of an audience. The released film also incorporated footage from the German television specials (the inclusion of which gives Ian MacNaughton his first on-screen credit for Python since the end of Flying Circus) and live performances of several songs from the troupe's then-current Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.

[edit] Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

Main article: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Python's final film returned to something structurally closer to the style of Flying Circus. A series of sketches loosely follows the ages of man from birth to death. Directed again by Jones solo, The Meaning of Life is embellished with some of Python's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers. The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of black humour, garnished by some spectacular violence (including an operation to remove a liver from a living patient without anaesthetic and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote exploding over several restaurant patrons). At the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone."

Besides the opening credits and the fish sequence, Gilliam, by now an established live action director, no longer wanted to produce any linking cartoons, offering instead to direct one sketch—The Crimson Permanent Assurance. Under his helm, though, the segment grew so ambitious and tangential that it was cut from the movie and used as a supporting feature in its own right. (Television screenings also use it as a prologue.) Crucially, this was the last project that all six Pythons would collaborate on, except for the 1989 compilation Parrot Sketch Not Included, where they are all seen sitting in a closet for four seconds. This would be the last time Chapman appeared on-screen with the Pythons.

[edit] Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows

Members of Python contributed their services to charitable endeavours and causes—sometimes as an ensemble, at other times as individuals. The cause that has been the most frequent and consistent beneficiary has been the human rights work of Amnesty International. Between 1976 and 1981, the troupe or its members appeared in four major fund-raisers for Amnesty—known collectively as the Secret Policeman's Ball shows—which were turned into multiple films, TV shows, videos, record albums and books. These benefit shows and their many spin-offs raised considerable sums of money for Amnesty, raised public and media awareness of the human rights cause and influenced many other members of the entertainment community (especially rock musicians) to become involved in political and social issues.^[19] Among the many musicians who have publicly attributed their activism—and the organisation of their own benefit events—to the inspiration of the work in this field of Monty Python are U2, Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend and Sting.^[19] The shows are credited by Amnesty with helping the organisation develop public awareness in the US where one of the spin-off films was a major success.

Cleese and Jones had an involvement (as performer, writer or director) in all four Amnesty benefit shows, Palin in three, Chapman in two and Gilliam in one. Idle did not participate in the Amnesty shows. Notwithstanding Idle's lack of participation, the other five members (together with "Associate Pythons" Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes) all appeared together in the first Secret Policeman's Ball benefit—the 1976 A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)—where they performed several Python sketches. In this first show they were collectively billed as Monty Python. (Peter Cook deputised for the errant Idle in one major sketch The Courtroom.) In the next three shows, the participating Python members performed many Python sketches, but were billed under their individual names rather than under the collective Python banner. After a six-year break, Amnesty resumed producing Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows in 1987 (sometimes with, and sometimes without variants of the iconic title) and by 2006 had presented a total of twelve such shows. The shows since 1987 have featured newer generations of British comedic performers, including many who have attributed their participation in the show to their desire to emulate the Python's pioneering work for Amnesty. (Cleese and Palin made a brief cameo appearance in the 1989 Amnesty show; apart from that the Pythons have not appeared in shows after the first four.)

Going solo [link]

Each member has pursued various film, television and stage projects since the break-up of the group, but often continued to work with one another. Many of these collaborations were very successful, most notably A Fish Called Wanda (1988), written by Cleese, in which he starred along with Palin. The pair also appeared in Time Bandits (1981), a film directed by Gilliam, who wrote it together with Palin. Gilliam directed Jabberwocky (1977), and also directed and co-wrote Brazil (1985) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), which featured Palin and Idle respectively. Yellowbeard (1983) was co-written by Chapman and featured Chapman, Cleese and Palin alongside many of their English contemporaries, including Peter Cook, Spike Milligan and Marty Feldman.

Palin and Jones wrote the comedic TV series Ripping Yarns (1976–79), starring Palin. Jones also appeared in the pilot episode and Cleese appeared in a non-speaking part in the episode "Golden Gordon". Jones' film Erik the Viking, also has Cleese playing a small part.

In 1996, Terry Jones wrote and directed an adaption of Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows. It featured four members of Monty Python: Jones as Mr. Toad, Idle as Ratty, Cleese as Mr. Toad's lawyer, and Palin as the Sun. Gilliam was considered for the voice of the river.

In terms of numbers of productions, Cleese has the most prolific solo career, having appeared in 59 theatrical films, 22 TV shows or series (including Cheers, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Q's assistant in the James Bond movies, and Will & Grace), 23 direct-to-video productions, six video games, and a number of commercials.^[20] His BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers (written by and starring Cleese together with his then-wife Connie Booth), is considered the greatest solo work by a Python since the sketch show finished. It is the only comedy series to rank higher than the Flying Circus on the BFI TV 100's list, topping the whole poll.

Idle enjoyed critical success with Rutland Weekend Television in the mid-1970s, out of which came the Beatles parody The Rutles (responsible for the cult mockumentary All You Need Is Cash), and as an actor in Nuns on the Run (1990) with Robbie Coltrane. Idle has had success with Python songs: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" went to no. 3 in the UK singles chart in 1991. The song had been revived by Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 1, and was consequently released as a single that year. The theatrical phenomenon of the Python musical Spamalot has made Idle the most financially successful of the troupe post-Python. Written by Idle, it has proved an enormous hit on Broadway, London's West End and also Las Vegas.^[21] This was followed by Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), which repurposes The Life of Brian as an oratorio. For the work's 2007 premiere at the Luminato festival in Toronto (which commissioned the work), Idle himself sang the "baritone-ish" part.

Post-Python reunions [link]

Since The Meaning of Life, their last project as a team, the Pythons have often been the subject of reunion rumours.^[21] The final reunion of all six members occurred during the Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python special. The death of Chapman in 1989 (on the eve of their 20th anniversary) put an end to the speculation of any further reunions. There have been several occasions since 1989 when the surviving five members have gathered together for appearances—albeit not formal reunions.

In 1996, Jones, Idle, Cleese and Palin were featured in a film adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, which was later renamed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

In 1998 during the US Comedy Arts Festival, where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute, the five remaining members along with what was purported to be Chapman's ashes, were reunited on stage for the first time in 18 years.^[22] The occasion was in the form of an interview called Monty Python Live At Aspen, (hosted by Robert Klein, with an appearance by Eddie Izzard) in which the team looked back at some of their work and performed a few new sketches.

On 9 October 1999, to commemorate 30 years since the first Flying Circus television broadcast, BBC2 devoted an evening to Python programmes, including a documentary charting the history of the team, interspersed with new sketches by the Monty Python team filmed especially for the event. The program appears, though omitting a few things, on the DVD The Life of Python. Though Idle's involvement in the special is limited, the final sketch marks the only time since 1989 that all surviving members of the troupe appear in one sketch, albeit not in the same room.

In 2002, four of the surviving members, bar Cleese, performed "The Lumberjack Song" and "Sit on My Face" for George Harrison's memorial concert. The reunion also included regular supporting contributors Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland, with a special appearance from Tom Hanks.

In an interview to publicise the DVD release of The Meaning of Life, Cleese said a further reunion was unlikely. "It is absolutely impossible to get even a majority of us together in a room, and I'm not joking," Cleese said. He said that the problem was one of business rather than one of bad feelings.^[23] A sketch appears on the same DVD spoofing the impossibility of a full reunion, bringing the members “together” in a deliberately unconvincing fashion with modern bluescreen/greenscreen techniques.

Idle has responded to queries about a Python reunion by adapting a line used by George Harrison in response to queries about a possible Beatles reunion. When asked in November 1989 about such a possibility, Harrison responded: "As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a Beatles reunion as long as John Lennon remains dead." Idle's version of this was that he expected to see a proper Python reunion, "just as soon as Graham Chapman comes back from the dead", but added, "we're talking to his agent about terms."^[24]

2003's The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons, compiled from interviews with the surviving members, reveals that a series of disputes in 1998, over a possible sequel to Holy Grail that had been conceived by Idle, may have resulted in the group's permanent fission. Cleese's feeling was that The Meaning of Life had been personally difficult and ultimately mediocre, and did not wish to be involved in another Python project for a variety of reasons (not least amongst them was the absence of Chapman, whose straight man-like central roles in the original Grail and Brian films had been considered to be essential performance anchorage). Apparently Idle was angry with Cleese for refusing to do the film, which most of the remaining Pythons thought reasonably promising (the basic plot would have taken on a self-referential tone, featuring them in their main 'knight' guises from Holy Grail, mulling over the possibilities of reforming their posse). The book also reveals that a secondary option around this point was the possibility of revitalising the Python brand with a new stage tour, perhaps with the promise of new material. This idea had also hit the buffers at Cleese's refusal, this time with the backing of other members.

March 2005 saw a full, if non-performing, reunion of the surviving cast members at the premiere of Idle's musical Spamalot, based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It opened in Chicago and has since played in New York on Broadway, London and numerous other major cities across the world. In 2004, it was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won three: Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Mike Nichols and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Sara Ramirez, who played the Lady of the Lake, a character specially added for the musical. Cleese played the voice of God, played in the film by Chapman.

Owing in part to the success of Spamalot, PBS announced on 13 July 2005, that it would begin to re-air the entire run of Monty Python's Flying Circus and new one-hour specials focusing on each member of the group, called Monty Python's Personal Best.^[25] Each episode was written and produced by the individual being honoured, with the five remaining Pythons collaborating on Chapman's programme, the only one of the editions to take on a serious tone with its new material.

Eric Idle and John Cleese appeared on stage together singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" with the rest of the performers for the climax of Prince Charles 60th Birthday Show.

In 2009, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, a six part documentary entitled Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) was released, featuring interviews with the surviving members of the team as well as archive interviews with Graham Chapman and numerous excerpts from the television series and films.

Also in commemoration of the 40th anniversary Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam appeared in a production of Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) at the Royal Albert Hall. The European premiere was held on 23 October 2009.^[26] An official 40th anniversary Monty Python reunion event took place in New York City on 15 October 2009 where the Team received a Special Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.^[27]

In June 2011, it was announced that Monty Python have begun production on their first film project since the Meaning of Life in 1983. Their next film, A Liar's Autobiography, is an animated 3D movie based on the memoir of the late Python member, Graham Chapman, who died in 1989 at the age of 48. A Liar’s Autobiography was published in 1980 and details Chapman's journey through medical school, alcoholism, acknowledgement of his gay identity and the toils of surreal comedy.

Asked what was true in a deliberately fanciful account by Chapman of his life, Terry Jones joked: "Nothing . . . it’s all a downright, absolute, blackguardly lie."

The film will use Chapman's own voice - from a reading of his autobiography shortly before he died of cancer - and entertainment channel EPIX announced that the film will be released in early 2012 in both 2D and 3D formats. Produced and directed by London-based Bill Jones, Ben Timlett and Jeff Simpson, the new film has 15 animation companies working on chapters that will range from three to 12 minutes in length, each in a different style.

John Cleese has recorded new dialogue which will be matched with Chapman’s voice and Michael Palin will voice Chapman’s mother and father. Terry Gilliam plays various roles. Among the original Python group, only Eric Idle has not become involved, though Timlett said the filmmakers are “working on” him.^[28]

Python members [link]

Graham Chapman was originally a medical student, joining the Footlights at Cambridge. He completed his medical training and was legally entitled to practice as a doctor. Chapman is best remembered for the lead roles in Holy Grail, as King Arthur, and Life of Brian, as Brian Cohen. He died of spinal and throat cancer on 4 October 1989. At Chapman's memorial service, Cleese delivered an irreverent eulogy that included all the euphemisms for being dead from the Dead Parrot sketch, which they had written.

John Cleese is the oldest Python. He met his future Python writing partner, Graham Chapman, in Cambridge.

Terry Gilliam, an American, was the only member of the troupe of non-British origin.^[29] He started off as an animator and strip cartoonist for Harvey Kurtzman's Help! magazine, one issue of which featured Cleese. Moving from the USA to England, he animated features for Do Not Adjust Your Set and was then asked by its makers to join them on their next project: Monty Python's Flying Circus. He co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail and directed short segments of other Python films (for instance "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", the short film that appears before The Meaning of Life).

When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin. That left two in their own corners: Gilliam, operating solo due to the nature of his work, and Eric Idle. Regular themes in his contributions were elaborate wordplay and musical numbers. After Flying Circus, he hosted Saturday Night Live four times in the first five seasons. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film Splitting Heirs (written, produced by and starring him) and 1998's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (in which he starred), which was awarded five Razzies, including 'Worst Picture of the Year'. He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. He also wrote the Broadway musical Spamalot, based on the Holy Grail movie. He also wrote Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy), an oratorio derived from the Life of Brian.

Terry Jones has been described by other members of the team as the “heart” of the operation. Jones had a lead role in maintaining the group's unity and creative independence. Python biographer George Perry has commented that should you "speak to him on subjects as diverse as fossil fuels, or Rupert Bear, or mercenaries in the Middle Ages or Modern China... in a moment you will find yourself hopelessly out of your depth, floored by his knowledge." Many others agree that Jones is characterised by his irrepressible, good-natured enthusiasm. However, Jones' passion often led to prolonged arguments with other group members—in particular Cleese—with Jones often unwilling to back down. Since his major contributions were largely behind the scenes (direction, writing), and he often deferred to the other members of the group as an actor, Jones' importance to Python was often underrated. However, he does have the legacy of delivering possibly the most famous line in all of Python, as Brian's mother Mandy in Life of Brian, "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!", a line voted the funniest in film history on two occasions.^[30]^[31]

Michael Palin attended Oxford, where he met his Python writing partner Jones. The two also wrote the series Ripping Yarns together. Palin and Jones originally wrote face-to-face, but soon found it was more productive to write apart and then come together to review what the other had written. Therefore, Jones and Palin's sketches tended to be more focused than that of the others, taking one bizarre situation, sticking to it, and building on it. After Flying Circus, he hosted Saturday Night Live four times in the first ten seasons. His comedy output began to decrease in amount following the increasing success of his travel documentaries for the BBC. Palin released a book of diaries from the Python years entitled Michael Palin Diaries 1969–1979, published in 2007.

Associate Pythons [link]

Several people have been accorded unofficial "Associate Python" status over the years. Occasionally such people have been referred to as the 7th Python, in a style reminiscent of George Martin (or other associates of The Beatles) being dubbed "the Fifth Beatle." The two collaborators with the most meaningful and plentiful contributions have been Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland. Both were present and presented as Associate Pythons at the official Monty Python 25th anniversary celebrations held in Los Angeles in July 1994.

File:CarolCleveland.jpg

Carol Cleveland as the stereotypical "blonde bombshell" in the Marriage Guidance Counsellor sketch.

Neil Innes is the only non-Python besides Douglas Adams to be credited with writing material for the Flying Circus. He appeared in sketches and the Python films, as well as performing some of his songs in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. He was also a regular stand-in for absent team members on the rare occasions when they re-created sketches. For example, he took the place of Cleese at the Concert for George. Gilliam once noted that if anyone qualified for the title of the "Seventh Python," it would certainly be Innes. He was one of the creative talents in the off-beat Bonzo Dog Band. He would later portray Ron Nasty of the Rutles and write all of the Rutles' compositions for All You Need is Cash (1978). By 2005, a falling out had occurred between Idle and Innes over additional Rutles projects, the results being Innes' critically acclaimed Rutles "reunion" album The Rutles: Archaeology and Idle's straight-to-DVD The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, each undertaken without the other's participation. According to an interview with Idle in the Chicago Tribune in May 2005, his attitude is that he and Innes go back "too far. And no further." Innes has remained silent on the dispute.

Carol Cleveland was the most important female performer in the Monty Python ensemble, commonly referred to as the "Python Girl." Originally hired by producer/director John Howard Davies for just the first five episodes of the Flying Circus, she went on to appear in approximately two-thirds of the episodes as well as in all of the Python films, and in most of their stage shows as well. Her common portrayal as the stereotypical "blonde bimbo" eventually earned her the sobriquet "Carol Cleavage" from the other Pythons, but she felt that the variety of her roles should not be described in such a pejorative way.

Other contributors [link]

Cleese's first wife Connie Booth appeared in, amongst others "The Lumberjack Song" and as the "witch" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cleese and Booth later co-wrote and co-starred in Fawlty Towers.

Douglas Adams was "discovered" by Chapman when a version of the Footlights Revue (a 1974 BBC2 television show featuring some of Adams' early work) was performed live in London's West End. In Cleese's absence from the final TV series, the two formed a brief writing partnership, with Adams earning a writing credit in one episode for a sketch called "Patient Abuse". In the sketch, a man who had been stabbed by a nurse arrives at his doctor's office bleeding profusely from the stomach, when the doctor makes him fill out numerous senseless forms before he can administer treatment. He also had two cameo appearances in this season. Firstly, in the episode The Light Entertainment War, Adams shows up in a surgeon's mask (as Dr. Emile Koning, according to the on-screen captions), pulling on gloves, while Palin narrates a sketch that introduces one person after another, and never actually gets started. Secondly, at the beginning of Mr. Neutron, Adams is dressed in a "pepperpot" outfit and loads a missile onto a cart being driven by Terry Jones, who is calling out for scrap metal ("Any old iron..."). Adams and Chapman also subsequently attempted a few non-Python projects, including Out of the Trees. He also contributed to a sketch on the soundtrack album for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard, a devoted fan of the group, has occasionally stood in for absent members. When the BBC held a "Python Night" in 1999 to celebrate 30 years of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, the Pythons recorded some new material with Izzard standing in for Idle, who had declined to partake in person (he taped a solo contribution from the US). Izzard hosted a history of the group entitled The Life of Python (1999) that was part of the Python Night and appeared with them at a festival/tribute in Aspen, Colorado, in 1998 (released on DVD as Live at Aspen).

Cultural influence [link]

By the time of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Monty Python in 1994, the point was already being made that "the five surviving members had with the passing years begun to occupy an institutional position in the edifice of British social culture that they had once had so much fun trying to demolish".^[32] A similar point is made in a 2006 book on the relationship between Monty and philosophy: "It is remarkable, after all, not only that the utterly bizarre Monty Python's Flying Circus was sponsored by the BBC in the first place, but that Monty Python itself grew into an institution of enormous cultural influence"^[33] Matt Groening, creator and co-developer of the animated sitcom The Simpsons, names Monty Python as an influence and pays tribute through a couch gag used in seasons five and six.^[34]

Space [link]

In 2010 the commercial space company SpaceX, launched a wheel of cheese into low earth orbit and returned it safely to the earth. Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, claimed this was done as a tribute to Monty Python.

World records [link]

On St George's Day, 23 April 2007, the cast and creators of Spamalot gathered in Trafalgar Square under the tutelage of the two Terrys (Jones and Gilliam) to set a new record for the world's largest coconut orchestra. They led 5,567 people "clip-clopping" in time to the Python classic "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" for the Guinness World Records attempt.^[35]

'Pythonesque'[link]

Amongst the more visible cultural influences of Monty Python is the inclusion of terms either directly from, or derived from, Monty Python, into the lexicon of the English language. The most obvious of these is the term 'pythonesque', which has become a byword in surreal humour, and is included in standard dictionaries.^[36] Terry Jones commented on his disappointment at the existence of such a term, claiming the initial aim of Monty Python was to create something new and impossible to categorize and that "the fact that Pythonesque is now a word in the Oxford English Dictionary shows the extent to which we failed".^[37]

The term has been applied to animations similar to those constructed by Gilliam (e.g. the cut-out style of South Park, whose creators have often acknowledged a debt to Python, including contributing material to the aforementioned 30th anniversary theme night).^[38]

Good Eats creator Alton Brown cited Python as one of the influences that shaped how he created the series, as well as how he authors the script for each episode.^[39] Recent episodes even include Gilliam-style animations to illustrate key points.

Things named after Monty Python [link]

Beyond a dictionary definition, Python terms have entered the lexicon in other ways.

The Python programming language by Guido van Rossum is named after the troupe, and Monty Python references are often found in sample code created for that language. Additionally, a 2001 April Fool's Day joke by van Rossum and Larry Wall involving the merger of Python with Perl was dubbed "Parrot" after the Dead Parrot Sketch. The name "Parrot" was later used for a project to develop a virtual machine for running bytecode for interpreted languages such as Perl and Python. Also, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote some spacecraft navigation software in Python, which they dubbed "Monty". There is also a python refactoring tool called bicyclerepair ( [1] ), named after Bicycle Repair Man sketch.
In 1985, a fossil of a previously unknown species of gigantic prehistoric snake from the Miocene was discovered in Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia. The Australian palaeontologist who discovered the fossil snake was a Monty Python fan, and he gave the snake the taxonomic name of Montypythonoides riversleighensis in honour of the Monty Python team.^[40] (Transliterated from Greek Μοντυπυθωνοειδής back to English, Montypythonoides means "like Monty Python".)
In 2006, Ben & Jerry's, known for their "celebrity flavours", introduced to the lineup "Vermonty Python", a coffee liqueur ice cream with a chocolate cookie crumb swirl and fudge cows. The name "Minty Python" had been suggested before in 1996 in a contest to select the quintessential British ice cream flavor.^[41]^[42]
In 1999, Black Sheep Brewery released an ale named "Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale."^[43]
The band Toad the Wet Sprocket drew its name from the Eric Idle monologue "Rock Notes" on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album from 1980.
The band Boxhamsters, which is the German translation of Brook-Hamster, the winner of the Upper Class Twit of the Year.^[44]
A philosophy lecture series entitled Themes in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy as Reflected in the Work of Monty Python.^[45]^[46]
The term "spam" in reference to bulk, unsolicited email is derived from the programme's 1970 "Spam" sketch.^[47]
In the book The Reptile Room by "Lemony Snicket", the character Uncle Monty was named after Monty Python, in a joke referring to his obsession with snakes.
Seven asteroids are named after Monty Python: 9617 Grahamchapman, 9618 Johncleese, 9619 Terrygilliam, 9620 Ericidle, 9621 Michaelpalin, 9622 Terryjones, and 13681 Monty Python .
The endangered Bemaraha woolly lemur (Avahi cleesei) is named after John Cleese.

