“Fame, What's your name?”
David Bowie is 55-years-old today...at least the name David Bowie is.
The most solid evidence of when David chose to go with Bowie over Jones as his professional name first appeared in Kenneth Pitt's book, David Bowie - The Pitt Report. In it Ken talks about the transition between David’s managers from one Ralph Horton to Ken himself. In a telephone conversation of the 15th, Ralph discussed with Ken the possibility of Ken taking over the management reins.
The time wasn’t right for Ken just yet. But, by his account, he did suggest a name change for the 18-year-old Davie Jones might be pertinent, due to similarly named entertainers in the public eye at that time, not least of all a young actor who was to find world-wide fame as a singing Monkee.
Ralph responded to Ken in a letter dated the 17th in which he wrote: “I have taken the liberty of writing to you and advising you that I have now changed Davie’s name to David Bowie.” It could be argued that the name change may have been made on the day the letter was written, but it seems the 16th is the popular conclusion arrived at by Bowie experts.
Obviously it's unlikely that Ralph had any hand in the selection of the new name, as David had already been toying with various stage personas. It's also highly likely that the name of Bowie had been kicking around in David's mind for some time, particularly as he says that Jim Bowie’s Bowie knife was the inspiration for the name, a weapon that he would have been aware of since his childhood. Indeed, it transpires he had been experimenting with variations of Bowie long before then with early band names such as the Bowmen being considered.
Ahead of the release of the very first record to bear the name Bowie (Can't Help Thinking About Me released January 14th 1966, as David Bowie and The Lower Third, The Lower Third are pictured here), It seems there was a concerted effort to make the public aware of the name change before the release of the new record, with lots of press on the subject and even a two inch square box ad in the back pages of the Christmas eve '65 issue of Melody Maker. The advert contained the simple legend: BOWIE
And what a legend the name was to become!
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