David Bowie—the iconic superstar of rock, fashion, art, design, and the quintessential sexual liberator—is a living legend. However, for the past five decades, he has managed to retain his Hollywood star mystique. BOWIE: The Biography (Gallery Books; on-sale September 23rd, 2014; Hardcover, $28.00) by New York Times bestselling author Wendy Leigh reveals the real man behind the mythology. Publishing at same time the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is holding the US debut of “David Bowie is…,” this biography is an in-depth exploration of David Bowie, the man – his myriad personas, his charisma, and, above all, his genius. Through scores of interviews with music industry insiders, business associates, close friends, and lovers both male and female, Leigh, who grew up just a mile from where Bowie was born and went to school, has written an intimate portrait of rock’s greatest enigma.
In this unexpurgated revelation of Bowie’s kaleidoscopic personal life, Leigh explores his star-crossed childhood and family: an emotionally distant mother, once an acolyte of the British Fascist party, a father who masterminded his early career, and his brother, who spent most of his life in a mental institution. Haunted by fears of succumbing to his brother’s illness, the young David’s relentless pursuit of success in the music business was fueled and facilitated by his uninhibited and voracious sexual appetite.
BOWIE candidly explores David’s adventurous and legendary sex life, which ran the gamut from self-avowed gay to bisexual to resolutely heterosexual. Leigh details his conquests, among them Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Sarandon, Marianne Faithfull, and Nine Simone. She brings insight to his tempestuous first marriage to Angie Bowie, his forty-year bond with personal assistant Coco Schwab, his ambivalent relationship with Mick Jagger, and, most notably, his quarter-of-a-century marriage to supermodel Iman.
Above all, Leigh focuses on Bowie’s hard-won rise to fame and fortune, his astounding creativity, his courage as a performer, and his shape-shifting style, coupled with a ruthless ambition that caused him to submit to the casting couch on his way to the top despite constant threat of addiction.
Featuring a sixteen-page insert with candid photographs of David Bowie and those close to him, BOWIE offers a frank, provocative, and uncompromising look at the iconic superstar who changed the world.
ABOUT WENDY LEIGH
Wendy Leigh is the New York Times bestselling author whose books include Prince Charming: The JFK Jr. Story; True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess; and Patrick Swayze: One Last Dance. She is the coauthor of the memoir Shirley Jones, and, with Christopher Ciccone, Life with My Sister Madonna.