Dead Parrot Society is the title of a comedy CD released in 1993 featuring sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus as well as Graham Chapman, Peter Cook, John Cleese, Dudley Moore, and The Portsmouth Sinfonia The title is also a play on the 1989 film Dead Poets Society.

Media [link]

Main article: Monty Python mediagraphy

Television [link]

Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–74)

The show that started the Python phenomenon. See also List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (1972)

Two 45-minute specials made by WDR for West German television. The first was recorded in German, while the second was in English with German dubbing.

Monty Python's Personal Best (2006)

Six one-hour specials, each episode presenting the best of one member's work.

Films [link]

There were five Monty Python productions released as theatrical films:

And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

A collection of sketches from the first and second TV series of Monty Python's Flying Circus purposely re-enacted and shot for film.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)

King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering humorous obstacles along the way. Some of these turned into standalone sketches.

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

Brian is born on the first Christmas, in the stable next to Jesus'. He spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)

A videotape recording directed by Ian MacNaughton of a live performance of sketches. Originally intended for a TV/video special. Transferred to 35mm and given a limited theatrical release in the US.

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

An examination of the meaning of life in a series of sketches from conception to death and beyond.

Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) (2009)

This film features interviews with all the surviving Python members, along with archive representation for the late Graham Chapman.

A Liar's Autobiography: Volume IV (2012)

This is an animated film which is based on the memoir of the late Monty Python member, Graham Chapman.

Albums [link]

Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970)
Another Monty Python Record (1971)
Monty Python's Previous Record (1972)
The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973)
Monty Python Live at Drury Lane (1974)
The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python Live at City Center (1976)
The Monty Python Instant Record Collection (1977)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album (1980)
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
The Final Rip Off (1988)
Monty Python Sings (1989)
The Monty Python Instant Record Collection, Volume 2 (1991)
The Ultimate Monty Python Rip Off (1994)
The Instant Monty Python CD Collection (1994)
Spamalot (Broadway version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Tim Curry as King Arthur) (2005)
The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album (unreleased)

Theatre [link]

Monty Python's Flying Circus – Between 1974 and 1980 (Live at the Hollywood Bowl was released in 1982, but was performed in 1980) the Pythons made three sketch-based stage shows, comprising mainly material from the original television series.
Monty Python's Spamalot – Written by Idle directed by Mike Nichols, with music and lyrics by John Du Prez and Idle, and starring Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and David Hyde Pierce, Spamalot is a musical adaptation of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It ran in Chicago from 21 December 2004 to 23 January 2005, and began performances on Broadway on 17 March 2005. It won three Tonys.
Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) – The Toronto Symphony Orchestra commissioned Idle and John Du Prez to write the music and lyrics of an oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian. Entitled Not the Messiah, it had its world premiere as part of Luminato, a "festival of arts and creativity" taking place 1–10 June 2007 in Toronto. Not the Messiah was conducted by Peter Oundjian, Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, who is Idle’s cousin. It was performed by a narrator, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with guest soloists and choir. According to Idle, "It will be funnier than Handel, though not as good".

Books [link]

Monty Python's Big Red Book (1971) ISBN 0-413-29520-6.
The Brand New Monty Python Bok (1973) ISBN 0-7493-1170-3.
Monty Python and The Holy Grail (book) – Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Gräilen (Bøk) (1977) ISBN 0-413-38520-5.
MONTYPYTHONSCRAPBOOK/ The Life of Brian (1979) ISBN 0-413-46550-0.
Monty Python's Flying Circus – Just The Words Volume 1 (1989) ISBN 0-413-62540-0.
Monty Python's Flying Circus – Just The Words Volume 2 (1989) ISBN 0-413-62550-8.
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Volumes 1 & 2
The Fairly Incomplete & Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book (1994) ISBN 0-413-69000-8
Michael Palin Diaries 1969–1979
The Pythons: Autobiography by the Pythons
The Life of Brian/Jesus (2011) ISBN 978-1-84876-628-0.

Games [link]

Monty Python's Flying Circus (1990) a computer game released by Virgin Games for 8-bit systems such as the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum^[48]
Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time (1994) released by 7th Level for PC / DOS
Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996), official game released by 7th Level. It used footage and imagery from the film, as well as audio clips (some new) and featured an animated version of a scene never filmed entitled "King Brian The Wild".
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1997), also released by 7th Level. According to the jewel case description, it's based on the film by the same name, but it's really something completely similar yet entirely different.
Python-opoly (2007), a Monty Python-themed property game released by Toy Vault Inc.^[49]
Monty Python Fluxx (2008), a card game released by Looney Labs^[50]
Blazing Dragons

References [link]

^ Gilliam was born American and obtained British citizenship in 1968. In protest at George W. Bush, he renounced his American citizenship in January 2006 and is now only a British citizen. (in German) Kopflos am Potsdamer Platz, DE: Tagesspiegel, 10 February 2006, http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/;art772,2004101, retrieved 15 September 2007
^ Wilmut (1980), p. 250.
^ The Pythons by 'The Pythons', ISBN 0-7528-5293-0.
^ Todd Leopold (11 December 2003). "How Monty Python changed the world". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/10/monty.python/index.html. Retrieved 30 March 2007. "Python has been called "the Beatles of comedy,""
^ Mark Lewisohn. "Monty Python's Flying Circus". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/m/montypythonsflyi_1299002137.shtml. Retrieved 31 March 2007. "In essence, the Monty Python team are the comedy equivalent of the Beatles."
^ 'Holy' Monty Python History Lesson. Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved 24 April 2012
^ 'Monty Python' Reunion Planned for New Movie. Christian Post. Retrieved 24 April 2012
^ "Cook voted 'comedians' comedian'". BBC News. 2 January 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4141019.stm. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
^ ^a ^b The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons—Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, John Chapman, David Sherlock, Bob McCabe—Thomas Dunne Books; Orion, 2003
^ Wilmut (1980), p.211
^ "BBC – Comedy – Monty Python". http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/montypython/index.shtml.
^ ^a ^b Museum of Broadcast Communications. "Monty Python's Flying Circus". http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/montypython/montypython.htm.
^ Monty Python's Flying Circus Just The Words Volume 1, p33. Methuen, 1990
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jamie Bradburn, with reference to Toronto Star article of 1971-02-02 (2011-09-20). "Vintage Toronto Ads: Jack of Hearts’ Flying Circus". St. Joseph Media. http://torontoist.com/2011/09/vintage-toronto-ads-jack-of-hearts-flying-circus/. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
^ David Stewart; David C. Stewart (May 1999). The PBS companion: a history of public television. TV Books. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-57500-050-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=U3S4AAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
^ Richard Ouzounian, "Python still has legs", Toronto Star, 16 July 2006
^ Interview with John Cleese on Q-The Podcast with host John Ghomeshi, on 16 July 2009
^ "50 Greatest Comedy Films". channel4.com. http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/G/greatest-comedyfilms/index.html. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
^ ^a ^b Secret Policeman's Ball recruits New York's finest to Amnesty celebration. The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2012
^ IMDB; as of January 2005; includes pre-release items.
^ ^a ^b Alan Parker; Mick O'Shea (1 April 2006). And Now For Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python CDs and DVDs. The Disinformation Company. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-932857-31-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=G49bRxbeH1kC&pg=PA68. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
^ Alleen Pace Nilsen; Don Lee Fred Nilsen (2000). Encyclopedia of 20th-century American humor. Oryx Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-57356-218-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=0ufWAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
^ Monty Python reunion 'unlikely', BBC News, 9 September 2003
^ Graham Chapman; John Cleese; Terry Gilliam; Eric Idle (15 November 2005). The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons. Macmillan. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-312-31145-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=3Q-XD02f4oQC&pg=PT328. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
^ Exclusive new Monty Python specials slated to premiere in 2006, PBS, 13 July 2005
^ mollyblack wrote: (11 July 2009). "retrieved 6 July 2009". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/monty-python-stars-to-stage-reunion-1733638.html. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ "Pythons receive BAFTA Special Award". Bafta.org. 18 October 2009. http://www.bafta.org/access-all-areas/videos/monty-python-special-award,877,BA.html. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
^ "Monty Python back for 3D animated film". The Daily Telegraph (London). 28 June 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8602765/Monty-Python-back-for-3D-animated-film.html.
^ David Morgan (6 October 2006). "Terry Gilliam Sounds Off, Director Of 'Brazil' Says Current Events Parallel His Cult Movie". CBSNews. http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/06/movies/main2071659.shtml. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
^ Philip French, Mark Kermode, Jason Solomons, Akin Ojumu, and Killian Fox (22 July 2007). "The last laugh: your favourite 50". The Observer (UK). http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2131880,00.html. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
^ Sarah Womack (19 February 2002). "Life of Brian wins the vote for film's best laughter line". London: Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385293/Life-of-Brian-wins-the-vote-for-film's-best-laughter-line.html. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
^ Perry, George (1999). The Life of Python. London: Pavilion Books. p. 6. ISBN 1-85793-441-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=J_Zg-9u4yLAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=life+python#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
^ Hardcastle, G.L., & Reisch, G.A. (2006). "”What’s All This Then?” The Introduction". In Gary L. Hardcastle & George A Reisch. Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think!. Vol. 19 in Popular Culture and Philosophy series. Chicago: Open Court. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-8126-9593-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=wPQelKFNA5MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=monty+python#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 24 August 2010. Also ISBN 0-8126-9593-3
^ "Monty Python's Flying Circus Foot couch gag - Simpsons Wiki". Simpsons.wikia.com. 2011-12-24. http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Monty_Python's_Flying_Circus_Foot_couch_gag. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
^ BBC-Spamalot cast sets coconut record.
^ "Monty Pythonesque." Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 23 November 2007. Pythonesque
^ Monty Python: Live at Aspen, 1998
^ "Monty Python meets South Park". BBC News. 4 October 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/464765.stm. Retrieved 21 September 2008.
^ Marc Berman (27 September 2009). "Mr. TV: Food for Thought". Mediaweek. http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/community/programming-insider/column/e3icbd5f8a8048766fc980ec4910fe71b25. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
^ Monty Python – a Brief History, BBC, 29 January 2002
^ "STAN FREBERG HERE – British Ice Cream Flavors:". http://leemichaelwithers.tripod.com/sfh7_16_96.htm. Retrieved 1 October 2010. "Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream has just finished a contest to select the quintessential British ice cream flavor. ... They wanted a kind of "pun" flavor along the lines of their successful American flavor, "Cherry Garcia"--hmm, my favorite. Anyhow, the winner was "Cool Brittania." ... But some of the 7500 losers might have been better. How about this, for British flavors: "Minty Python"? "Jack the Ripple"? Or how about "The Rolling Scones"?"
^ "American Scoops Up Prize For Name Of Brit Ben & Jerry's – Orlando Sentinel". Wall Street Journal. 4 July 1996. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1996-07-04/business/9607030986_1_ben-jerry-ice-cream-flavor. Retrieved 1 October 2010. "If Britain were an ice cream, what flavor would it be? Jack the Ripple? Charles and Diana Split? Those names were floated in a contest run by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. to create the quintessential British ice cream flavor, along the lines of its world-famous American flavor, Cherry Garcia."
^ "Monty Python's Holy Grail". Blacksheepbrewery.com. http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/Beers/BottledBeers/HolyGrail.aspx. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
^ "Boxhamsters". www.boxhamsters.net. http://www.boxhamsters.net. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ Eric Barnes. "Gary L. Hardcastle: Themes in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy as Relfected in the Work of Monty Python". Mtholyoke.edu. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ebarnes/python/python.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
^ Gary L. Hardcastle & George A Reisch, ed. (2006). Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think!. Chicago: Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9593-9. Also ISBN 0-8126-9593-3
^ "RFC 2635 – DON\x27T SPEW A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings (spam*):". http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2635. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
^ "Monty Python's Flying Circus on World of Spectrum". Worldofspectrum.org. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0003260. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ "Toy Vault web site for Python-opoly, retrieved November 20, 2008". Toyvault.com. http://www.toyvault.com/pythonopoly/index.htm. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
^ "Web site for Monty Python Fluxx". Fluxxgames.com. http://fluxxgames.com/. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Monty Python

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Monty Python

Pythonline.com – Monty Python's sort-of official site, actively maintained by Eric Idle
Monty Python – Official YouTube page
Monty Python Videos – Monty Python's best videos and movies
2012 interview with Carol Cleveland, covering Flying Circus and Holy Grail
Python at ifilm.com
Pythonisms: Python quotes as figures of speech
Release of the 3-DVD Secret Policeman's Balls
40 Years of Monty Python – photo essay by TIME magazine
Monty Python Reunion event, New York, 15 October 2009

v t e Monty Python

Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin Carol Cleveland Neil Innes

Television series	Flying Circus episodes Fliegender Zirkus Personal Best

Filmography	And Now for Something Completely Different Holy Grail Life of Brian Live at the Hollywood Bowl The Meaning of Life

Studio albums	Another Record Previous Record Matching Tie and Handkerchief Holy Grail Life of Brian Contractual Obligation The Meaning of Life

Compilation albums	Instant Record Collection Final Rip Off Ultimate Rip Off Instant CD Collection Sings

Live albums	Flying Circus Live at Drury Lane Live at City Center

Specials	Parrot Sketch Not Included Live at Aspen Python Night

Documentaries	Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut)

Stage productions	Spamalot Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) An Evening Without Monty Python

Literature	Big Red Book Brand New Bok Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls

Video games	Complete Waste of Time Quest for the Holy Grail The Meaning of Life

Characters	Mr Praline Gumbys The "it's" man The Colonel Mr Creosote Killer Rabbit Other characters

Sketches	Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses Architects Argument Bruces Cheese Shop Colin "Bomber" Harris vs Colin "Bomber" Harris Crunchy Frog Dead Bishop Dead Parrot Dirty Fork Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook Election Night Special Fish Licence Fish-Slapping Dance Four Yorkshiremen The Funniest Joke in the World How Not to Be Seen Kilimanjaro Expedition Lifeboat Marriage Guidance Counsellor Ministry of Silly Walks Mouse Problem Nudge Nudge Patient Abuse Philosophers' Football Match Piranha Brothers Ron Obvious Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" Seduced Milkmen Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit Spam Spanish Inquisition Bishop Undertakers Upper Class Twit of the Year Vocational Guidance Counsellor

Songs	"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" "Decomposing Composers" "Eric the Half-a-Bee" "Every Sperm Is Sacred" "Galaxy Song" "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio" "I Like Chinese" "I've Got Two Legs" "Knights of the Round Table" "The Lumberjack Song" "Never Be Rude to an Arab" "Oliver Cromwell" "Penis Song (Not the Noel Coward Song)" "Bruces' Philosophers Song" "Sit on My Face"

Related articles	Mediagraphy The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album Do Not Adjust Your Set At Last the 1948 Show How to Irritate People Holy Flying Circus Rutland Weekend Television

Persondata
Name	Python, Monty
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"Star Power" redirects here. For the video game mechanic, see common gameplay elements in the Guitar Hero series. For Philippine reality talent show, see Star Power (TV series).

Wiz Khalifa
Wiz Khalifa in Brooklyn, New York in August 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Cameron Jibril Thomaz
Born	(1987-09-08) September 8, 1987 (age 24) Minot, North Dakota, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Rostrum, Taylor Gang, Warner Bros., Atlantic
Associated acts	Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Curren$y, Big Sean, Chevy Woods, Mac Miller, Juicy J, Tinie Tempah, Yelawolf, Maroon 5, Big K.R.I.T.
Website	wizkhalifa.com

Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.^[1] Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records.^[2] He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011.^[3]

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Discography
5 Awards and nominations
6 References
7 External links

Early life [link]

Khalifa was born on September 8, 1987 to a mother and a father serving in the military.^[1]^[4] His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. His parents' military service caused him to move regularly: Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School.^[1]^[4]

His stage name is derived from khalifa, an Arabic word meaning "successor", and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy .^[5] Khalifa stated to spinner.com that the name also came from being called "young Wiz 'cause I was good at everything I did, and my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name; he felt like that's what I was doing with my music." He got his stage name tattooed on his 17th birthday.^[6]^[7] He includes Jimi Hendrix, Camp Lo, The Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony among his influences.^[8]

Career [link]

[edit] 2005–08: Early mixtapes and Show and Prove

Rostrum Records president Benjy Grinberg first heard about Wiz Khalifa in 2004 when the rapper's contribution to a mixtape of various new Pittsburgh artists attracted his interest.^[9] When Grinberg finally met the 16-year-old artist, he immediately decided he wanted to work with him, later telling HitQuarters: "Even though he wasn’t all the way developed you could just tell that he was a diamond in the rough, and that with some polishing, guidance and backing he could become something special."^[9] Khalifa signed to the label shortly after and began a seven year period of artist development.^[9]

Khalifa released his first mixtape, Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, in 2005. The mixtape paved the way for his first full length album entitled Show and Prove in 2006. Khalifa was declared an "artist to watch" that year in Rolling Stone magazine.^[10]^[11]

In 2007, Khalifa signed to Warner Bros. Records and released two mixtapes through Rostrum Records: Grow Season, hosted by DJ Green Lantern and released on July 4, 2007, and Prince of the City 2, released on November 20, 2007. His debut Warner Bros. single "Say Yeah" reached number 25 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 music chart and number 20 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks. The song samples "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay. Khalifa's vocals from "Say Yeah" appear near the end of Pittsburgh mash up producer Girl Talk's 2008 album, Feed the Animals, over music from Underworld's "Born Slippy", Usher's "Love in This Club", and the Cure's "In Between Days".^[12] Khalifa appeared with The Game, David Banner and Play-n-Skillz at U92's Summer Jam at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah on August 2, 2008.^[13] Khalifa released the mixtapes Star Power in September 2008, and Flight School in April 2009 on Rostrum Records.

Khalifa parted ways with Warner Bros. Records in July 2009 after numerous delays in releasing his planned debut album for the label, First Flight. Khalifa stated to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that, "I learned a lot during my time there and matured as an artist during the process. I'm happy to be moving on with all of my material and having the chance to be in control of my next moves".^[14] Khalifa appeared with Girl Talk, Modey Lemon, Donora, Grand Buffet, and Don Caballero at the Amphitheatre at Station Square in Pittsburgh on July 31, 2009, where he announced that his relationship with Warner Bros. was over.^[15]

Wiz Khalifa performing at Columbia University in New York City in April 2010.

[edit] 2009–10: Deal or No Deal

Continuing his association with Rostrum Records, Khalifa released the single "Teach U to Fly", and the mixtape How Fly, a collaboration with New Orleans rapper Curren$y, on August 9, 2009.^[14] Khalifa introduced a more melodic style on the mixtape, alternating between singing and rapping. He opened for Wu-Tang Clan member U-God at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon in New York City.^[16] Khalifa released the mixtape Burn After Rolling on November 2, 2009, where he raps over familiar beats from other artists, including the songs "If I Were A Boy" and "Diva" by Beyoncé, "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun, "Luchini AKA This Is It" by Camp Lo, and "Best I Ever Had" by Drake.^[17] Khalifa released his second album, Deal or No Deal, on November 24, 2009.^[18]

Khalifa performed at Emo's in Austin, Texas in March 2010 as part of the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival.^[19] He appeared on the cover of XXL magazine that same month, for the magazine's annual list of Top 10 Freshman, which included Donnis, J. Cole, Pill, Freddie Gibbs, and Fashawn. Wiz Khalifa was named 2010 "Rookie Of The Year" by "The Source", with alongside Rick Ross, "The Man Of The Year".^[20] He toured with rapper Yelawolf on a 20-date tour, the Deal Or No Deal Tour.^[21] Khalifa released the free mixtape Kush and Orange Juice for download on April 14, 2010. Due to Khalifa's devoted grassroots fan base, the mixtape became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter with the hash tag #kushandorangejuice, and "Kush and Orange Juice download” ranked No. 1 on Google’s hot search trends.^[22]

2010: Signing with Atlantic Records [link]

Citing music industry insiders, New York magazine wrote that Khalifa signed with Atlantic Records in April 2010, although the rapper did not confirm it.^[23] He stated to AllHipHop in June 2010 that he was working on a new album, but was weighing his options and had not yet decided on a label to distribute it.^[24] Khalifa confirmed to MTV on July 30 that he was signing an Atlantic Records deal.^[25]

Wiz Khalifa on stage in Boston in August 2010.

