Bowie endured a series of operations during a four-month hospitalization period when his doctors ultimately resolved that the damage couldn’t be repaired. Thus, Bowie was left with a pupil that was permanently dilated and faulty depth perception. This became one of Bowie’s most recognizable features.
Then, in 2004, Bowie’s eye was involved in another incident. While performing in Oslo, Norway, a crowd member threw a lollipop onto the stage. It managed to strike Bowie right in the eye — and got stuck. A member of his stage crew had to help him remove it, and they could continue with the concert.
Becoming Bowie
Once he was ready to establish himself as a musician, there was one predicament: his name was David Jones, and there already was a Davy Jones, the lead singer of The Monkees, and a well-known name in the music industry. And so, that’s why David Jones changed his name to David Bowie – to bypass any potential confusion.
In 1967, a super fan named Sandra Dodd sent Bowie his first fan letter from the US. In her letter, she asked him about his name. Bowie replied to her with: “In answer to your question, David Jones is my real name and I don’t need to tell you why I changed it.”
Different Eyes?
People often claim that Bowie had heterochromia – a genetic condition that results in two different colored eyes. But that's actually not true. Both of his eyes are, in fact, blue. The actual condition is called anisocoria, and it manifests in a permanently dilated pupil.
This happened to Bowie when he was only 15 years old as a result of getting into a physical altercation with a friend from school, George Underwood.
High School Friends
Bowie attended Bromley Technical High School, an unusual school, where he studied art, music, and design. His half-brother Terry Burns introduced him to modern jazz, and his mother gave him a Grafton saxophone in 1961. He then took lessons from Ronnie Ross, the baritone saxophonist.
During his school career, Bowie befriended future musician Peter Frampton, whose father was Bowie’s art teacher. They bonded over music and remained close until Bowie’s death.
Becoming Ziggy Stardust
"If someone's wearing a pink hat and a red nose, and it plays a guitar upside down, I will go and look at it. I love to see people being dangerous." This was Bowie's sentiment as he set out to create the most celebrated alter ego the pop world has ever seen: Ziggy Stardust.
By the end of 1972, he rose to stardom. Within a few months, he transitioned from a merely adequate pop singer to a cultural phenomenon in a new form – Ziggy Stardust. Bowie said. “I always felt a bit out of my element, which is a ridiculously [grandiose] way of looking at it. When I look back, I now realize that from ‘72 through to about ‘76, I was the ultimate rock star.”