Khalifa was featured in a remix and video for the 2010 Rick Ross single "Super High", alongside Curren$y.^[26] He guested on the mixtape Grey Goose, Head Phones, and Thirsty Women by St. Louis rapper M.C,^[27] and was featured on the track "The Breeze (Cool)" on rapper Wale's August 2010 mixtape More About Nothing.^[28] Khalifa was named MTV's Hottest Breakthrough MC of 2010, winning with nearly 70,000 votes, and beating out finalists Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Travis Porter, and Diggy Simmons.^[29]

Khalifa appeared at the Soundset 2010 festival in May 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside Method Man & Redman, Del the Funky Homosapien and Hieroglyphics, Atmosphere, Murs, Cage, and others.^[30] He also performed at the 2010 Rock the Bells festival, along with hip hop veterans Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim, KRS-One, Jedi Mind Tricks and Slick Rick.^[31] Khalifa declined an invitation to tour with rapper Drake and launched his own "Waken Baken" tour, a 50-city national tour with rapper Yelawolf. The tour, scheduled to last from September to November 2010, has, as of October, sold out every venue.^[8] On November 2010, during his "Waken Baken" tour at East Carolina University, Wiz Khalifa was arrested for possession and trafficking of marijuana. He was then released the next morning after a $300K bail, and resumed his tour. Khalifa performed in a cypher during the 2010 BET Hip-Hop Awards. He recited his verse from the song, "The Check Point", from his mixtape with Curren$y, How Fly.^[32]

[edit] 2010–11: Mainstream success and Rolling Papers

Wiz Khalifa at SXSW in 2010

Khalifa released "Black and Yellow", his first single for Rostrum/Atlantic, produced by Stargate, which has received radio airplay.^[8]^[33] The single was peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; the title of the song refers to the colours of the City of Pittsburgh.^[34] Khalifa released his debut album with Atlantic Records in 2011.^[35] He appeared with Curren$y on the track "Scaling the Building" on producer Ski Beatz' 2010 album, 24 Hour Karate School.^[36] Khalifa's record label is Taylor Gang Records, named after his love of Chuck Taylor All-Stars^[8], and Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, PA, where he graduated from.

On March 29, 2011, Khalifa released his first studio album, Rolling Papers. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 197,000 copies in the United States.^[37] Shortly afterward on March 31, 2011 Wiz Khalifa performed at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as part of the school's annual Dooley's Weekend.^[38] On June 26, 2011, Khalifa was nominated and won Best New Artist at the BET Awards of 2011.^[39] Khalifa collaborated with British rapper Tinie Tempah whom Tinie announced in an interview with Rolling Stone that his next single is to be called "Till I'm Gone" and would feature Wiz Khalifa and is to be produced by Stargate.^[40]^[41] The single and the video song were released at the end of June 2011.^[42]

Personal life [link]

Thomaz proposed to model Amber Rose on March 1, 2012 showing off the ring on Twitter.^[43] He is personal friends with Snoop Dogg, Juicy J, Yelawolf, and fellow Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller.^[44]

In March 2012, Thomaz purchased a 2.8 private wooded acres with a 3,891-square-foot residence in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, a small community southwest of Pittsburgh. The residence includes 5-bedroom, 4-bath eco-friendly, Brazilian Koa floors, stainless steel appliances, a separate guest house, and a lavish master suite with high ceilings.^[45] He currently resides there with his fiancée Amber Rose.

Discography [link]

Main article: Wiz Khalifa discography

Studio albums

Collaborative albums

2011: Mac & Devin Go to High School (with Snoop Dogg)
2012: TBA (with Taylor Gang)

Awards and nominations [link]

Year	Organization	Award	Nominated work	Result
2011	MTV European Music Awards	Best New	Wiz Khalifa	Nominated
	MTV European Music Awards	Best Push	Wiz Khalifa	Nominated
	American Music Awards	Sprint's Best New Artist	Wiz Khalifa	Won
	Grammy Awards	Best Rap Song	"Black & Yellow"	Nominated
	Grammy Awards	Best Rap Performance	"Black & Yellow"	Nominated
2012	Billboard Music Awards	Best New Artist	Wiz Khalifa	Won

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c Richards, Dave (September 18, 2008). "He'll make it hot". Erie Times-News. Retrieved on September 18, 2008.
^ "Rising rap Wiz kid's got the right mix". Boston Herald('the edge' Boston Herald.Com). August 6, 2010. http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/general/view.bg?articleid=1272586&srvc=home&position=also. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
^ "Pre-Order Rolling Papers". Wiz Khalifa. http://wizkhalifa.com/rollingpapers/. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Cordor, Cyril. "Wiz Khalifa". Allmusic. Retrieved on June 23, 2008.
^ "Exclusive interview: hip hop phenomenon Wiz Khalifa". Brotha Ash Productions. March 18, 2006. http://www.brothaashproductions.com/WizKhalifaInterview.htm. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
^ Wiz Khalifa: 'I got name tattoo at 17' by Jennifer Still. March 25, 2011
^ Thompson, Troy (March 12, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa Interview: SXSW 2010". spinner.com. Retrieved on March 23, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Eustice, Kyle (October 7, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa has a global outlook on life". Westword. Retrieved on October 8, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Interview With Benjy Grinberg". HitQuarters. 17 Oct 2011. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_BGrinberg.html. Retrieved 19 Oct 2011.
^ "Wiz Khalifa". November 28, 2006. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on August 2, 2007.
^ ^a ^b Kuperstein, Slava (2011-09-10). "Wiz Khalifa Working On Next Album | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHop DX. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.16814/title.wiz-khalifa-working-on-next-album. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
^ Breihan, Tom (June 24, 2008). "Girl Talk's Pop-Music Car-Wreck". The Village Voice. Retrieved on June 25, 2008.
^ Burger, David (August 1, 2008). "U92's Summer Jam: Rap producers get a chance to shine ". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved on August 2, 2008.
^ ^a ^b Mervis, Scott (July 18, 2009). "Wiz Khalifa, Warner Bros. part ways". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on July 18, 2009.
^ Tady, Scott (August 1, 2009). "A new wave hits Pittsburgh music". Beaver County Times. Retrieved on August 2, 2009.
^ Falkowski, Jamie (October 15, 2009). "CMJ ’09: Wiz Khalifa". Time Out New York, Issue 733. Retrieved on October 19, 2009.
^ McCray, Mike (November 3, 2009). "Mixtape Review: Wiz Khalifa". Creative Loafing Charlotte. Retrieved on November 8, 2009.
^ Todd, Deborah M. (November 26, 2009). "Rapper Wiz Khalifa drops 'Deal or No Deal' after frustrating time with Warner Bros.". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on November 27, 2009.
^ Freedman, Pete (March 25, 2010). "It's Good To Make Time For A Bro, Even After SXSW and NX35.". Dallas Observer. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.
^ Rick Ross Named The Source's Man Of The Year
^ Noz, Andrew (March 29, 2010). "Review: Wiz Khalifa & Yelawolf @ 9:30 Club". Washington City Paper. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.
^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (April 14, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa's 'Kush and Orange Juice' mixtape blows up". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on April 14, 2010.
^ Ramirez, Erika (May 4, 2010). "Hip-Hop’s New Business Model: Major-Label Rappers Stay ‘Independent’". New York. Retrieved on May 15, 2010.
^ Crates, Jake (June 22, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa Sells Out Tour; Talks New Project". AllHipHop. Retrieved on June 26, 2010.
^ Ziegbe, Mawuse; Calloway, Sway (July 30, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa Was Working On Atlantic Deal 'For A Minute'" MTV. Retrieved on August 23, 2010.
^ Reid, Shaheem (July 9, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa Calls Rick Ross' 'Super High' Remix 'A Blessing'". MTV. Retrieved on September 5, 2010.
^ Johnson, Kevin. J. (June 24, 2010). "Rapper M.C. grabs attention on new mixtape". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved on June 26, 2010.
^ McCray, Mike (August 17, 2010). "Mixtape Review: Wale’s More About Nothing". Creative Loafing Charlotte. Retrieved on August 20, 2010.
^ MTV News staff (July 25, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa Is MTV News' 'Hottest Breakthrough MC Of 2010'!". Retrieved on August 11, 2010.
^ Riemensheider, Chris (May 27, 2010). "A different atmosphere at Rhymesayers". Star Tribune. Retrieved on September 3, 2010.
^ Humphress, Corey (May 27, 2010). "Wu-Tang Clan, Rakim, More to Perform Full Albums at Rock the Bells 2010". Paste. Retrieved on June 2, 2010.
^ BET Hip Hop Awards 2010 Cypher No.1 (Wiz Khalifa, Bones, YeloWolf & Raekwon)
^ Mervis, Scott (September 2, 2010). "Local Scene: 09/02/10". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on September 5, 2010.
^ Lipshutz, Jason (October 13, 2010). "Wiz Khalifa's "Black & Yellow" And Four Other Hot Football Fight Songs". Billboard. Retrieved on October 15, 2010.
^ Todd, Deborah M. (September 7, 2010). "Rising hip-hop stars call Pittsburgh home". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on September 8, 2010.
^ Feldman, Nick (September 22, 2010). "Legendary Producer Ski Beatz Proves He Hasn't Missed a Beat with 24 Hour Karate School". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved on October 5, 2010.
^ Caulfield, Keith (April 6, 2011). "Britney Spears Snares Sixth No. 1 on Billboard 200 with 'Femme Fatale'". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/britney-spears-snares-sixth-no-1-on-billboard-1005113312.story. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
^ "Wiz Khalifa at Emory". http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=29330.
^ "Best New Artist". BET. http://www.bet.com/shows/bet-awards/2011/nominees/best-new-artist.html. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
^ Tinie Tempah is Optimistic About Breaking Through in the U.S by Matthew Perpetua on 18 April 2011. RollingStone.com.
^ Tinie Tempah announces new single on RollingStone.com on TinieTempah.com. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
^ First Look: Tinie Tempah feat Wiz Khalifa. playforlife.fm. Retrieved on July 1, 2011.
^ https://twitter.com/#!/RealWizKhalifa/status/175291615601102849/
^ Tobias, Jonathan. "DXnext: Mac Miller". HipHopDX, Cheri Media Group. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/dxnext/id.185/title.dxnext-mac-miller. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
^ http://www.rap-up.com/2012/03/28/wiz-khalifa-purchases-pennsylvania-pad/
^ Markman, Rob (2011-09-09). "Wiz Khalifa Already 'Working On' Rolling Papers Follow-Up - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1670545/wiz-khalifa-rolling-papers-follow-up-album.jhtml. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
^ John Woodruff (2011-10-09). "Wiz Khalifa begins work on new album". TheCelebrityCafe.com. http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/wiz-khalifa-begins-work-new-album-09-10-2011. Retrieved 2012-02-04.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa

Discography

Studio albums

Rolling Papers
O.N.I.F.C.

Collabration albums

Mac & Devin Go to High School (with Snoop Dogg)

Independent albums

Show and Prove
Deal or No Deal

Mixtapes

Kush & Orange Juice

Singles

Rolling Papers	"Black and Yellow" "Roll Up" "On My Level" "No Sleep"

O.N.I.F.C.	"Work Hard, Play Hard"

Collabration singles

"Young, Wild & Free"

Featured singles

Promotional singles

Persondata
Name	Wiz Khalifa
Alternative names	Thomaz, Cameron
Short description	Rapper
Date of birth	September 8, 1987
Place of birth	Minot, North Dakota
Date of death	February 5, 2012
Place of death	Los Angeles, California

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiz_Khalifa

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Bing Crosby
Crosby on June 15, 1942
Background information
Birth name	Harry Lillis Crosby
Born	(1903-05-03)May 3, 1903^[1] Tacoma, Washington, US
Died	October 14, 1977(1977-10-14) (aged 74) Madrid, Spain
Genres	Traditional pop, jazz, vocal^[2]
Occupations	Singer, actor
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1926–1977
Labels	Brunswick, Decca, Reprise, RCA Victor, Verve, United Artists
Associated acts	Bob Hope, Dixie Lee, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, The Rhythm Boys, Rosemary Clooney, David Bowie, Louis Armstrong
Website	bingcrosby.com

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977)^[3] was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artistes of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.^[4]

A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses.^[5] His early career coincided with technical recording innovations; this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como,^[6] Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive," ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII.^[7]^[8] Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.^[8]

Crosby exerted an important influence on the development of the postwar recording industry. He worked for NBC at the time and wanted to record his shows; however, most broadcast networks did not allow recording. This was mainly because of the quality of recording at the time. While in Europe performing during the war, Crosby had witnessed tape recording, on which The Crosby Research Foundation would come to have many patents. The company also developed equipment and recording techniques such as the Laugh Track which are still in use today.^[9] In 1947, he invested $50,000 in the Ampex company, which built North America's first commercial reel-to-reel tape recorder. He left NBC to work for ABC because NBC was not interested in recording at the time. This proved beneficial because ABC accepted him and his new ideas.^[10] Crosby then became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. He gave one of the first Ampex Model 200 recorders to his friend, musician Les Paul, which led directly to Paul's invention of multitrack recording. Along with Frank Sinatra, Crosby was one of the principal backers behind the famous United Western Recorders recording studio complex in Los Angeles.^[11]

During the "Golden Age of Radio," performers often had to recreate their live shows a second time for the west coast time zone. Through the medium of recording, Crosby constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) being used in motion picture production. This became the industry standard.

Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way, and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The Bells of St. Mary's the next year, becoming the first of four actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award.^[12] Crosby is one of the 22 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life [link]

Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903,^[1] in a house his father built at 1112 North J Street.^[13] In 1906, Crosby's family moved to Spokane, Washington.^[14] In 1913, Crosby's father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Ave.^[15] The house now sits on the campus of Bing's alma mater Gonzaga University and formerly housed the Alumni Association.

He was the fourth of seven children: brothers Larry (1895–1975), Everett (1896–1966), Ted (1900–1973), and Bob (1913–1993); and two sisters, Catherine (1904–1974) and Mary Rose (1906–1990). His parents were Harry Lincoln Crosby (1870–1950), a bookkeeper, and Catherine Helen (known as Kate) (née Harrigan; 1873–1964). Crosby's mother was a second generation Irish-American.^[16] His father was of English descent; some of his ancestors had emigrated to what would become the U.S. in the 17th century, and included Patience Brewster, the daughter of the Pilgrim leader and Mayflower passenger William Brewster (c. 1567 – April 10, 1644).^[17]

In 1910, six-year-old Harry Crosby was forever renamed. The Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called "The Bingville Bugle".^[18]^[19] Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosby's enthusiasm for "The Bugle" and noting Crosby's laugh, took a liking to him and called him "Bingo from Bingville". Eventually the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck.^[20]

In 1917, Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane's "Auditorium," where he witnessed some of the finest acts of the day, including Al Jolson, who held Crosby spellbound with his ad libbing and spoofs of Hawaiian songs. Crosby later described Jolson's delivery as "electric".^[21]

Popular success [link]

Music [link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011)

In 1923, Bing Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of high school students much younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Bing Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, who performed at dances both for high school students and club-goers. However, the group disbanded after two years. .^[22]

By 1925, Crosby had formed a vocal duo with partner Al Rinker, brother of singer Mildred Bailey. Mildred introduced Al and Bing to Paul Whiteman, who was at that time America's most famous bandleader. Hired for $150 a week, they made their debut on December 6, 1926 at the Tivoli Theatre (Chicago). Their first recording was "I've Got The Girl," with Don Clark's Orchestra, but the Columbia-issued record did them no vocal favors, as it was inadvertently recorded at a speed slower than it should have been, which increased the singers' pitch when played at 78 rpm. Throughout his career, Bing Crosby often credited Mildred Bailey for getting him his first important job in the entertainment business.

Even as the Crosby and Rinker duo was increasing in popularity, Whiteman added a third member to the group. The threesome, now including pianist and aspiring songwriter Harry Barris, were dubbed "The Rhythm Boys". They joined the Whiteman touring act, performing and recording with musicians Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and Eddie Lang and Hoagy Carmichael, and appeared together in a Whiteman movie.

Crosby soon became the star attraction of the Rhythm Boys, and in 1928 had his first number one hit with the Whiteman orchestra, a jazz-influenced rendition of "Ol' Man River". However, Crosby's reported taste for alcohol and his growing dissatisfaction with Whiteman led to the Rhythm Boys quitting to join the Gus Arnheim Orchestra. During his time with Arnheim, the other two Rhythm Boys were increasingly pushed to the background as the emphasis was on Crosby. Harry Barris wrote several of Crosby's subsequent hits including "At Your Command," "I Surrender Dear", and "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams". But the members of the band had a falling out and split, setting the stage for Crosby's solo career.^[23]

On September 2, 1931, Crosby made his solo radio debut.^[24] Before the end of the year, he signed with both Brunswick Records and CBS Radio. Doing a weekly 15-minute radio broadcast, Crosby quickly became a huge hit.^[23] His songs "Out of Nowhere", "Just One More Chance", "At Your Command" and "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)" were all among the best selling songs of 1931.^[23]

As the 1930s unfolded, Crosby became the leading singer in America. Ten of the top 50 songs for 1931 featured Crosby, either solo or with others. A so-called "Battle of the Baritones" with singing star Russ Columbo proved short-lived, replaced with the slogan "Bing Was King." Crosby played the lead in a series of sound era musical comedy short films for Mack Sennett, signed a long-term deal with Jack Kapp's new record company Decca, and starred in his first full-length feature, 1932's The Big Broadcast, the first of 55 films in which he received top billing. He would appear in 79 pictures.

Around this time Crosby co-starred on radio with The Carl Fenton Orchestra on a popular CBS radio show. By 1936, he'd replaced his former boss, Paul Whiteman, as the host of NBC's Kraft Music Hall, the weekly radio program where he remained for the next ten years. "Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)", which also showcased one of his then-trademark whistling interludes, became his theme song and signature tune.

Crosby's much-imitated style helped take popular singing beyond the kind of "belting" associated with boisterous performers like Al Jolson, who had been obliged to reach the back seats in New York theatres without the aid of the microphone. As Henry Pleasants noted in The Great American Popular Singers, something new had entered American music, a style that might be called "singing in American," with conversational ease. This new sound led to the popular epithet "crooner".

Crosby in Road to Singapore (1940)

Crosby made numerous live appearances before American troops fighting in the European Theater. He also learned how to pronounce German from written scripts, and would read propaganda broadcasts intended for the German forces. The nickname "Der Bingle" for him was understood to have become current among Crosby's German listeners, and came to be used by his English-speaking fans. In a poll of U.S. troops at the close of World War II, Crosby topped the list as the person who had done the most for G.I. morale, ahead of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower, and Bob Hope.

"White Christmas"[link]

From White Christmas trailer (1954)

The biggest hit song of Crosby's career was his recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", which he first introduced on a Christmas Day radio broadcast in 1941 (of which no extant copy is known), and soon thereafter in his 1942 movie Holiday Inn. Crosby's recording hit the charts on October 3, 1942, and rose to No. 1 on October 31, where it stayed for 11 weeks. A holiday perennial, the song was repeatedly re-released by Decca, charting another 16 times. It topped the charts again in 1945, and for a third time in January 1947. The song remains the best-selling single of all time.^[23] According to Guinness World Records, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has "sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles."^[25] Crosby's recording was so popular that he was obliged to re-record it in 1947 using the same musicians and backup singers; the original 1942 master had become damaged due to its frequent use in pressing additional singles. Though the two versions are very similar, it is the 1947 recording which is most familiar today. Crosby was dismissive of his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully."

Motion pictures [link]

See Bing Crosby filmography

Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour

With 1,077,900,000 movie tickets sold, Crosby is by that measure the third most popular actor of all time, behind Clark Gable and John Wayne.^[26] The Quigley Publishing Company's International Motion Picture Almanac lists Crosby in a tie for second on the "All Time Number One Stars List" with Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and Burt Reynolds.^[27] Crosby's most popular film, White Christmas, grossed $30 million in 1954 ($260 million in current value).^[26] Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way in 1944, and was nominated for the 1945 sequel, The Bells of Saint Mary's. He received critical acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic entertainer in The Country Girl, and received his third Academy Award nomination.

Crosby with Bob Hope in Road to Bali (1952)

Crosby starred with Bob Hope in seven Road to musical comedies between 1940 and 1962, cementing the two entertainers as an on-and-off duo, despite never officially declaring themselves a "team" in the sense that Laurel and Hardy or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were teams. The series consists of Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952), and The Road to Hong Kong (1962), and Crosby and Hope were planning another entry called The Road to the Fountain of Youth in 1977, which was dropped upon Crosby's death. Appearing solo, Crosby and Hope frequently made note of the other during their various appearances, typically in a comically insulting fashion, and they appeared together countless times on stage, radio, and television over the decades as well as cameos in several additional films.

By the late 1950s, Crosby's singing career had evolved into that of an avuncular elder statesman, and his albums Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings and Bing With A Beat sold reasonably well,^[23] even in the rock 'n roll era. In 1960, Crosby starred in High Time, a collegiate comedy with Fabian and Tuesday Weld that foretold the emerging gap between older Crosby fans and a new generation of films and music.^[23]

Warner Bros. cartoons occasionally caricatured Crosby, alternately as an animal and as himself. His recognizable appearance popped up in I've Got to Sing a Torch Song, Hollywood Steps Out and What's Up, Doc?, while bird versions appeared in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos, Swooner Crooner and Curtain Razor. Bingo Crosbyana had an insect version of him.

Television [link]

The Fireside Theater (1950) was Crosby's first television production. The series of 26-minute shows was filmed at Hal Roach Studios rather than performed live on the air. The "telefilms" were syndicated to individual television stations.

Crosby and his family in a skit for his 1974 Christmas special.

Crosby was a frequent guest on the musical variety shows of the 1950s and 1960s. He was especially closely associated with ABC's variety show The Hollywood Palace. He was the show's first and most frequent guest host, and appeared annually on its Christmas edition with his wife Kathryn and his younger children. In the early 1970s he made two famous late appearances on the Flip Wilson Show, singing duets with the comedian. Crosby's last TV appearance was a Christmas special filmed in London in September 1977 and aired just weeks after his death. It was on this special that Crosby recorded a duet of "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Peace on Earth" with the flamboyant rock star David Bowie. It was rush-released as a single 45-rpm record, and has since become a staple of holiday radio, and the final popular hit of Crosby's career. At the end of the century, TV Guide listed the Crosby-Bowie duet as one of the 25 most memorable musical moments of 20th-century television.

Bing Crosby Productions, affiliated with Desilu Studios and later CBS Television Studios, produced a number of television series, including Crosby's own unsuccessful ABC sitcom The Bing Crosby Show in the 1964–1965 season (with co-stars Beverly Garland and Frank McHugh). The company produced two ABC medical dramas, Ben Casey (1961–1966) and Breaking Point (1963–1964), the popular Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) military comedy on CBS, as well as the lesser-known show Slattery's People (1964–1965).

Singing style and vocal characteristics [link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Crosby was one of the first singers to exploit the intimacy of the microphone, rather than using the deep, loud "vaudeville style" associated with Al Jolson and others. Crosby's love and appreciation of jazz music helped bring the genre to a wider mainstream audience. Within the framework of the novelty singing style of The Rhythm Boys, Crosby bent notes and added off-tune phrasing, an approach that was firmly rooted in jazz. He had already been introduced to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith prior to his first appearance on record. Crosby and Armstrong would remain professionally friendly for decades, notably in the 1956 film High Society, where they sang the duet "Now You Has Jazz."

During the early portion of his solo career (about 1931–1934), Crosby's emotional, often pleading style of crooning was extremely popular. But Jack Kapp (manager of Brunswick and later Decca) talked Crosby into dropping many of his jazzier mannerisms, in favor of a straight-ahead clear vocal style.

Crosby also elaborated on a further idea of Al Jolson's: phrasing, or the art of making a song's lyric ring true. His success in doing so was influential. "I used to tell Sinatra over and over," said Tommy Dorsey, "there's only one singer you ought to listen to and his name is Crosby. All that matters to him is the words, and that's the only thing that ought to for you, too."

Vocal critic Henry Pleasants wrote:

[While] the octave B flat to B flat in Bing's voice at that time [1930s] is, to my ears, one of the loveliest I have heard in forty-five years of listening to baritones, both classical and popular, it dropped conspicuously in later years. From the mid-1950s, Bing was more comfortable in a bass range while maintaining a baritone quality, with the best octave being G to G, or even F to F. In a recording he made of 'Dardanella' with Louis Armstrong in 1960, he attacks lightly and easily on a low E flat. This is lower than most opera basses care to venture, and they tend to sound as if they were in the cellar when they get there.^[28]

Career statistics [link]

Crosby's was among the most popular and successful musical acts of the 20th century. Although Billboard Magazine operated under different methodologies for the bulk of Crosby's career, his chart numbers remain astonishing: 383 chart singles, including 41 No. 1 hits. Crosby had separate charting singles in every calendar year between 1931 and 1954; the annual re-release of "White Christmas" extended that streak to 1957. He had 24 separate popular singles in 1939 alone. Billboard's statistician Joel Whitburn determined Crosby to be America's most successful recording act of the 1930s, and again in the 1940s.

Crosby with Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)

For 15 years (1934, 1937, 1940, 1943–1954), Crosby was among the top 10 in box office drawing power, and for five of those years (1944–1948) he was tops in the world.^[23] He sang four Academy Award-winning songs – "Sweet Leilani" (1937), "White Christmas" (1942), "Swinging on a Star" (1944), "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951) – and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Going My Way (1944).

He collected 23 gold and platinum records, according to the book Million Selling Records. The Recording Industry Association of America did not institute its gold record certification program until 1958, by which point Crosby's record sales were barely a blip; prior to that point, gold records are awarded by an artist's own record company. Universal Music, current owner of Crosby's Decca catalog, has never requested RIAA certification for any of his hit singles.

Although often overlooked in many Crosby biographies, Bing charted an impressive 23 Billboard hits from 47 recorded songs with the immensely popular Andrews Sisters, whose Decca record sales were second only to Bing's throughout the 1940s. Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne were his most frequent collaborators on disc from 1939–1952, a partnership which produced four million-selling singles: "Pistol Packin' Mama," "Jingle Bells," "Don't Fence Me In," and "South America, Take it Away." They made one film appearance together in "Road to Rio" singing "You Don't Have to Know the Language," and they sang together countless times on radio shows throughout the 1940s and 1950s (appearing as guests on each other's shows quite often, as well as on many shows for the Armed Forces Radio Service during World War Two and beyond. The quartet's Top-10 Billboard hits from 1943–1945 (including "The Vict'ry Polka," "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In)," and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby?)") helped provide the musical soundtrack for America's greatest generation during the dark war years.^[29]

In 1962, Crosby was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been inducted into the halls of fame for both radio and popular music. In 2007 Crosby was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, and in 2008 into the Western Music Hall of Fame.^[30]

Entrepreneurship [link]

Mass media [link]

Crosby's radio career took a significant turn in 1945, when he clashed with NBC over his insistence that he be allowed to pre-record his radio shows. (The live production of radio shows was also reinforced by the musicians' union and ASCAP, which wanted to ensure continued work for their members.) In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, historian John Dunning wrote about German engineers having developed a tape recorder with a near-professional broadcast quality standard:

[Crosby saw] an enormous advantage in prerecording his radio shows. The scheduling could now be done at the star's convenience. He could do four shows a week, if he chose, and then take a month off. But the networks and sponsors were adamantly opposed. The public wouldn't stand for 'canned' radio, the networks argued. There was something magic for listeners in the fact that what they were hearing was being performed, and heard everywhere, at that precise instant. Some of the best moments in comedy came when a line was blown and the star had to rely on wit to rescue a bad situation. Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, and, yes, Crosby were masters at this, and the networks weren't about to give it up easily.

Crosby's insistence eventually factored into the further development of magnetic tape sound recording and the radio industry's widespread adoption of it.^[31]^[32]^[33] He used his clout, both professional and financial, to innovate new methods of reproducing audio of his performances. But NBC (and competitor CBS) were also insistent, refusing to air prerecorded radio programs. Crosby walked away from the network and stayed off the air for seven months, creating a legal battle with Kraft, his sponsor, that was settled out of court. Crosby returned to the air for the last 13 weeks of the 1945–1946 season.

The Mutual network, on the other hand, had pre-recorded some of its programs as early as the 1938 run of The Shadow with Orson Welles. And the new ABC network, which had been formed out of the sale of the old NBC Blue network in 1943 following a federal anti-trust action, was willing to join Mutual in breaking the tradition. ABC offered Crosby $30,000 per week to produce a recorded show every Wednesday that would be sponsored by Philco. He would also get an additional $40,000 from 400 independent stations for the rights to broadcast the 30-minute show, which was sent to them every Monday on three 16-inch lacquer/aluminum discs that played ten minutes per side at 33⅓ rpm.

Crosby wanted to change to recorded production for several reasons. The legend that has been most often told is that it would give him more time for his golf game. And he did record his first Philco program in August 1947 so he could enter the Jasper National Park Invitational Golf Tournament in September, just when the new radio season was to start. But golf was not the most important reason.

Though Crosby did want more time to tend his other business and leisure activities, he also sought better quality through recording, including being able to eliminate mistakes and control the timing of his show performances. Because his own Bing Crosby Enterprises produced the show, he could purchase the latest and best sound equipment and arrange the microphones his way; the logistics of mic placement had long been a hotly debated issue in every recording studio since the beginning of the electrical era. No longer would he have to wear the hated toupee on his head previously required by CBS and NBC for his live audience shows (he preferred a hat). He could also record short promotions for his latest investment, the world's first frozen orange juice, sold under the brand name Minute Maid. This investment allowed Crosby to make more money by finding a loophole whereby the IRS couldn't tax him at a 77% rate.^[34]

The transcription method posed problems, however. The acetate surface coating of the aluminum discs was little better than the wax that Edison had used at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, with the same limited dynamic range and frequency response.

But Murdo MacKenzie of Bing Crosby Enterprises had seen a demonstration of the German Magnetophon in June 1947—the same device that Jack Mullin had brought back from Radio Frankfurt, along with 50 reels of tape, at the end of the war. It was one of the magnetic tape recorders that BASF and AEG had built in Germany starting in 1935. The 6.5mm ferric-oxide-coated tape could record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality sound. Alexander M. Poniatoff ordered his Ampex company, which he'd founded in 1944, to manufacture an improved version of the Magnetophone.

Crosby hired Mullin to start recording his Philco Radio Time show on his German-made machine in August 1947, using the same 50 reels of I.G. Farben magnetic tape that Mullin had found at a radio station at Bad Nauheim near Frankfurt while working for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The crucial advantage was editing. As Crosby wrote in his autobiography:

By using tape, I could do a thirty-five or forty-minute show, then edit it down to the twenty-six or twenty-seven minutes the program ran. In that way, we could take out jokes, gags, or situations that didn't play well and finish with only the prime meat of the show; the solid stuff that played big. We could also take out the songs that didn't sound good. It gave us a chance to first try a recording of the songs in the afternoon without an audience, then another one in front of a studio audience. We'd dub the one that came off best into the final transcription. It gave us a chance to ad lib as much as we wanted, knowing that excess ad libbing could be sliced from the final product. If I made a mistake in singing a song or in the script, I could have some fun with it, then retain any of the fun that sounded amusing.

Mullin's 1976 memoir of these early days of experimental recording agrees with Crosby's account:

In the evening, Crosby did the whole show before an audience. If he muffed a song then, the audience loved it – thought it was very funny – but we would have to take out the show version and put in one of the rehearsal takes. Sometimes, if Crosby was having fun with a song and not really working at it, we had to make it up out of two or three parts. This ad lib way of working is commonplace in the recording studios today, but it was all new to us.

Crosby invested US$50,000 in Ampex with an eye towards producing more machines. In 1948, the second season of Philco shows was taped with the new Ampex Model 200 tape recorder using the new Scotch 111 tape from the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) company. Mullin explained how one new broadcasting technique was invented on the Crosby show with these machines:

One time Bob Burns, the hillbilly comic, was on the show, and he threw in a few of his folksy farm stories, which of course were not in Bill Morrow's script. Today they wouldn't seem very off-color, but things were different on radio then. They got enormous laughs, which just went on and on. We couldn't use the jokes, but Bill asked us to save the laughs. A couple of weeks later he had a show that wasn't very funny, and he insisted that we put in the salvaged laughs. Thus the laugh-track was born.

Crosby had launched the tape recorder revolution in America. In his 1950 film Mr. Music, Bing Crosby is seen singing into one of the new Ampex tape recorders that reproduced his voice better than anything else. Also quick to adopt tape recording was his friend Bob Hope.

Mullin continued to work for Crosby to develop a videotape recorder (VTR). Television production was mostly live television in its early years, but Crosby wanted the same ability to record that he had achieved in radio. 1950's The Fireside Theater, sponsored by Procter and Gamble, was his first television production. Mullin had not yet succeeded with video tape, so Crosby filmed the series of 26-minute shows at the Hal Roach Studios, and the "telefilms" were syndicated to individual television stations.

Crosby did not remain a television producer, but continued to finance the development of videotape. Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE), gave the world's first demonstration of videotape recording in Los Angeles on November 11, 1951. Developed by John T. Mullin and Wayne R. Johnson since 1950, the device aired what were described as "blurred and indistinct" images, using a modified Ampex 200 tape recorder and standard quarter-inch (6.3 mm) audio tape moving at 360 inches (9.1 m) per second.^[35]

TV stations [link]

A Bing Crosby-led group purchased KCOP-TV station in 1954.^[36] NAFI Corporation and Bing Crosby purchase together the television station, KPTV, for $4 million on September 1, 1959.^[37] In 1960, NAFI purchased KCOP from Crosby's group.^[36]

Thoroughbred horse racing [link]

Crosby was a fan of thoroughbred horse racing and bought his first racehorse in 1935. In 1937, he became a founding partner of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and a member of its Board of Directors. Operating from the Del Mar Racetrack at Del Mar, California, the group included millionaire businessman Charles S. Howard, who owned a successful racing stable that included Seabiscuit. His son, Lindsay Howard, became one of Crosby's closest friends; Crosby named his son Lindsay after him, and would purchase his 40-room Hillsborough estate from Lindsay in 1965.

Crosby and Lindsay Howard formed Binglin Stable to race and breed thoroughbred horses at a ranch in Moorpark in Ventura County, California. They also established the Binglin stock farm in Argentina, where they raced horses at Hipódromo de Palermo in Palermo, Buenos Aires. A number of Argentine-bred horses were purchased and shipped to race in the United States. On August 12, 1938, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club hosted a $25,000 winner-take-all match race won by Charles S. Howard's Seabiscuit over Binglin's horse Ligaroti. In 1943, Binglin's horse Don Bingo won the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

The Binglin Stable partnership came to an end in 1953 as a result of a liquidation of assets by Crosby, who needed to raise enough funds to pay the hefty federal and state inheritance taxes on his deceased wife's estate.^[38] The Bing Crosby Breeders' Cup Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack is named in his honor.

Crosby was also a co-owner of the British colt Meadow Court, with jockey Johnny Longden's friend Max Bell. Meadow Court won the 1965 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and the Irish Derby. In the Irish Derby's winner's circle at the Curragh, Crosby sang "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."

Though Crosby's stables had some success, he often joked about his horseracing failures as part of his radio appearances. "Crosby's horse finally came in" became a running gag.

Crosby the sportsman [link]

Crosby had an interest in sports. In the 1930s, his friend and former college classmate, Gonzaga head coach Mike Pecarovich appointed Crosby as an assistant football coach.^[39] From 1946 until the end of his life, he was part-owner of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Although he was passionate about his team, he was too nervous to watch the deciding Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, choosing to go to Paris with Kathryn and listen to the game on the radio. Crosby had the NBC telecast of the game recorded on kinescope. The game was one of the most famous in baseball history, capped off by Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run. He apparently viewed the complete film just once, and then stored it in his wine cellar, where it remained undisturbed until it was discovered in December 2009.^[40] The restored broadcast was shown on MLB Network in December 2010.

Crosby was also an avid golfer, and in 1978, he and Bob Hope were voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 1937, Bing Crosby hosted the first National Pro-Am Golf Championship, the 'Crosby Clambake' as it was popularly known, at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, the event's location prior to World War II. Sam Snead won the first tournament, in which the first place check was for $500. After the war, the event resumed play in 1947 on golf courses in Pebble Beach, where it has been played ever since. Now the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am it has been a leading event in the world of professional golf.

Crosby first took up golf at 12 as a caddy, dropped it, and started again in 1930 with some fellow cast members in Hollywood during the filming of The King of Jazz. Crosby was accomplished at the sport, with a two handicap. He competed in both the British and U.S. Amateur championships, was a five-time club champion at Lakeside Golf Club in Hollywood, and once made a hole-in-one on the 16th at Cypress Point.

Personal life [link]

Crosby was married twice, first to actress/nightclub singer Dixie Lee from 1930 until her death from ovarian cancer in 1952. They had four sons: Gary, twins Dennis and Phillip, and Lindsay. The 1947 film Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman is indirectly based on her life. After Dixie's death, Crosby had relationships with actresses Inger Stevens and Grace Kelly before marrying the actress Kathryn Grant in 1957. They had three children: Harry (who played Bill in Friday the 13th), Mary (best known for portraying Kristin Shepard, the woman who shot J.R. Ewing on TV's Dallas), and Nathaniel.

Kathryn converted to Catholicism in order to marry the singer. Crosby was also a registered Republican, and actively campaigned for Wendell Willkie in 1940 against President Roosevelt, arguing that no man should serve more than two terms in the White House. After Willkie lost, Crosby decreed that he would never again make any open political contributions.

Crosby reportedly had an alcohol problem in his youth, and may have been dismissed from Paul Whiteman's orchestra because of it, but he later got a handle on his drinking. Village Voice jazz critic and Crosby biographer Gary Giddins says that Louis Armstrong's influence on Crosby "extended to his love of marijuana." Crosby smoked it during his early career when it was still legal, and "surprised interviewers" in the 1960s and 1970s by advocating its decriminalization. According to Giddins, Crosby told his son Gary to stay away from alcohol ("It killed your mother"^[41]) and suggested he smoke marijuana instead.^[41] Gary said, "There were other times when marijuana was mentioned and he'd get a smile on his face."^[41] Gary thought his father's marijuana smoking had influenced his easygoing style in his films. Crosby finally quit smoking his pipe following lung surgery in 1974.

After Crosby's death, his eldest son, Gary, wrote a highly critical memoir, Going My Own Way, depicting his father as cold, remote, and both physically and psychologically abusive. Two of Crosby's other sons, Lindsay and Dennis, sided with Gary's claim and stated Crosby abused them as well.^[42] Dennis also stated that Crosby would abuse Gary the most often.^[42]

Gary Crosby wrote:

We had to keep a close watch on our actions... When one of us left a sneaker or pair of underpants lying around, he had to tie the offending object on a string and wear it around his neck until he went off to bed that night. Dad called it "the Crosby lavalier." At the time the humor of the name escaped me... "Satchel Ass" or "Bucket Butt" or "My Fat-assed Kid." That's how he introduced me to his cronies when he dragged me along to the studio or racetrack... By the time I was ten or eleven he had stepped up his campaign by adding lickings to the regimen. Each Tuesday afternoon he weighed me in, and if the scale read more than it should have, he ordered me into his office and had me drop my trousers... I dropped my pants, pulled down my undershorts and bent over. Then he went at it with the belt dotted with metal studs he kept reserved for the occasion. Quite dispassionately, without the least display of emotion or loss of self-control, he whacked away until he drew the first drop of blood, and then he stopped. It normally took between twelve and fifteen strokes. As they came down I counted them off one by one and hoped I would bleed early... When I saw Going My Way I was as moved as they were by the character he played. Father O'Malley handled that gang of young hooligans in his parish with such kindness and wisdom that I thought he was wonderful too. Instead of coming down hard on the kids and withdrawing his affection, he forgave them their misdeeds, took them to the ball game and picture show, taught them how to sing. By the last reel, the sheer persistence of his goodness had transformed even the worst of them into solid citizens. Then the lights came on and the movie was over. All the way back to the house I thought about the difference between the person up there on the screen and the one I knew at home.^[43]

It was revealed that Crosby's will had established a blind trust, with none of the sons receiving an inheritance until they reached the age of 65.^[44]

However, younger son Phillip vociferously disputed his brother Gary's claims about their father. Around the time Gary made his claim, Phillip stated to the press that "Gary is a whining...crybaby, walking around with a 2-by-4 and just daring people to nudge it off."^[45] However, Phillip did not deny that Crosby believed in corporal punishment.^[45] In an interview with People, Phillip stated that "we never got an extra whack or a cuff we didn't deserve."^[45] During a later interview conducted in 1999 by the Globe, Phillip said:

My dad was not the monster my lying brother said he was; he was strict, but my father never beat us black and blue, and my brother Gary was a vicious, no-good liar for saying so. I have nothing but fond memories of Dad, going to studios with him, family vacations at our cabin in Idaho, boating and fishing with him. To my dying day, I'll hate Gary for dragging Dad's name through the mud. He wrote Going My Own Way out of greed. He wanted to make money and knew that humiliating our father and blackening his name was the only way he could do it. He knew it would generate a lot of publicity. That was the only way he could get his ugly, no-talent face on television and in the newspapers. My dad was my hero. I loved him very much. He loved all of us too, including Gary. He was a great father.^[46]

Gary Crosby died in 1995 at the age of 62, and 69-year-old Phillip Crosby died in 2004.^[47]

Lindsay and Dennis Crosby each committed suicide, shooting themselves with shotguns in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Nathaniel Crosby, Crosby's youngest son from his second marriage, was a high-level golfer who won the U.S. Amateur at age 19 in 1981, at the time the youngest-ever winner of that event (a record later broken by Tiger Woods). Harry Crosby is an investment banker who occasionally makes singing appearances.

Widow Kathryn Crosby dabbled in local theater productions intermittently, and appeared in television tributes to her late husband. Denise Crosby, Dennis Crosby's daughter, is also an actress and is known for her role as Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for the recurring role of the Romulan Sela (daughter of Tasha Yar) after her withdrawal from the series as a regular cast member. She also appeared in the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary. In 2006, Crosby's niece, Carolyn Schneider, published the laudatory book "Me and Uncle Bing."

Failing health and death [link]

Crosby's last portrait taken backstage at the Palladium theater under a 40 watt bulb in 1977, the year of his death.

Crosby's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

Following his recovery from a life-threatening fungal infection of his right lung in 1974, Crosby emerged from semi-retirement to start a new spate of albums and concerts. In March 1977, after videotaping a concert for CBS to commemorate his 50th anniversary in show business and with Bob Hope looking on, Crosby backed off the stage and fell into an orchestra pit, rupturing a disc in his back and requiring a month in the hospital. His first performance after the accident was his last American concert, on August 16, 1977; when the power went out, he continued singing without amplification. In September, Crosby, his family, and singer Rosemary Clooney began a concert tour of England that included two weeks at the London Palladium. While in England, Crosby recorded his final album, Seasons, and his final TV Christmas special with guest David Bowie (which aired several months after Crosby's death). His last concert was in The Brighton Centre four days before his death, with British entertainer Dame Gracie Fields in attendance. Although it has been reported that Crosby's last photograph was taken with Fields^{[citation needed]}, he was photographed playing golf on the day he died.^[48]

Commemorative Plaque In The Brighton Centre foyer

At the conclusion of his work in England, Crosby flew alone to Spain to hunt and play golf. Shortly after 6 pm on October 14, Crosby collapsed and died of a massive heart attack on the green after a round of 18 holes of golf near Madrid where he and his Spanish golfing partner had just defeated their opponents. It is widely written that his last words were "That was a great game of golf, fellas."^[49] In Bob Hope's Confessions of a Hooker: My Lifelong Love Affair With Golf, the comedian recounts hearing that Crosby had been advised by a physician in England to play only nine holes of golf because of his heart condition.

Legacy [link]

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6769 Hollywood Blvd.

He is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the radio division.^[50]

The family launched an official website^[51] on October 14, 2007, the 30th anniversary of Crosby's death.

In his 1990 autobiography Don't Shoot, It's Only Me! Bob Hope wrote, "Dear old Bing. As we called him, the Economy-sized Sinatra. And what a voice. God I miss that voice. I can't even turn on the radio around Christmas time without crying anymore."^[52]

Calypso musician Roaring Lion wrote a tribute song in 1939 entitled "Bing Crosby", in which he wrote: "Bing has a way of singing with his very heart and soul / Which captivates the world / His millions of listeners never fail to rejoice / At his golden voice..."^[53]

Compositions [link]

Crosby co-wrote lyrics to 15 songs. His composition "At Your Command" was no.1 for three weeks on the U.S. pop singles chart beginning on August 8, 1931. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" was his most successful composition, recorded by Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, and Mildred Bailey, among others. Songs co-written by Crosby include:

"That's Grandma" (1927), with Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh
"From Monday On" (1928), with Harry Barris and recorded with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, no. 14 on US pop singles charts
"What Price Lyrics?" (1928), with Harry Barris and Matty Malneck
"At Your Command" (1931), with Harry Barris and Harry Tobias, US, no. 1 (3 weeks)
"Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)" (1931), with Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert, US, no. 4; US, 1940 re-recording, no. 27
"I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. 5
"My Woman" (1932), with Irving Wallman and Max Wartell
"Love Me Tonight" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. 4
"Waltzing in a Dream" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no.6
"I Would If I Could But I Can't" (1933), with Mitchell Parish and Alan Grey
"Where the Turf Meets the Surf" (1941)
"Tenderfoot" (1953)
"Domenica" (1961)
"That's What Life is All About" (1975), with Ken Barnes, Peter Dacre, and Les Reed, US, AC chart, no. 35; UK, no. 41
"Sail Away to Norway" (1977)

Filmography [link]

Main article: Bing Crosby filmography

Discography [link]

Main article: Bing Crosby discography

Radio [link]

The Radio Singers (1931, CBS), sponsored by Warner Brothers, 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
The Cremo Singer (1931–1932, CBS), 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
Unsponsored (1932, CBS), initially 3 nights a week, then twice a week, 15 minutes.
Chesterfield's Music that Satisfies (1933, CBS), broadcast two nights, 15 minutes.
Bing Crosby Entertains for Woodbury Soap (1933–1935, CBS), weekly, 30 minutes.
Kraft Music Hall (1935–1946, NBC), Thursday nights, 60 minutes until January 1943, then 30 minutes.
Armed Forces Radio (1941–1945; World War II).
Philco Radio Time (1946–1949, ABC), 30 minutes weekly.
The Bing Crosby Chesterfield Show (1949–1952, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
The Minute Maid Show (1949–1950, CBS), 15 minutes each weekday morning; Bing as disc jockey.
The General Electric Show (1952–1954, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
The Bing Crosby Show (1954–1956, CBS), 15 minutes, 5 nights a week.
A Christmas Sing with Bing (1955–1962, CBS, VOA and AFRS), 1 hour each year, sponsored by the Insurance Company of North America.
The Ford Road Show (1957–1958, CBS), 5 minutes, 5 days a week.
The Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney Show (1958–1962, CBS), 20 minutes, 5 mornings a week, with Rosemary Clooney.

RIAA certification [link]

Album	RIAA^[54]
Merry Christmas	Gold
Bing sings	2x platinum
White Christmas	4x platinum

References [link]

^ ^a ^b Grudens, 2002, p. 236. "Bing was born on May 2, 1903. He always believed he was born on May 2, 1904."
^ Music Genre: Vocal music.Allmusic. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
^ Obituary Variety, October 19, 1977.
^ "Bing Crosby Billboard Biography". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/artist/bing-crosby/3574#/artist/bing-crosby/bio/3574. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
^ Giddins, 2001, p. 8.
^ Gilliland, John. Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s. ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854. , cassette 1, side B.
^ Giddins, 2001, p. 6.
^ ^a ^b Hoffman, Dr. Frank. "Crooner". http://www.jeffosretromusic.com/bing.html. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
^ Sterling, C. H., & Kittross, J. M. (1990). Stay tuned: A concise history of American broadcasting (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
^ Sterling, C. H., & Kittross, J. M. (1990). Stay tuned: A concise history of american broadcasting (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
^ Cogan, Jim; Clark, William, Temples of sound : inside the great recording studios, San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8118-3394-1
^ "Lifetime Achievement Award. ''Past Recipients''". Grammy.com. February 8, 2009. http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
^ Bing Crosby had no birth certificate and his birth date was unconfirmed until his childhood Roman Catholic church released his baptismal record.
^ Blecha, Peter (August 29, 2005). "the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History". HistoryLink.org. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7445}. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
^ Gonzaga History 1980–1989 (September 17, 1986). "Gonzaga History 1980–1989 – Gonzaga University". Gonzaga.edu. http://www.gonzaga.edu/Academics/Libraries/Foley-Library/Departments/Special-Collections/exhibitions/GonzagaHistory1980.asp. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
^ Giddins, Gary (2001). Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams.
^ Giddins, 2001, p. 24.
^ Newkirk, Newton (March 14, 1909). "The Bingville Bugle". Spokesman Review. http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/history/media/bingville.pdf. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
^ Newkirk, Newton (July 19, 1914). "The Bingville Bugle". Spokesman Review. http://leonardodesa.interdinamica.net/comics/lds/bing/bingville.asp. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
^ Gary Giddins (October 8, 2002). Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams – The Early Years, 1903 – 1940, Volume I. Back Bay Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=Oa2_zcwucAgC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=bing+crosby+bingo+bingville+bugle&source=bl&ots=8DHK9U9Lfl&sig=BLFVQNnhQflUL769bVqYXepaWY8&hl=en&ei=JVqeTI-XM4H68Aa-2cAl&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=bing%20crosby%20bingo%20bingville%20bugle&f=false.
^ Gilliland, John. Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s. ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854. , cassette 3, side B.
^ Giddins, 2001, p. 92-97.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Bing Crosby at Allmusic
^ "Bing Crosby, Singer". Radio Hall of Fame. http://www.radiohof.org/musicvariety/bingcrosby.html. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
^ Guinness Book of Records 2007. Guinness. August 1, 2006. ISBN 978-1-904994-12-1.
^ ^a ^b "Crosby Movies". Waynesthisandthat.com. http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/crosbymovies.html. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
^ "Top Ten Money Making Stars of the past 79 years". Quigley Publishing. http://www.quigleypublishing.com/MPalmanac/Top10/Top10_lists.html. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
^ Pleasants, H. (1985). The Great American Popular Singers. Simon and Schuster.
^ Sforza, John: "Swing It! The Andrews Sisters Story;" University Press of Kentucky, 2000; 289 pages.
^ "Johnny Bond – WMA Hall of Fame". Westernmusic.com. http://www.westernmusic.com/performers/hof-crosby.html. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
^ Hammar, Peter. Jack Mullin: The man and his machines. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 37 (6): 490–496, 498, 500, 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512; June 1989.
^ An afternoon with Jack Mullin. NTSC VHS tape, 1989 AES.
^ History of Magnetic tape, section: "Enter Bing Crosby" (WayBack Machine)
^ "CORPORATIONS: Minute Maid's Man". Time. October 18, 1948. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799353,00.html. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
^ "Tape Recording Used by Filmless 'Camera'," New York Times, November 12, 1951, p. 21. Eric D. Daniel, C. Denis Mee, and Mark H. Clark (eds.), Magnetic Recording: The First 100 Years, IEEE Press, 1998, p. 141. ISBN 0-07-041275-8
^ ^a ^b "KCOP Studio". Seeing Stars: the Television Studios... http://www.seeing-stars.com/tvstudios/KCOP.shtml. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
^ Dunevant, Ronald L.. "KPTV Timeline". Yesterday's KPTV. Ronald L. Dunevant. http://kptv.home.comcast.net/~kptv/timeline/timeline.htm. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
^ "Time Magazine Article". Time Magazine. August 3, 1953. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,822904,00.html. Retrieved January 25, 2007.
^ Bing Crosby and Gonzaga University: 1925 – 1951, Gonzaga University, retrieved June 6, 2011.
^ Sandomir, Richard (September 23, 2010). "In Bing Crosby's Wine Cellar, Vintage Baseball". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/sports/baseball/24crosby.html?_r=1&src=mv. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c Giddins, 2001, p. 181.
^ ^a ^b Haller, Scot (March 21, 1983). "The Sad Ballad of Bing and His Boys – Child Abuse, Kids & Family Life, Bing Crosby". People. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20084544,00.html. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
^ Gary Crosby (March 1983). Going My Own Way. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-17055-0. http://www.nospank.net/crosbyg.htm.
^ Dunn, Ashley (December 13, 1989). "Lindsay Crosby Suicide Laid to End of Inheritance Income". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-13/local/me-242_1_lindsay-crosby. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Leah Garchik's Personals". The San Francisco Chronicle. January 20, 2004. http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-01-20/bay-area/17409442_1_gary-crosby-bing-crosby-philip-crosby/2.
^ Grudens, 2002, p. 59.
^ "Philip Crosby, 69, Son of Bing Crosby". New York Times. January 20, 2004. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E5D61439F933A15752C0A9629C8B63. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
^ Thomas, 1977, p. 86-87.
^ Callahan, Tom (2003-05). "The Bing dynasty: on the 100th anniversary of Crosby's birth, we celebrate the granddaddy of celebrity golf". Golf Digest. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_5_54/ai_101967390. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
^ "NAB Hall of Fame". National Association of Broadcasters. http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Awards7&CONTENTID=11047&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm. Retrieved May 3, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
^ "The Official Home of Bing Crosby". Bingcrosby.com. http://www.BingCrosby.com. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
^ Hope, Bob (1990). Don't Shoot, It's Only Me!. Random House Publishers.
^ Giddins, 2001, pp. 427–428.
^ "RIAA certification". Archived from the original on June 8, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070608063448/http://www.riaa.com/gp/database/default.asp.

Bibliography

Giddins, Gary (2001). Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams – The Early Years, 1903–1940. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-88188-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=Oa2_zcwucAgC.
Grudens, Richard (2002). Bing Crosby – Crooner of the Century. Celebrity Profiles Publishing Co.. ISBN 1-57579-248-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=Mkz_w-WYiMAC.
Macfarlane, Malcolm. Bing Crosby – Day By Day. Scarecrow Press, 2001.
Osterholm, J. Roger. Bing Crosby: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press, 1994.
Prigozy, R. & Raubicheck, W., ed. Going My Way: Bing Crosby and American Culture. The Boydell Press, 2007.
Thomas, Bob (1977). The One and Only Bing. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-14670-3.

External links [link]

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v t e Academy Award for Best Actor (1941–1960)

Gary Cooper (1941) James Cagney (1942) Paul Lukas (1943) Bing Crosby (1944) Ray Milland (1945) Fredric March (1946) Ronald Colman (1947) Laurence Olivier (1948) Broderick Crawford (1949) José Ferrer (1950) Humphrey Bogart (1951) Gary Cooper (1952) William Holden (1953) Marlon Brando (1954) Ernest Borgnine (1955) Yul Brynner (1956) Alec Guinness (1957) David Niven (1958) Charlton Heston (1959) Burt Lancaster (1960)

Complete list (1928–1940) (1941–1960) (1961–1980) (1981–2000) (2001–2020)

v t e Cecil B. DeMille Award (1952–1975)

Cecil B. DeMille (1952) Walt Disney (1953) Darryl F. Zanuck (1954) Jean Hersholt (1955) Jack Warner (1956) Mervyn LeRoy (1957) Buddy Adler (1958) Maurice Chevalier (1959) Bing Crosby (1960) Fred Astaire (1961) Judy Garland (1962) Bob Hope (1963) Joseph E. Levine (1964) James Stewart (1965) John Wayne (1966) Charlton Heston (1967) Kirk Douglas (1968) Gregory Peck (1969) Joan Crawford (1970) Frank Sinatra (1971) Alfred Hitchcock (1972) Samuel Goldwyn (1973) Bette Davis (1974) Hal B. Wallis (1975)

Complete list (1952–1975) (1976–2000) (2001–2020)

v t e National Board of Review Award for Best Actor

Ray Milland (1945) Laurence Olivier (1946) Michael Redgrave (1947) Walter Huston (1948) Ralph Richardson (1949)

Alec Guinness (1950) Richard Basehart (1951) Ralph Richardson (1952) James Mason (1953) Bing Crosby (1954) Ernest Borgnine (1955) Yul Brynner (1956) Alec Guinness (1957) Spencer Tracy (1958) Victor Sjöström (1959)

Robert Mitchum (1960) Albert Finney (1961) Jason Robards (1962) Rex Harrison (1963) Anthony Quinn (1964) Lee Marvin (1965) Paul Scofield (1966) Peter Finch (1967) Cliff Robertson (1968) Peter O'Toole (1969)

George C. Scott (1970) Gene Hackman (1971) Peter O'Toole (1972) Al Pacino / Robert Ryan (1973) Gene Hackman (1974) Jack Nicholson (1975) David Carradine (1976) John Travolta (1977) Jon Voight / Laurence Olivier (1978) Peter Sellers (1979)

Robert De Niro (1980) Peter Fonda (1981) Ben Kingsley (1982) Tom Conti (1983) Victor Banerjee (1984) William Hurt / Raúl Juliá (1985) Paul Newman (1986) Michael Douglas (1987) Gene Hackman (1988) Morgan Freeman (1989)

Robert De Niro / Robin Williams (1990) Warren Beatty (1991) Jack Lemmon (1992) Anthony Hopkins (1993) Tom Hanks (1994) Nicolas Cage (1995) Tom Cruise (1996) Jack Nicholson (1997) Ian McKellen (1998) Russell Crowe (1999)

Javier Bardem (2000) Billy Bob Thornton (2001) Campbell Scott (2002) Sean Penn (2003) Jamie Foxx (2004) Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) Forest Whitaker (2006) George Clooney (2007) Clint Eastwood (2008) George Clooney / Morgan Freeman (2009)

Jesse Eisenberg (2010) George Clooney (2011)

Authority control: LCCN: n50018853 | WorldCat

Persondata
Name	Crosby, Bing
Alternative names	Crosby, Harry Lillis (real name)
Short description	American singer, actor
Date of birth	May 3, 1903
Place of birth	Tacoma, Washington, United States
Date of death	October 14, 1977
Place of death	Madrid, Spain

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David Bowie
Bowie during the Heathen Tour in 2002.
Background information
Birth name	David Robert Jones
Born	(1947-01-08) 8 January 1947 (age 65) Brixton, London, England
Genres	Rock, glam rock, art rock, pop
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica, saxophone, viola, cello, koto, percussion
Years active	1964–2008
Labels	Deram, RCA, Virgin, EMI, ISO, Columbia, BMG, Pye
Associated acts	The Riot Squad, Arnold Corns, Tin Machine, The Hype, The Lower Third, The Konrads
Website	davidbowie.com

David Bowie ( /ˈboʊ.i/ BOH-ee;^[1] born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work.

Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture."^[2] The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–04 Reality Tour.

Buckley says of Bowie: "His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure."^[2] In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 140 million albums. In the UK, he has been awarded nine Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and eight Silver, and in the US, five Platinum and seven Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.

Biography [link]

1947–62: early years [link]

David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, London, on 8 January 1947. His mother, Margaret Mary "Peggy" (née Burns), of Irish descent,^[3] worked as a cinema usherette, while his father, Haywood Stenton "John" Jones was a promotions officer for Barnardo's. The family lived at 40 Stansfield Road, located near the border of the south London areas of Brixton and Stockwell. A neighbour recalled that "London in the forties was the worst possible place, and the worst possible time for a child to grow up in." Bowie attended Stockwell Infants School until he was six years old, acquiring a reputation as a gifted and single-minded child—and a defiant brawler.^[4]^[5]

In 1953 the family moved to the suburb of Bromley, where, two years later, Bowie progressed to Burnt Ash Junior School. His voice was considered "adequate" by the school choir, and his recorder playing judged to demonstrate above-average musical ability.^[6] At the age of nine, his dancing during the newly introduced music and movement classes was strikingly imaginative: teachers called his interpretations "vividly artistic" and his poise "astonishing" for a child.^[6] The same year, his interest in music was further stimulated when his father brought home a collection of American 45s by artists including Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Platters, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and Little Richard.^[7]^[8] Upon listening to "Tutti Frutti", Bowie would later say, "I had heard God".^[9] Presley's impact on him was likewise emphatic: "I saw a cousin of mine dance to ... 'Hound Dog' and I had never seen her get up and be moved so much by anything. It really impressed me, the power of the music. I started getting records immediately after that."^[8] By the end of the following year he had taken up the ukelele and tea-chest bass and begun to participate in skiffle sessions with friends, and had started to play the piano; meanwhile his stage presentation of numbers by both Presley and Chuck Berry—complete with gyrations in tribute to the original artists—to his local Wolf Cub group was described as "mesmerizing ... like someone from another planet."^[8] Failing his eleven plus exam at the conclusion of his Burnt Ash Junior education, Bowie joined Bromley Technical High School.^[10]

It was an unusual technical school, as biographer Christopher Sandford writes:

Despite its status it was, by the time David arrived in 1958, as rich in arcane ritual as any [English] public school. There were houses, named after eighteenth-century statesmen like Pitt and Wilberforce. There was a uniform, and an elaborate system of rewards and punishments. There was also an accent on languages, science and particularly design, where a collegiate atmosphere flourished under the tutorship of Owen Frampton. In David's account, Frampton led through force of personality, not intellect; his colleagues at Bromley Tech were famous for neither, and yielded the school's most gifted pupils to the arts, a regime so liberal that Frampton actively encouraged his own son, Peter, to pursue a musical career with David, a partnership briefly intact thirty years later.^[10]

Bowie studied art, music, and design, including layout and typesetting. After Terry Burns, his half-brother, introduced him to modern jazz, his enthusiasm for players like Charles Mingus and John Coltrane led his mother to give him a plastic alto saxophone in 1961; he was soon receiving lessons from a local musician.^[11]

In 1962, George Underwood injured Bowie's eye in a fight over a girl. Bowie owes his unusual eyes to the fact that not all the damage could be surgically repaired. Despite their fisticuffs, Underwood and Bowie remained good friends, and Underwood went on to create the artwork for Bowie's early albums.^[12]

Eyes [link]

Bowie received a serious injury at school in 1962 when his friend George Underwood, while wearing a ring on his finger, punched him in the left eye during a fight over a girl. Doctors feared he would become blind in that eye. After a series of operations during a four-month hospitalisation,^[13] his doctors determined that the damage could not be fully repaired and Bowie was left with faulty depth perception and a permanently dilated pupil. The latter condition has misled some to believe that Bowie has different coloured eyes, when in reality both irises are the same blue colour. ^[14]

1962–68: the Konrads to the Riot Squad [link]

Graduating from his plastic saxophone to a real instrument in 1962, Bowie formed his first band at the age of 15. Playing guitar-based rock and roll at local youth gatherings and weddings, the Konrads had a varying line-up of between four and eight members, Underwood among them.^[15] When Bowie left the technical school the following year, he informed his parents of his intention to become a pop star. His mother promptly arranged his employment as an electrician's mate. Frustrated by his band-mates' limited aspirations, Bowie left the Konrads and joined another band, the King Bees. He wrote to the newly successful washing-machine entrepreneur John Bloom inviting him to "do for us what Brian Epstein has done for the Beatles—and make another million." Bloom did not respond to the offer, but his referral to Dick James's partner Leslie Conn led to Bowie's first personal management contract.^[16]

Conn quickly began to promote Bowie. The singer's debut single, "Liza Jane", credited to Davie Jones and the King Bees, had no commercial success. Dissatisfied with the King Bees and their repertoire of Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon blues numbers, Bowie quit the band less than a month later to join the Manish Boys, another blues outfit, who incorporated folk and soul — "I used to dream of being their Mick Jagger", Bowie was to recall.^[16] "I Pity the Fool" was no more successful than "Liza Jane", and Bowie soon moved on again to join the Lower Third, a blues trio strongly influenced by The Who. "You've Got a Habit of Leaving" fared no better, signalling the end of Conn's contract. Declaring that he would exit the pop world "to study mime at Sadler's Wells", Bowie nevertheless remained with the Lower Third. His new manager, Ralph Horton, later instrumental in his transition to solo artist, soon witnessed Bowie's move to yet another group, the Buzz, yielding the singer's fifth unsuccessful single release, "Do Anything You Say". While with the Buzz, Bowie also joined the Riot Squad; their recordings, which included a Bowie number and Velvet Underground material, went unreleased. Ken Pitt, introduced by Horton, took over as Bowie's manager.^[17]

Dissatisfied with his stage name as Davy (and Davie) Jones, which in the mid-1960s invited confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees, Bowie renamed himself after the 19th century American frontiersman Jim Bowie and the knife he had popularised.^[18] His April 1967 solo single, "The Laughing Gnome", utilising sped-up Chipmunk-style vocals, failed to chart. Released six weeks later, his album debut, David Bowie, an amalgam of pop, psychedelia, and music hall, met the same fate. It would be his last release for two years.^[19]

Bowie's fascination with the bizarre was fuelled when he met dancer Lindsay Kemp: "He lived on his emotions, he was a wonderful influence. His day-to-day life was the most theatrical thing I had ever seen, ever. It was everything I thought Bohemia probably was. I joined the circus."^[20] Kemp, for his part, recalled, "I didn't really teach him to be a mime artiste but to be more of himself on the outside, ... I enabled him to free the angel and demon that he is on the inside."^[20] Studying the dramatic arts under Kemp, from avant-garde theatre and mime to commedia dell'arte, Bowie became immersed in the creation of personae to present to the world. Satirising life in a British prison, meanwhile, the Bowie-penned "Over the Wall We Go" became a 1967 single for Oscar; another Bowie composition, "Silly Boy Blue", was released by Billy Fury the following year.^[21] After Kemp cast Bowie with Hermione Farthingale for a poetic minuet, the pair began dating; they soon moved into a London flat together. Playing acoustic guitar, she formed a group with Bowie and bassist John Hutchinson; between September 1968 and early 1969, when Bowie and Farthingale broke up, the trio gave a small number of concerts combining folk, Merseybeat, poetry and mime.^[22]

1969–73: psychedelic folk to glam rock [link]

[edit] Space Oddity to Hunky Dory

Because of his lack of commercial success, Bowie was forced to try to earn a living in different ways. He featured in a Lyons Maid ice cream commercial, but was rejected for another by Kit Kat.^[23] Intended as a vehicle to promote the singer, a 30-minute film featuring performances from his repertoire, Love You till Tuesday, was made. Although not released until 1984, the filming sessions in January 1969 led to unexpected success when Bowie told the producers, "That film of yours—I've got a new song for it." He then demoed the song that would provide his commercial breakthrough. "Space Oddity" was released later in the year to coincide with the first moon landing.^[23] Breaking up with Farthingale shortly after completion of the film, Bowie moved in with Mary Finnigan as her lodger.^[24] Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street.^[24] This soon morphed into the Beckenham Arts Lab, and became extremely popular. The Arts Lab hosted a free festival in a local park, later immortalised by Bowie in his song "Memory of a Free Festival".^[25] "Space Oddity" was released on 11 July, five days ahead of the Apollo 11 launch, to become a UK top five hit. Bowie's second album, Space Oddity, followed in November; originally issued in the UK as David Bowie, it caused some confusion with its predecessor of the same name, and the early US release was instead titled Man of Words/Man of Music. Featuring philosophical post-hippie lyrics on peace, love and morality, its acoustic folk rock occasionally fortified by harder rock, the album was not a commercial success at the time of its release.^[26]

Bowie met Angela Barnett in April 1969. They would marry within a year. Her impact on him was immediate, and her involvement in his career far-reaching, leaving Pitt with limited influence.^[27] Having established himself as a solo artist with "Space Oddity", Bowie now began to sense a lack: "a full-time band for gigs and recording—people he could relate to personally".^[28] The shortcoming was underlined by his artistic rivalry with Marc Bolan, who was at the time acting as his session guitarist.^[28] A band was duly assembled. John Cambridge, a drummer Bowie met at the Arts Lab, was joined by Tony Visconti on bass and Mick Ronson on electric guitar. Known as The Hype, the band members created characters for themselves and wore elaborate costumes that prefigured the glam style of The Spiders From Mars. After a disastrous opening gig at the London Roundhouse, they reverted to a configuration presenting Bowie as a solo artist.^[28]^[29] Their initial studio work was marred by a heated disagreement between Bowie and Cambridge over the latter's drumming style; matters came to a head when Bowie, enraged, accused, "You're fucking up my album." Cambridge summarily quit and was replaced by Mick Woodmansey.^[30] Not long after, in a move that would result in years of litigation, at the conclusion of which Bowie would be forced to pay Pitt compensation, the singer fired his manager, replacing him with Tony Defries.^[30]

The studio sessions continued and resulted in Bowie's third album, The Man Who Sold the World (1970). Characterised by the heavy rock sound of his new backing band, it was a marked departure from the acoustic guitar and folk rock style established by Space Oddity. To promote it in the United States, Mercury Records financed a coast-to-coast publicity tour in which Bowie, between January and February 1971, was interviewed by radio stations and the media. Exploiting his androgynous appearance, the original cover of the UK version unveiled two months later would depict the singer wearing a dress: taking the garment with him, he wore it during interviews—to the approval of critics, including Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn who described him as "ravishing, almost disconcertingly reminiscent of Lauren Bacall"—and in the street, to mixed reaction including laughter and, in the case of one male pedestrian, producing a gun and telling Bowie to "kiss my ass".^[31]^[32] During the tour Bowie's observation of two seminal American proto-punk artists led him to develop a concept that would eventually find form in the Ziggy Stardust character: a melding of the persona of Iggy Pop with the music of Lou Reed, producing "the ultimate pop idol".^[31] A girlfriend recalled his "scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character "who looks like he's landed from Mars".^[31]

Hunky Dory (1971) found Visconti, Bowie's producer and bassist, supplanted in both roles, by Ken Scott and Trevor Bolder respectively. The album saw the partial return of the fey pop singer of "Space Oddity", with light fare such as "Kooks", a song written for his son, Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones, born on 30 May.^[33] (His parents chose "his kooky name"—he would be known as Zowie for the next 12 years—after the Greek word zoe, life.)^[34] Elsewhere, the album explored more serious themes, and found Bowie paying unusually direct homage to his influences with "Song for Bob Dylan", "Andy Warhol", and "Queen Bitch", a Velvet Underground pastiche. It was not a significant commercial success at the time^[35] but was ranked No.16 by voters in the All Time Top 1000 Albums.

[edit] Ziggy Stardust

David Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust Tour

With his next venture, Bowie, in the words of biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture".^[2] Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972.^[36] The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the course of the next six months and creating, as described by Buckley, a "cult of Bowie" that was "unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom."^[36] The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), combining the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock and pop of Hunky Dory, was released in June. "Starman", issued as an April single ahead of the album, was to cement Bowie's UK breakthrough: both single and album charted rapidly following his July Top of the Pops performance of the song. The album, which would remain in the chart for two years, was soon joined there by the six-month-old Hunky Dory. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing", and "All the Young Dudes", a song he wrote and produced for Mott the Hoople, became UK hits. The Ziggy Stardust Tour continued to the United States.^[37]

Bowie contributed backing vocals to Lou Reed's 1972 solo breakthrough Transformer, co-producing the album with Mick Ronson.^[38] His own Aladdin Sane (1973) topped the UK chart, his first number one album. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", it contained songs he wrote while travelling to and across the United States during the earlier part of the Ziggy tour, which now continued to Japan to promote the new album. Aladdin Sane spawned the UK top five singles "The Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday".^[39]^[40]

Bowie's love of acting led his total immersion in the characters he created for his music. "Offstage I'm a robot. Onstage I achieve emotion. It's probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy to being David." With satisfaction came severe personal difficulties: acting the same role over an extended period, it became impossible for him to separate Ziggy Stardust—and, later, the Thin White Duke—from his own character offstage. Ziggy, Bowie said, "wouldn't leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to go sour ... My whole personality was affected. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity."^[41] His later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar.^[42] Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. Footage from the final show was released in 1983 for the film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.^[43]

	"Ziggy Stardust" noicon Sample of "Ziggy Stardust" (1972). A pioneer of glam rock, Bowie performed as the character Ziggy Stardust, backed by The Spiders from Mars.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

After breaking up the Spiders from Mars, Bowie attempted to move on from his Ziggy persona. His back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with Space Oddity. "Life on Mars?", from Hunky Dory, was released in June 1973 and made number three in the UK singles chart. Entering the same chart in September, Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", would reach number four.^[44] Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, followed in October, producing a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. It brought the total number of Bowie albums currently in the UK chart to six.^[45]

1974–76: soul, funk and the Thin White Duke [link]

Bowie performing during the 1974 Diamond Dogs Tour

Bowie moved to the United States in 1974, initially staying in New York City before settling in Los Angeles.^[46] Diamond Dogs (1974), parts of which found him heading towards soul and funk, was the product of two distinct ideas: a musical based on a wild future in a post-apocalyptic city, and setting George Orwell's 1984 to music.^[47] The album went to number one in the UK, spawning the hits "Rebel Rebel" and "Diamond Dogs", and number five in the US. To promote it, Bowie launched the Diamond Dogs Tour, visiting cities in North America between June and December 1974. Choreographed by Toni Basil, and lavishly produced with theatrical special effects, the high-budget stage production was filmed by Alan Yentob. The resulting documentary, Cracked Actor, featured a pasty and emaciated Bowie: the tour coincided with the singer's slide from heavy cocaine use into addiction, producing severe physical debilitation, paranoia and emotional problems.^[48] He later commented that the accompanying live album, David Live, ought to have been titled "David Bowie Is Alive and Well and Living Only In Theory". David Live nevertheless solidified Bowie's status as a superstar, charting at number two in the UK and number eight in the US. It also spawned a UK number ten hit in Bowie's cover of "Knock on Wood". After a break in Philadelphia, where Bowie recorded new material, the tour resumed with a new emphasis on soul.^[49]

The fruit of the Philadelphia recording sessions was Young Americans (1975). Biographer Christopher Sandford writes, "Over the years, most British rockers had tried, one way or another, to become black-by-extension. Few had succeeded as Bowie did now."^[50] The album's sound, which the singer identified as "plastic soul", constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees.^[51] Young Americans yielded Bowie's first US number one, "Fame", co-written with John Lennon, who contributed backing vocals, and Carlos Alomar. Lennon would call Bowie's work as "great, but just rock and roll with lipstick on".^[52] Earning the distinction of being one of the first white artists to appear on the US variety show Soul Train, Bowie mimed "Fame", as well as "Golden Years", his November single,^[53] that it was offered to Elvis Presley to perform, but Presley declined it.^[53] Young Americans was a commercial success in both the US and the UK, and a re-issue of the 1969 single "Space Oddity" became Bowie's first number one hit in the UK a few months after "Fame" achieved the same in the US.^[54] Despite his by now well established superstardom, Bowie, in the words of biographer Christopher Sandford, "for all his record sales (over a million copies of Ziggy Stardust alone), existed essentially on loose change."^[55] In 1975, in a move echoing Ken Pitt's acrimonious dismissal five years earlier, Bowie fired his manager. At the culmination of the ensuing months-long legal dispute, he watched, as described by Sandford, "millions of dollars of his future earnings being surrendered" in what were "uniquely generous terms for Defries", then "shut himself up in West 20th Street, where for a week his howls could be heard through the locked attic door."^[55] Michael Lippman, Bowie's lawyer during the negotiations, became his new manager; Lippman in turn would be awarded substantial compensation when Bowie fired him the following year.^[56]

Bowie as the Thin White Duke at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto on 26 February 1976

Station to Station (1976) introduced a new Bowie persona, the "Thin White Duke" of its title track. Visually, the character was an extension of Thomas Jerome Newton, the extraterrestrial being he portrayed in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth the same year.^[57] Developing the funk and soul of Young Americans, Station to Station also prefigured the Krautrock and synthesiser music of his next releases. The extent to which drug addiction was now affecting Bowie was made public when Russell Harty interviewed the singer for his London Weekend Television talk show in anticipation of the album's supporting tour. Shortly before the satellite-linked interview was scheduled to commence, the death of the Spanish dictator General Franco was announced. Bowie was asked to relinquish the satellite booking, to allow the Spanish Government to put out a live newsfeed. This he refused to do, and his interview went ahead. In the ensuing conversation with Harty, as described by biographer David Buckley, "the singer made hardly any sense at all throughout what was quite an extensive interview. [...] Bowie looked completely disconnected and was hardly able to utter a coherent sentence."^[58] His sanity—by his own later admission—had become twisted from cocaine; he overdosed several times during the year, and was withering physically to an alarming degree.^[48]^[59]

Station to Station's January 1976 release was followed in February by a three-and-a-half-month concert tour of Europe and North America. Featuring a starkly lit set, the Isolar – 1976 Tour highlighted songs from the album, including the dramatic and lengthy title track, the ballads "Wild Is the Wind" and "Word on a Wing", and the funkier "TVC 15" and "Stay". The core band that coalesced around this album and tour—rhythm guitarist Alomar, bassist George Murray, and drummer Dennis Davis—would continue as a stable unit for the remainder of the 1970s. The tour was highly successful but mired in political controversy. Bowie was quoted in Stockholm as saying that "Britain could benefit from a Fascist leader", and was detained by customs on the Russian/Polish border for possessing Nazi paraphernalia.^[60] Matters came to a head in London in May in what became known as the "Victoria Station incident". Arriving in an open-top Mercedes convertible, the singer waved to the crowd in a gesture that some alleged was a Nazi salute, which was captured on camera and published in NME. Bowie said the photographer simply caught him in mid-wave.^[61] He later blamed his pro-Fascism comments and his behaviour during the period on his addictions and the character of the Thin White Duke.^[62] "I was out of my mind, totally crazed. The main thing I was functioning on was mythology ... that whole thing about Hitler and Rightism ... I'd discovered King Arthur ...".^[59] According to playwright Alan Franks, writing later in The Times, "he was indeed 'deranged'. He had some very bad experiences with hard drugs."^[63]

1976–79: the Berlin era [link]

Bowie performing in Oslo on 5 June 1978

Bowie moved to Switzerland in 1976, purchasing a chalet in the hills to the north of Lake Geneva. In the new environment, his cocaine use increased; so too did his interest in pursuits outside his musical career. He took up painting, and produced a number of post-modernist pieces. When on tour, he took to sketching in a notebook, and photographing scenes for later reference. Visiting galleries in Geneva and the Brücke Museum in Berlin, Bowie became, in the words of biographer Christopher Sandford, "a prolific producer and collector of contemporary art. [...] Not only did he become a well-known patron of expressionist art: locked in Clos des Mésanges he began an intensive self-improvement course in classical music and literature, and started work on an autobiography".^[64]

Before the end of 1976, Bowie's interest in the burgeoning German music scene, as well as his drug addiction, prompted him to move to West Berlin to clean up and revitalise his career. Working with Brian Eno while sharing an apartment in Schöneberg with Iggy Pop, he began to focus on minimalist, ambient music for the first of three albums, co-produced with Tony Visconti, that would become known as his Berlin Trilogy.^[65] During the same period, Iggy Pop, with Bowie as a co-writer and musician, completed his solo album debut, The Idiot, and its follow-up, Lust for Life, touring the UK, Europe, and the US in March and April 1977.^[66] Low (1977), partly influenced by the Krautrock sound of Kraftwerk and Neu!, evidenced a move away from narration in Bowie's songwriting to a more abstract musical form in which lyrics were sporadic and optional. It received considerable negative criticism upon its release—a release which RCA, anxious to maintain the established commercial momentum, did not welcome, and which Bowie's ex-manager, Tony Defries, who still maintained a significant financial interest in the singer's affairs, tried to prevent. Despite these forebodings, Low yielded the UK number three single "Sound and Vision", and its own performance surpassed that of Station to Station in the UK chart, where it reached number two. Leading contemporary composer Philip Glass described Low as "a work of genius" in 1992, when he used it as the basis for his Symphony No. 1 "Low"; subsequently, Glass used Bowie's next album as the basis for his 1996 Symphony No. 4 "Heroes".^[67]^[68] Glass has praised Bowie's gift for creating "fairly complex pieces of music, masquerading as simple pieces".^[69]

	"Heroes" noicon Sample of "Heroes" (1977). One of the ambient rock songs to emerge from Bowie's Berlin Trilogy era, "Heroes" gained lasting popularity.
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Echoing Low's minimalist, instrumental approach, the second of the trilogy, "Heroes" (1977), incorporated pop and rock to a greater extent, seeing Bowie joined by guitarist Robert Fripp. Like Low, "Heroes" evinced the zeitgeist of the Cold War, symbolised by the divided city of Berlin.^[70] Incorporating ambient sounds from a variety of sources including white noise generators, synthesizers and koto, the album was another hit, reaching number three in the UK. Its title track, though only reaching number 24 in the UK singles chart, gained lasting popularity, and within months had been released in both German and French.^[71] Towards the end of the year, Bowie performed the song for Marc Bolan's television show Marc, and again two days later for Bing Crosby's televised Christmas special, when he joined Crosby in "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy", a version of "The Little Drummer Boy" with a new, contrapuntal verse. Five years later, the duet would prove a worldwide seasonal hit, charting in the UK at number three on Christmas Day, 1982.^[72]

After completing Low and "Heroes", Bowie spent much of 1978 on the Isolar II world tour, bringing the music of the first two Berlin Trilogy albums to almost a million people during 70 concerts in 12 countries. By now he had broken his drug addiction; biographer David Buckley writes that Isolar II was "Bowie's first tour for five years in which he had probably not anaesthetised himself with copious quantities of cocaine before taking the stage. [...] Without the oblivion that drugs had brought, he was now in a healthy enough mental condition to want to make friends."^[73] Recordings from the tour made up the live album Stage, released the same year.^[74]

The final piece in what Bowie called his "triptych", Lodger (1979), eschewed the minimalist, ambient nature of the other two, making a partial return to the drum- and guitar-based rock and pop of his pre-Berlin era. The result was a complex mixture of New Wave and World Music, in places incorporating Hejaz non-Western scales. Some tracks were composed using Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies cards: "Boys Keep Swinging" entailed band members swapping instruments, "Move On" used the chords from Bowie's early composition "All the Young Dudes" played backwards, and "Red Money" took backing tracks from "Sister Midnight", a piece previously composed with Iggy Pop.^[75] The album was recorded in Switzerland. Ahead of its release, RCA's Mel Ilberman stated, "It would be fair to call it Bowie's Sergeant Pepper [...] a concept album that portrays the Lodger as a homeless wanderer, shunned and victimized by life's pressures and technology." As described by biographer Christopher Sandford, "The record dashed such high hopes with dubious choices, and production that spelt the end—for fifteen years—of Bowie's partnership with Eno." Lodger reached number 4 in the UK and number 20 in the US, and yielded the UK hit singles "Boys Keep Swinging" and "DJ".^[76]^[77] Towards the end of the year, Bowie and Angela initiated divorce proceedings, and after months of court battles the marriage was ended in early 1980.^[78]

1980–89: from superstar to megastar [link]

Serious Moonlight Tour 1983

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980) produced the number one hit "Ashes to Ashes", featuring the textural work of guitar-synthesist Chuck Hammer and revisiting the character of Major Tom from "Space Oddity". The song gave international exposure to the underground New Romantic movement when Bowie visited the London club "Blitz"—the main New Romantic hangout—to recruit several of the regulars (including Steve Strange of the band Visage) to act in the accompanying video, renowned as one of the most innovative of all time.^[79] While Scary Monsters utilised principles established by the Berlin albums, it was considered by critics to be far more direct musically and lyrically. The album's hard rock edge included conspicuous guitar contributions from Robert Fripp, Pete Townshend, Chuck Hammer and Tom Verlaine.^[80] As "Ashes to Ashes" hit number one on the UK charts, Bowie opened a three-month run on Broadway on 24 September, starring in The Elephant Man.^[81] The same year, he made a cameo appearance in the German film Christiane F., a real-life story of teenage drug addiction in 1970s Berlin. The soundtrack, in which Bowie's music featured prominently, was released as Christiane F. a few months later.

Bowie paired with Queen in 1981 for a one-off single release, "Under Pressure". The duet was a hit, becoming Bowie's third UK number one single. Bowie was given the lead role in the BBC's 1981 televised adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play Baal. Coinciding with its transmission, a five-track EP of songs from the play, recorded earlier in Berlin, was released as David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's Baal. In March 1982, the month before Paul Schrader's film Cat People came out, Bowie's title song, "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", was released as a single, becoming a minor US hit and entering the UK top 30.^[82]

Bowie reached a new peak of popularity and commercial success in 1983 with Let's Dance. Co-produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers, the album went platinum in both the UK and the US. Its three singles became top twenty hits in both countries, where its title track reached number one. "Modern Love" and "China Girl" made number two in the UK, accompanied by a pair of acclaimed promotional videos that, as described by biographer David Buckley, "were totally absorbing and activated key archetypes in the pop world. 'Let's Dance', with its little narrative surrounding the young Aborigine couple, targeted 'youth', and 'China Girl', with its bare-bummed (and later partially censored) beach lovemaking scene (a homage to the film From Here to Eternity), was sufficiently sexually provocative to guarantee heavy rotation on MTV. By 1983, Bowie had emerged as one of the most important video artists of the day. Let's Dance was followed by the Serious Moonlight Tour, during which Bowie was accompanied by guitarist Earl Slick and backing vocalists Frank and George Simms. The world tour lasted six months and was extremely popular.^[83] Stevie Ray Vaughan was guest guitarist playing solo on "Let's Dance".

Performing during the critically maligned Glass Spider Tour, 1987

Tonight (1984), another dance-oriented album, found Bowie collaborating with Tina Turner and, once again, Iggy Pop. It included a number of cover songs, among them the 1966 Beach Boys hit "God Only Knows". The album bore the transatlantic top ten hit "Blue Jean", itself the inspiration for a short film that won Bowie a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video, "Jazzin' for Blue Jean". Bowie performed at Wembley in 1985 for Live Aid, a multi-venue benefit concert for Ethiopian famine relief. During the event, the video for a fundraising single was premièred, Bowie's duet with Mick Jagger. "Dancing in the Street" quickly went to number one on release. The same year, Bowie worked with the Pat Metheny Group to record "This Is Not America" for the soundtrack of The Falcon and the Snowman. Released as a single, the song became a top 40 hit in the UK and US.^[84]

Bowie was given a role in the 1986 film Absolute Beginners. It was poorly received by critics, but Bowie's theme song rose to number two in the UK charts. He also appeared as Jareth, the Goblin King, in the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth, for which he wrote five songs. His final solo album of the decade was 1987's Never Let Me Down, where he ditched the light sound of his previous two albums, instead offering harder rock with an industrial/techno dance edge. Peaking at number six in the UK, the album yielded the hits "Day-In, Day-Out" (his 60th single), "Time Will Crawl", and "Never Let Me Down". Bowie later described it as his "nadir", calling it "an awful album".^[85] Supporting Never Let Me Down, and preceded by nine promotional press shows, the 86-concert Glass Spider Tour commenced on 30 May. Bowie's backing band included Peter Frampton on lead guitar. Critics maligned the tour as overproduced, saying it pandered to the current stadium rock trends in its special effects and dancing.^[86]

1989–91: Tin Machine [link]

Bowie shelved his solo career in 1989, retreating to the relative anonymity of band membership for the first time since the early 1970s. A hard-rocking quartet, Tin Machine came into being after Bowie began to work experimentally with guitarist Reeves Gabrels. The line-up was completed by Tony and Hunt Sales, whom Bowie had known since the late 1970s for their contribution, on drums and bass respectively, to Iggy Pop's 1977 album Lust For Life.^[87]

Bowie in Chile during the 1990 Sound+Vision Tour

Though he intended Tin Machine to operate as a democracy, Bowie dominated, both in songwriting and in decision-making.^[88] The band's album debut, Tin Machine (1989), was initially popular, though its politicised lyrics did not find universal approval: Bowie described one song as "a simplistic, naive, radical, laying-it-down about the emergence of neo-Nazis"; in the view of biographer Christopher Sandford, "It took nerve to denounce drugs, fascism and TV [...] in terms that reached the literary level of a comic book."^[89] EMI complained of "lyrics that preach" as well as "repetitive tunes" and "minimalist or no production".^[90] The album nevertheless reached number three in the UK.^[89] Tin Machine's first world tour was a commercial success, but there was growing reluctance—among fans and critics alike—to accept Bowie's presentation as merely a band member.^[91] A series of Tin Machine singles failed to chart, and Bowie, after a disagreement with EMI, left the label.^[92] Like his audience and his critics, Bowie himself became increasingly disaffected with his role as just one member of a band.^[93] Tin Machine began work on a second album, but Bowie put the venture on hold and made a return to solo work. Performing his early hits during the seven-month Sound+Vision Tour, he found commercial success and acclaim once again.^[94]

In October 1990, a decade after his divorce from Angela, Bowie and Somali-born supermodel Iman were introduced by a mutual friend. Bowie recalled, "I was naming the children the night we met ... it was absolutely immediate." They would marry in 1992.^[95] Tin Machine resumed work the same month, but their audience and critics, ultimately left disappointed by the first album, showed little interest in a second. Tin Machine II's arrival was marked by a widely publicised and ill-timed conflict over the cover art: after production had begun, the new record label, Victory, deemed the depiction of four ancient nude Kouroi statues, judged by Bowie to be "in exquisite taste", "a show of wrong, obscene images", requiring air-brushing and patching to render the figures sexless.^[96] Tin Machine toured again, but after the live album Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby failed commercially, the band drifted apart, and Bowie, though he continued to collaborate with Gabrels, resumed his solo career.^[97]

1992–99: electronica [link]

Bowie performing in Finland in 1997

In April 1992 Bowie appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, following the Queen frontman's death the previous year. As well as performing "Heroes" and "All the Young Dudes", he was joined on "Under Pressure" by Annie Lennox, who took Mercury's vocal part.^[98] Four days later, Bowie and Iman were married in Switzerland. Intending to move to Los Angeles, they flew in to search for a suitable property, but found themselves confined to their hotel, under curfew: the 1992 Los Angeles riots began the day they arrived. They settled in New York instead.^[99]

1993 saw the release of Bowie's first solo offering since his Tin Machine departure, the soul, jazz and hip-hop influenced Black Tie White Noise. Making prominent use of electronic instruments, the album, which reunited Bowie with Let's Dance producer Nile Rodgers, confirmed Bowie's return to popularity, hitting the number one spot on the UK charts and spawning three top 40 hits, including the top 10 song "Jump They Say".^[100] Bowie explored new directions on The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), a soundtrack album of incidental music composed for the TV series adaptation of Hanif Kureishi's novel. It contained some of the new elements introduced in Black Tie White Noise, and also signalled a move towards alternative rock. The album was a critical success but received a low-key release and only made number 87 in the UK charts.^[101]

Reuniting Bowie with Eno, the quasi-industrial Outside (1995) was originally conceived as the first volume in a non-linear narrative of art and murder. Featuring characters from a short story written by Bowie, the album achieved US and UK chart success, and yielded three top 40 UK singles.^[102] In a move that provoked mixed reaction from both fans and critics, Bowie chose Nine Inch Nails as his tour partner for the Outside Tour. Visiting cities in Europe and North America between September 1995 and February the following year, the tour saw the return of Gabrels as Bowie's guitarist.^[103]

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996.^[104] Incorporating experiments in British jungle and drum 'n' bass, Earthling (1997) was a critical and commercial success in the UK and the US, and two singles from the album became UK top 40 hits. Bowie's song "I'm Afraid of Americans" from the Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls was re-recorded for the album, and remixed by Trent Reznor for a single release. The heavy rotation of the accompanying video, also featuring Reznor, contributed to the song's 16-week stay in the US Billboard Hot 100. The Earthling Tour took in Europe and North America between June and November 1997.^[105] Bowie reunited with Visconti in 1998 to record "(Safe in This) Sky Life" for The Rugrats Movie. Although the track was edited out of the final cut, it would later be re-recorded and released as "Safe" on the B-side of Bowie's 2002 single "Everyone Says 'Hi'".^[106] The reunion led to other collaborations including a limited-edition single release version of Placebo's track "Without You I'm Nothing", co-produced by Visconti, with Bowie's harmonised vocal added to the original recording.^[107]

1999–present: neoclassicist Bowie [link]

Bowie (left) on-stage with Sterling Campbell during the Heathen Tour in 2002.

Bowie created the soundtrack for Omikron, a 1999 computer game in which he and Iman also appeared as characters. Released the same year and containing re-recorded tracks from Omikron, his album 'Hours...' featured a song with lyrics by the winner of his "Cyber Song Contest" Internet competition, Alex Grant.^[108] Making extensive use of live instruments, the album was Bowie's exit from heavy electronica.^[109] Sessions for the planned album Toy, intended to feature new versions of some of Bowie's earliest pieces as well as three new songs, commenced in 2000, but the album was never released. Bowie and Visconti continued their collaboration, producing a new album of completely original songs instead: the result of the sessions was the 2002 album Heathen.^[110] Alexandria Zahra Jones, Bowie and Iman's daughter, was born on 15 August.^[111]

In October 2001, Bowie opened The Concert for New York City, a charity event to benefit the victims of the September 11 attacks, with a minimalist performance of Simon & Garfunkel's "America", followed by a full band performance of "Heroes".^[112] 2002 saw the release of Heathen, and, during the second half of the year, the Heathen Tour. Taking in Europe and North America, the tour opened at London's annual Meltdown festival, for which Bowie was that year appointed artistic director. Among the acts he selected for the festival were Philip Glass, Television and The Polyphonic Spree. As well as songs from the new album, the tour featured material from Bowie's Low era.^[113] Reality (2003) followed, and its accompanying world tour, the A Reality Tour, with an estimated attendance of 722,000, grossed more than any other in 2004. Onstage in Oslo, Norway, on 18 June, Bowie was hit in the eye with a lollipop thrown by a fan; a week later he suffered chest pain while performing at the Hurricane Festival in Scheeßel, Germany. Originally thought to be a pinched nerve in his shoulder, the pain was later diagnosed as an acutely blocked artery, requiring an emergency angioplasty in Hamburg. The remaining 14 dates of the tour were cancelled.^[114]

Bowie in 2009 with his son Duncan Jones at the premiere of Jones' directorial debut Moon

Since recuperating from the heart surgery, Bowie has reduced his musical output, making only one-off appearances on stage and in the studio. He sang in a duet of his 1972 song "Changes" with Butterfly Boucher for the 2004 animated film Shrek 2.^[115] During a relatively quiet 2005, he recorded the vocals for the song "(She Can) Do That", co-written with Brian Transeau, for the film Stealth.^[116] He returned to the stage on 8 September 2005, appearing with Arcade Fire for the US nationally televised event Fashion Rocks, and performed with the Canadian band for the second time a week later during the CMJ Music Marathon.^[117] He contributed back-up vocals on TV on the Radio's song "Province" for their album Return to Cookie Mountain,^[118] made a commercial with Snoop Dogg for XM Satellite Radio,^[119] and joined with Lou Reed on Danish alt-rockers Kashmir's 2005 album No Balance Palace.^[120]

Bowie was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award on 8 February 2006.^[121] In April, he announced, "I’m taking a year off—no touring, no albums."^[122] He made a surprise guest appearance at David Gilmour's 29 May concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The event was recorded, and a selection of songs on which he had contributed joint vocals were subsequently released.^[123] He performed again in November, alongside Alicia Keys, at the Black Ball, a New York benefit event for Keep a Child Alive,^[124] a performance that marks the last time Bowie performed his music on stage.^[125]

Bowie was chosen to curate the 2007 High Line Festival, selecting musicians and artists for the Manhattan event,^[126] and performed on Scarlett Johansson's 2008 album of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head.^[127] On the 40th anniversary of the July 1969 moon landing—and Bowie's accompanying commercial breakthrough with "Space Oddity"—EMI released the individual tracks from the original eight-track studio recording of the song, in a 2009 contest inviting members of the public to create a remix.^[128] A Reality Tour, a double album of live material from the 2003 concert tour, was released in January 2010.^[129]

In late March 2011, Toy, Bowie's previously unreleased album from 2001, was leaked onto the internet, containing material used for Heathen and most of its single B-sides, as well as unheard new versions of his early back catalogue.^[130]^[131]

Acting career [link]

Main article: David Bowie filmography

Biographer David Buckley writes, "The essence of Bowie's contribution to popular music can be found in his outstanding ability to analyse and select ideas from outside the mainstream—from art, literature, theatre and film—and to bring them inside, so that the currency of pop is constantly being changed."^[132] Buckley says, "Just one person took glam rock to new rarefied heights and invented character-playing in pop, marrying theatre and popular music in one seamless, powerful whole."^[133] Bowie's career has also been punctuated by various roles in film and theatre productions, earning him some acclaim as an actor in his own right.

The beginnings of his acting career predate his commercial breakthrough as a musician. Studying avant-garde theatre and mime under Lindsay Kemp, he was given the role of Cloud in Kemp's 1967 theatrical production Pierrot in Turquoise (later made into the 1970 television film The Looking Glass Murders).^[134] In the black-and-white short The Image (1969), he played a ghostly boy who emerges from a troubled artist's painting to haunt him.^[135] The same year, the film of Leslie Thomas's 1966 comic novel The Virgin Soldiers saw Bowie make a brief appearance as an extra.^[135] In 1976 he earned acclaim for his first major film role, portraying Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien from a dying planet, in The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nic Roeg. Just a Gigolo (1979), an Anglo-German co-production directed by David Hemmings, saw Bowie in the lead role as Prussian officer Paul von Przygodski, who, returning from World War I, is discovered by a Baroness (Marlene Dietrich) and put into her Gigolo Stable.

Bowie took the title role in the Broadway theatre production The Elephant Man, earning high praise for an expressive performance. He played the part 157 times between 1980 and 1981.^[81] Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, a 1981 biographical film focusing on a young girl's drug addiction in West Berlin, featured Bowie in a cameo appearance as himself at a concert in Germany. Its soundtrack album, Christiane F. (1981), featured much material from his Berlin Trilogy albums.^[136] Bowie starred in The Hunger (1983), a revisionist vampire film, with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon. In Nagisa Oshima's film the same year, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, based on Laurens van der Post's novel The Seed and the Sower, Bowie played Major Jack Celliers, a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp. Bowie had a cameo in Yellowbeard, a 1983 pirate comedy created by Monty Python members, and a small part as Colin, the hitman in the 1985 film Into the Night. He declined to play the villain Max Zorin in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985).^[137]

Absolute Beginners (1986), a rock musical based on Colin MacInnes's 1959 novel about London life, featured Bowie's music and presented him with a minor acting role. The same year, Jim Henson's dark fantasy Labyrinth found him with the part of Jareth, the king of the goblins.^[138] Two years later he played Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ. Bowie portrayed a disgruntled restaurant employee opposite Rosanna Arquette in The Linguini Incident (1991), and the mysterious FBI agent Phillip Jeffries in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). He took a small but pivotal role as Andy Warhol in Basquiat, artist/director Julian Schnabel's 1996 biopic of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and co-starred in Giovanni Veronesi's Spaghetti Western Il Mio West (1998, released as Gunslinger's Revenge in the US in 2005) as the most feared gunfighter in the region.^[139] He played the ageing gangster Bernie in Andrew Goth's Everybody Loves Sunshine (1999), and appeared in the TV horror serial of The Hunger. In Mr. Rice's Secret (2000), he played the title role as the neighbour of a terminally ill twelve-year-old, and the following year appeared as himself in Zoolander.

Bowie portrayed physicist Nikola Tesla in the Christopher Nolan film, The Prestige (2006), which was about the bitter rivalry between two magicians in the late 19th century. He voice-acted in the animated film Arthur and the Invisibles as the powerful villain Maltazard, and lent his voice to the character Lord Royal Highness in the SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis television film. In the 2008 film August, directed by Austin Chick, he played a supporting role as Ogilvie, alongside Josh Hartnett and Rip Torn, with whom he had worked in 1976 for The Man Who Fell to Earth.^[140]^[141]

Sexual orientation [link]

Buckley writes, "If Ziggy confused both his creator and his audience, a big part of that confusion centred on the topic of sexuality."^[142] Bowie declared himself bisexual in an interview with Michael Watts of Melody Maker in January 1972, a move coinciding with the first shots in his campaign for stardom as Ziggy Stardust.^[42] In a September 1976 interview with Playboy, Bowie said: "It's true—I am a bisexual. But I can't deny that I've used that fact very well. I suppose it's the best thing that ever happened to me."^[143]

In a 1983 interview with Rolling Stone, Bowie said his public declaration of bisexuality was "the biggest mistake I ever made" and "I was always a closet heterosexual".^[144] On other occasions, he said his interest in homosexual and bisexual culture had been more a product of the times and the situation in which he found himself than his own feelings; as described by Buckley, he said he had been driven more by "a compulsion to flout moral codes than a real biological and psychological state of being".^[145]^[146]

Asked in 2002 by Blender whether he still believed his public declaration was the biggest mistake he ever made, he replied:

Interesting. [Long pause] I don’t think it was a mistake in Europe, but it was a lot tougher in America. I had no problem with people knowing I was bisexual. But I had no inclination to hold any banners nor be a representative of any group of people. I knew what I wanted to be, which was a songwriter and a performer, and I felt that bisexuality became my headline over here for so long. America is a very puritanical place, and I think it stood in the way of so much I wanted to do.^[147]

Buckley's view of the period is that Bowie, "a taboo-breaker and a dabbler ... mined sexual intrigue for its ability to shock",^[148] and that "it is probably true that Bowie was never gay, nor even consistently actively bisexual ... he did, from time to time, experiment, even if only out of a sense of curiosity and a genuine allegiance with the 'transgressional'."^[149] Biographer Christopher Sandford says that according to Mary Finnigan, with whom Bowie had an affair in 1969, the singer and his first wife Angie "lived in a fantasy world [...] and they created their bisexual fantasy."^[150] Sandford tells how, during the marriage, Bowie "made a positive fetish of repeating the quip that he and his wife had met while 'fucking the same bloke' [...] Gay sex was always an anecdotal and laughing matter. That Bowie's actual tastes swung the other way is clear from even a partial tally of his affairs with women."^[150]

Musicianship [link]

Bowie's guitar located in Hard Rock Café Warsaw.

From the time of his earliest recordings in the 1960s, Bowie has employed a wide variety of musical styles. His early compositions and performances were strongly influenced by not only rock and rollers like Little Richard and Elvis Presley but also the wider world of show business. He particularly strove to emulate the British musical theatre singer-songwriter and actor Anthony Newley, whose vocal style he frequently adopted, and made prominent use of for his 1967 debut release, David Bowie (to the disgust of Newley himself, who destroyed the copy he received from Bowie's publisher).^[19]^[151] Bowie's music hall fascination continued to surface sporadically alongside such diverse styles as hard rock and heavy metal, soul, psychedelic folk and pop.^[152]

Musicologist James Perone observes Bowie's use of octave switches for different repetitions of the same melody, exemplified in his commercial breakthrough single, "Space Oddity", and later in the song "Heroes", to dramatic effect; Perone notes that "in the lowest part of his vocal register [...] his voice has an almost crooner-like richness."^[153]

Voice instructor Jo Thompson describes Bowie's vocal vibrato technique as "particularly deliberate and distinctive".^[154] Schinder and Schwartz call him "a vocalist of extraordinary technical ability, able to pitch his singing to particular effect."^[155] Here, too, as in his stagecraft and songwriting, the singer's chamaeleon-like nature is evident: historiographer Michael Campbell says that Bowie's lyrics "arrest our ear, without question. But Bowie continually shifts from person to person as he delivers them [...] His voice changes dramatically from section to section."^[156]

Bowie plays many instruments, among them electric, acoustic, and twelve-string guitar; alto, tenor and baritone saxophone; keyboards including piano, synthesizers and Mellotron; harmonica, Stylophone, xylophone, vibraphone, koto, drums and percussion, and string instruments including viola and cello.^[157]^[158]^[159]^[160]

Legacy [link]

David Bowie's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Bowie's innovative songs and stagecraft brought a new dimension to popular music in the early 1970s, strongly influencing both its immediate forms and its subsequent development. A pioneer of glam rock, Bowie, according to music historians Schinder and Schwartz, has joint responsibility with Marc Bolan for creating the genre.^[161] At the same time, he inspired the innovators of the punk rock music movement—historian Michael Campbell calls him "one of punk's seminal influences". While punk musicians trashed the conventions of pop stardom, Bowie moved on again—into a more abstract style of music making that would in turn become a transforming influence. Biographer David Buckley writes, "At a time when punk rock was noisily reclaiming the three-minute pop song in a show of public defiance, Bowie almost completely abandoned traditional rock instrumentation."^[162]^[163] Bowie's record company sought to convey his unique status in popular music with the slogan, "There is old wave, there is new wave, and there is Bowie..."^[164] Musicologist James Perone credits him with having "brought sophistication to rock music", and critical reviews frequently acknowledge the intellectual depth of his work and influence.^[161]^[165]^[166]

Buckley writes that, in an early 1970s pop world that was "Bloated, self-important, leather-clad, self-satisfied, ... Bowie challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day." As described by John Peel, "The one distinguishing feature about early-70s progressive rock was that it didn't progress. Before Bowie came along, people didn't want too much change." Buckley says that Bowie "subverted the whole notion of what it was to be a rock star", with the result that "After Bowie there has been no other pop icon of his stature, because the pop world that produces these rock gods doesn't exist any more. ... The fierce partisanship of the cult of Bowie was also unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom." Buckley concludes that "Bowie is both star and icon. The vast body of work he has produced ... has created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture. ... His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure."^[2]

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.^[104] Through perpetual reinvention, he has seen his influence continue to broaden and extend: music reviewer Brad Filicky writes that over the decades, "Bowie has become known as a musical chameleon, changing and dictating trends as much as he has altered his style to fit, influencing fashion and pop culture."^[167] Biographer Thomas Forget adds, "Because he has succeeded in so many different styles of music, it is almost impossible to find a popular artist today that has not been influenced by David Bowie."^[168]

Personal life [link]

Bowie and wife Iman

Bowie married Mary Angela Barnett (also known as Angie Bowie) on 19 March 1970 at Bromley Register Office in Beckenham Lane, Kent. They had a son together, Zowie Bowie (also known as Duncan Jones, film director), and divorced on 8 February 1980 in Switzerland.

The 1971 song "Kooks" on the album Hunky Dory was written for his newborn son.

In 1992 Bowie married Somali-American model Iman. They have one daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones, born 15 August 2000.^[169] The couple resides primarily in Manhattan and London.^[170]

Regarding his compositions, in 2005 he said "Questioning my spiritual life has always been germane to what I was writing. Always." because he is "not quite an atheist and it bothers me."^[171]

Awards and recognition [link]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by David Bowie

Bowie's 1969 commercial breakthrough, the song "Space Oddity", won him an Ivor Novello Special Award For Originality.^[172] For his performance in the 1976 science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth, he won a Saturn Award for Best Actor.^[173] In the ensuing decades he has been honoured with numerous awards for his music and its accompanying videos, receiving, among others, two Grammy Awards^[174]^[175] and two BRIT Awards.^[176]

In 1999, Bowie was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.^[177] He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music the same year.^[178] He declined the royal honour of Commander of the British Empire in 2000, and turned down a knighthood in 2003,^[179] stating: "I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for."^[180]

Throughout his career he has sold an estimated 250 million albums.^[181] In the United Kingdom, he has been awarded 9 Platinum, 11 Gold and 8 Silver albums, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold.^[182]^[183] In the BBC's 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked 29.^[181] In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time^[184] and the 23rd best singer of all time.^[185] Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996.^[104]

Discography [link]

Main article: David Bowie discography

David Bowie (1967)
Space Oddity (1969)
The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
Hunky Dory (1971)
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
Aladdin Sane (1973)
Pin Ups (1973)
Diamond Dogs (1974)
Young Americans (1975)
Station to Station (1976)
Low (1977)
"Heroes" (1977)

Lodger (1979)
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
Let's Dance (1983)
Tonight (1984)
Never Let Me Down (1987)
Black Tie White Noise (1993)
The Buddha of Suburbia (1994)
Outside (1995)
Earthling (1997)
'Hours...' (1999)
Heathen (2002)
Reality (2003)

Filmography [link]

As Actor [link]

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1967	The Image	The Boy	short film
1969	The Virgin Soldiers	Soldier	(extra)
1970	Pierrot in Turquoise or The Looking Glass Murders	Cloud	television film
1976	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Thomas Jerome Newton	Saturn Award for Best Actor
1978	Just a Gigolo	Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski
1981	Christiane F. (Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo)	Himself	cameo
1982	The Snowman	Narrator	re-released version
1982	Baal	Baal	television film
1983	Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence	Maj. Jack 'Strafer' Celliers
	The Hunger	John
	Yellowbeard	The Shark	cameo (uncredited)
1985	Into the Night	Colin Morris	cameo
1986	Labyrinth	Jareth the Goblin King
1986	Absolute Beginners	Vendice Partners
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ	Pontius Pilate	cameo
1991	The Linguini Incident	Monte
1991	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Phillip Jeffries	cameo
1996	Basquiat	Andy Warhol
1998	Gunslinger's Revenge (Il mio West)	Jack Sikora
1999	Everybody Loves Sunshine	Bernie
2000	Mr. Rice's Secret	William Rice
2001	Zoolander	Himself	cameo (nominated for MTV Movie Award)
2006	The Prestige	Nikola Tesla
2007	Arthur and the Invisibles	Emperor Maltazard	voice: English version
2008	August	Cyrus Ogilvie	cameo
2008	Spongebob Squarepants	L.R.H	guest voice
2009	Bandslam	Himself	cameo

As Musician [link]

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture (1983) (VHS, DVD in 2003)
Love You Till Tuesday (1984) (VHS, DVD in 2005)
Serious Moonlight (1984) (VHS, unofficial DVD in 1999, official DVD in 2006)
Glass Spider (1988) (VHS, unofficial DVD as Glass Spider Tour in 2001, official DVD in 2007)
Bowie – The Video Collection (1993) (VHS)
Black Tie White Noise (1993) (VHS, DVD in 2005)
Best of Bowie (2002) (DVD)
A Reality Tour (2004) (DVD)

As Producer [link]

Büvös vadász (1994) (... aka Magic Hunter)
Passaggio per il paradiso (1998) (... aka Gentle Into the Night, ... aka Passage to Paradise)
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (2006)

Documentaries [link]

Love You Till Tuesday (1969) (as the subject, short)
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973) (as the subject, documentary/concert film)
Cracked Actor (1974) (as the subject, BBC)
Group Madness (1983)
Cool Cats: Twenty-Five Years of Rock 'N' Roll Style (1983)
Queen: The Magic Years (1987)
Imagine: John Lennon (1988)
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990)
Travelling Light (1992)
Inspirations (1997)
Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart (1998)
Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003)

Notes [link]

^ "How to say: Bowie". bbc.co.uk. 8 January 2008. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2007/01/how_to_say_bowie.shtml. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Buckley (2005): pp. 516–17, 524, 529
^ "From Morrissey to Tony Blair: How Irelands children are at the heart of English culture". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/from-morrissey-to-tony-blair-how-irelands-children-are-at-the-heart-of-english-culture-445584.html. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
^ Hume, John et al (2008). Britain & Ireland: Lives Entwined III. British Council. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-86355-612-8.
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 9–16
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 18–19
^ Buckley (2000): p. 21.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sandford (1997): pp. 19–20
^ Doggett, Peter (January 2007). "Teenage Wildlife". Mojo Classic (Mojo) (60 Years of Bowie): 8–9.
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 21–22
^ Sandford (1997): p. 25
^ Buckley (2005): p.19
^ Evans, Mike (2006). Rock 'n' Roll's Strangest Moments: Extraordinary Tales from Over Fifty Years. Anova Books. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-86105-923-9.
^ Heterochromia Central - What Is Central Heterochromia?
^ Sandford (1997): p. 28
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 29–30
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 35–39
^ Buckley (2000): p. 33
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 41–42
^ ^a ^b Buckley (2005): pp. 41–42
^ Buckley (2005): p. 46
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 49–52
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 49–50
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): p. 53
^ McKay, George (1996). Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance. Verso. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-85984-908-8.
^ Sandford (1997): p. 60
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 54–60
^ ^a ^b ^c Sandford (1997): pp. 62–63
^ Buckley (2000): pp. 89–90
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): p. 67
^ ^a ^b ^c Sandford (1997): pp. 73–74
^ Pegg (2000): pp. 260–65
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 95–99
^ Sandford (1997): p. 80
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 85–86
^ ^a ^b Buckley (2005): pp. 135–36
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 93–95
^ Buckley (2000): p. 156
^ Pegg (2004): pp. 281–83
^ Sandford (1997): p. 108
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 106–7
^ ^a ^b Carr & Murray (1981): p. 7
^ Carr & Murray (1981): p. 116
^ Buckley (2005): p. 163
^ Sandford (1997): p. 115
^ Buckley (2005): p. 3
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 180–83
^ ^a ^b Buckley (2005): pp. 204–5
^ Sandford (1997): p. 128
^ Sandford (1997): p. 138
^ Carr & Murray (1981): pp. 68–74
^ Buckley, 2003, p.130.
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): p. 146
^ Roberts, David (ed.) (2001). Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles. Guinness World Records Ltd. p. 120. ISBN 0-85156-156-X.
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 135–36
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 137, 153
^ Buckley (2005): p. 238
^ Buckley (2005): p. 244
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): p. 158
^ Buckley (2000): pp. 289–91.
^ Paytress, Mark (January 2007). "The Controversial Homecoming". Mojo Classic (Mojo) (60 Years of Bowie): 64.
^ Carr & Murray (1981): p. 11.
^ Buckley (2005): p. 252
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 154–55
^ Sandford (1997): p. 149
^ Needs, Kris (January 2007). "The Passenger". Mojo Classic (Mojo) (60 Years of Bowie): 65.
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 166–68
^ Perone (2007): p. 175
^ Thomson (1993): p. xiii
^ Pegg (2000): pp. 90–92
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 181–82
^ Bronson, Fred (1990). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. Billboard Books. p. 572. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
^ Buckley (2005): p. 293
^ Sandford (1997): p. 189
^ Carr & Murray (1981): pp. 102–7
^ Buckley (2005): p. 281
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 191–92
^ Sandford (1997): p. 197
^ Pegg (2000): p. 29
^ Carr & Murray (1981): pp. 108–14
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): pp. 205–7
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 208, 211–12
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 335–55
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 165–66
^ McNair, James (January 2007). "Tumble & Twirl". Mojo Classic (Mojo) (60 Years of Bowie): 101.
^ Fyfe, Andy (January 2007). "Too Dizzy". Mojo Classic (Mojo) (60 Years of Bowie): 88–91.
^ Buckley (2005): p. 387
^ Sandford (1997): p. 274
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): p. 275
^ Sandford (1997): p. 273
^ Buckley (2005): p. 394
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 278–79
^ Sandford (1997): p. 278
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 280–86
^ Sandford (1997): p. 289
^ Sandford (1997): p. 292
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 294–95
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 298–99
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 413–14
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 301–8
^ Buckley (2000): pp. 494–95, 623
^ Buckley (2000): pp. 623–24
^ Buckley (2000): pp. 512–13
^ ^a ^b ^c "David Bowie: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction". rockhall.com. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. http://rockhall.com/inductees/david-bowie. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
^ Buckley (2000): pp. 533–34
^ Thompson (2006): p. 203
^ Thompson (2006): pp. 203, 212
^ Buckley (2005): p. 466
^ Perone (2007): p. 125
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 488–89
^ Buckley (2005): p. 485
^ Buckley (2005): p. 491
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 493–95
^ Buckley (2005): pp. 504–5
^ Buckley (2004): p. 16
^ Perone (2007): p. 142
^ Thompson (2006): pp. 291–92
^ "Space Is the Place: Innovative Brooklyn rockers blast off to the future". Spin (Spin Media LLC): 1. June 2006.
^ Lamb, Charles W.; Hair, Joseph F.; McDaniel, Carl (2007). Marketing. South-Western College Pub. p. 472. ISBN 978-0-324-36208-4.
^ Stone, Andrew (2008). Denmark. Lonely Planet. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-74104-669-4.
^ Thompson (2006): p. 293
^ Yuan, Jada (1 May 2006). "David Bowie Takes Time Off, Sneaks Into Movies". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/16865/. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
^ Gulla, Bob (2008). Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History. Greenwood. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-313-35806-7.
^ Mitchell, Gail (November 2009). "The Elements of Style". Billboard (Billboard.com): 22.
^ Gilmore, Mikal (2 February 2012), "How Ziggy Stardust Fell to Earth", Rolling Stone magazine (1149): 36–43,68
^ Schinder & Schwartz (2007): p. 500
^ Marchese, David (May 2008). "The Inquisition: Scarlett Johansson". Spin (Spin Media LLC): 40.
^ "David Bowie to release "Space Oddity" multi-tracks to celebrate moon landing". NME News. 6 July 2009. http://www.nme.com/news/david-bowie/45872. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
^ Diver, Mike (5 February 2010). "David Bowie A Reality Tour Review". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5gwx. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
^ Perpetua, Matthew (22 March 2011). "Unreleased David Bowie LP 'Toy' Leaks Online". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/unreleased-david-bowie-lp-toy-leaks-online-20110322. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
^ Michaels, Sean (23 March 2011). "David Bowie's unreleased album Toy leaks online". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/23/david-bowie-toy-album-leak. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
^ Buckley (2005): p. 526
^ Buckley (2005): p. 2
^ Sandford (1997): p. 43
^ ^a ^b Buckley (2005): p. 49
^ Sandford (1997); p. 208
^ Pegg (2004) p. 561.
^ Sandford (1997): pp. 252–53
^ Thompson (2006): p. 195
^ "August". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470679. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
^ "The Man Who Fell to Earth". imdb.com. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/fullcredits. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
^ Buckley (2005): p. 140
^ "Interview: David Bowie". Playboy. September 1976. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100801045250/http://www.playboy.com/articles/david-bowie-interview/index.html?page=2. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
^ "David Bowie Calls Himself 'A Closet Heterosexual'". orlandosentinel.com (Orlando Sentinel). 30 May 1993. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-05-30/news/9305300344_1_david-bowie-mick-jagger-ziggy. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
^ Buckley (2000): p. 401
^ Buckley (2005): p. 106
^ Collis, Clark (August 2002). "Dear Superstar: David Bowie". blender.com (Alpha Media Group Inc). http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=366. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
^ Buckley (2005): p. 141
^ Buckley (2005): p. 147
^ ^a ^b Sandford (1997): p. 48
^ Perone (2007): p. 4
^ Perone (2007): pp. 22, 36–37
^ Perone (2007) p. 12
^ Thompson, Jo (2004). Find Your Voice: A Self-Help Manual for Singers. Artemis Editions. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-634-07435-6.
^ Schinder & Schwartz (2007): p. 483
^ Campbell (2008): p. 254
^ Thompson (2006): p. 346
^ Hopkins, Jerry (1985). Bowie. MacMillan. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-02-553730-9.
^ Perone (2007): pp. 17–44, 152–60
^ Buckley (2004): p. 48
^ ^a ^b Schinder & Schwartz (2007): p. 482
^ Campbell (2008) p. 304
^ Buckley (2004): p. 45
^ Thomson (1993): p. 217
^ Perone (2007): p. 183
^ Paytress, Mark (2003). Bolan: The Rise and Fall of a 20th Century Superstar. Omnibus Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-7119-9293-1.
^ Filicky, Brad (10 June 2002). "Reviews; David Bowie: Heathen". CMJ New Music Report (CMJ) 71 (766): 13.
^ Forget, Thomas (2002). David Bowie (Rock & Roll Hall of Famers). Rosen Publishing Group. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-8239-3523-9.
^ FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 15, 2000. Ca.eonline.com (2000-08-15). Retrieved on 2012-05-09.
^ Iman. Fashion Model Directory. Retrieved on 2012-05-09.
^ Anthony DeCurtis (5 May 2005). In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life And Work. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 262–263. ISBN 978-0-634-06655-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=8Rr53q4VxuoC&pg=PA262. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
^ "Ivor Novello Awards". buckmusicgroup.com. Bucks Music Group. http://www.bucksmusicgroup.com/about/Ivor_Novello_Awards.html. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
^ "Past Award Winners". saturnawards.org. The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films. http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
^ "Grammy Award Winners". Grammy.com. National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=&winner=David%20Bowie&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1. Retrieved 16 September 2010. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Lifetime Achievement Award: Past Recipients". Grammy.com. National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100826002047/http://www2.grammy.com/Recording%5FAcademy/Awards/Lifetime%5FAwards/. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
^ "David Bowie". brits.co.uk. Brit Awards Ltd. http://www.brits.co.uk/artist/david-bowie. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
^ Lichfield, John (8 May 2009). "The Big Question: How does the French honours system work, and why has Kylie been decorated?". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-big-question-how-does-the-french-honours-system-work-and-why-has-kylie-been-decorated-822752.html. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
^ "ChChChChanges". berklee.edu. Berklee College of Music. http://www.berklee.edu/news/1999/grad99.html. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
^ Thompson, Jody (8 January 2007). "Sixty things about David Bowie". (No. 35): BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6230201.stm. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
^ Mohan, Dominic (12 September 2003). "Exclusive: Bowie refuses knighthood". The Sun. http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/press/00/030912thesun.htm. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
^ ^a ^b Todd, Ben (27 November 2009). "David Bowie asked to play at Glastonbury for third time to mark 40th anniversary". The Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1231539/David-Bowie-asked-play-Glastonbury-time-mark-40th-anniversary.html. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
^ "Gold and Platinum: Search Results". riaa.com. Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=David%20Bowie&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
^ "Certified Awards Search". bpi.co.uk. British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
^ "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Rolling Stone. 15 April 2004. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939214/the_immortals_the_first_fifty. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
^ "The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/6027/32782/33036. Retrieved 14 September 2010.

References [link]

Buckley, David (2000) [First published 1999]. Strange Fascination — David Bowie: The Definitive Story. London: Virgin. ISBN 0-7535-0457-X.
Buckley, David (2004). David Bowie: The Complete Guide To His Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84449-423-1.
Buckley, David (2005) [First published 1999]. Strange Fascination — David Bowie: The Definitive Story. London: Virgin. ISBN 978-0-7535-1002-5.
Buckley, Peter (2003). The rough guide to rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-105-4.
Campbell, Michael (2008). Popular Music in America: And The Beat Goes On. Schirmer. ISBN 978-0-495-50530-3.
Carr, Roy; Murray, Charles Shaar (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record. New York: Avon. ISBN 0-380-77966-8.
Cole, Shaun (2000). 'Don we now our gay apparel': gay men's dress in the twentieth century. London: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-415-4.
Ditmore, Melissa Hope (2006). Encyclopedia of prostitution and sex work, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32970-2.
Pegg, Nicholas (2004) [First published 2000]. The Complete David Bowie. London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 1-903111-73-0.
Perone, James E. (2007). The Words and Music of David Bowie. Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-99245-3.
Sandford, Christopher (1997) [First published 1996]. Bowie: Loving the Alien. Time Warner. ISBN 0-306-80854-4.
Schinder, Scott; Schwartz, Andy (2007). Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-33845-8.
Thomson, Elizabeth (1993). The Bowie Companion. Macmillan. ISBN 0-283-06262-2.
Thompson, Dave (2006). Hallo Spaceboy: The Rebirth of David Bowie. Ecw Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-733-8.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Bowie

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Bowie

Official website
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Documentary Film - David Bowie: Sound and Vision
Bowieart – paintings, printmakings, etc.
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Authority control: LCCN: n81112099 | WorldCat

v t e David Bowie

Discography Awards and nominations Filmography Tours

Studio albums	David Bowie (1967) David Bowie (1969) The Man Who Sold the World Hunky Dory The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Aladdin Sane Pin Ups Diamond Dogs Young Americans Station to Station Low "Heroes" Lodger Scary Monsters Let's Dance Tonight Never Let Me Down Black Tie White Noise Outside Earthling 'Hours...' Heathen Reality

With Tin Machine	Tin Machine Tin Machine II Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby

Live albums	David Live Stage Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture LiveAndWell.com Live Santa Monica '72 Glass Spider Live VH1 Storytellers A Reality Tour

Soundtracks	Christiane F. Love You till Tuesday Labyrinth The Buddha of Suburbia

EPs	Baal Earthling in the City Live EP (Live at Fashion Rocks)

Compilations	The World of David Bowie Changesonebowie The Best of Bowie Changestwobowie Rare Golden Years Fame and Fashion Changesbowie The Singles Collection Bowie at the Beeb All Saints Best of Bowie The Platinum Collection iSelect

Box sets	Sound + Vision Bowie Box Set

Concert videos	Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Serious Moonlight Glass Spider A Reality Tour VH1 Storytellers

Promotional films and compilations	Love You till Tuesday Bowie – The Video Collection Black Tie White Noise Best of Bowie

Tours	Ziggy Stardust Tour Diamond Dogs Tour Isolar Isolar II Serious Moonlight Tour Glass Spider Tour Tin Machine Tour Sound+Vision Tour It's My Life Tour Outside Tour Outside Summer Festivals Tour Earthling Tour The Hours... Tour Mini Tour Heathen Tour A Reality Tour

Related artists	The Spiders from Mars Tin Machine Tony Visconti Brian Eno Mick Ronson Mick Woodmansey Trevor Bolder Mott The Hoople Iggy Pop Mike Garson Reeves Gabrels Earl Slick Carlos Alomar George Murray Dennis Davis Arnold Corns Lou Reed Robert Fripp Gail Ann Dorsey Adrian Belew Pete Townshend

Related articles	Major Tom The Thin White Duke Berlin Trilogy "Bowie" The Sovereign Omikron: The Nomad Soul

Book:David Bowie / Part 2: Singles and songs Category:David Bowie

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Persondata
Name	Bowie, David
Alternative names	David Robert Jones
Short description	English singer, songwriter, musician
Date of birth	8 January 1947
Place of birth	London, England, UK
Date of death
Place of death

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[edit] The Colbert Report

[edit] Los Links Son Malos

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[edit] Before Flying Circus

[edit] Monty Python's Flying Circus

[edit] End of Flying Circus

[edit] Life after the Flying Circus

[edit] And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

[edit] Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)

[edit] Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

[edit] Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)

[edit] Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

[edit] Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows

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Contents

[edit] 2005–08: Early mixtapes and Show and Prove

[edit] 2009–10: Deal or No Deal

[edit] 2010–11: Mainstream success and Rolling Papers

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Contents