Angela Bowie
Encyclopedia
Angela Bowie (b. 1949) is an American
cover girl
, model
, actress and musician
. She is the former wife of English
musician David Bowie
and mother of film director Duncan Jones
.
citizen on September 25, 1949 in Cyprus
, is of paternal English
and maternal Polish
descent, and she was brought up a Catholic
. She has one older brother. Her father, Col. George M. Barnett, a U.S Army
veteran, was a mining
engineer and ran a mill for Cyprus Mines Corporation
. Her mother was Helena Maria Galas. Both her parents died in 1984.
Educated in Cyprus, Switzerland
and the UK
(Kingston Polytechnic
), she briefly attended Connecticut College For Women until she was expelled.
in London
, England
in 1969, at the age of 19. According to David Bowie, they met through their mutual friendship with Chinese-American record executive Dr. Calvin Mark Lee. She married Bowie one year later, on 19 March 1970 at Bromley
Register Office
in Beckenham Lane, Kent
. Duncan Jones
is their son.
David Bowie wrote the songs "The Prettiest Star
" and "Golden Years
" about her. (Angela appears in the D.A. Pennebaker concert film Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture; in a backstage sequence, David calls her by the name "Star".) She often accompanied him on his international concert tours, which included North America
, Japan
and Europe
. In 1973, she appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show
, hosted by Johnny Carson
on 16 November 1973 alongside Dinah Shore
, Joan Rivers
and Ashley Montagu
. Angela also performed on The Mike Douglas Show
in early 1975. She auditioned for the leading role
in what dates show to have been the ABC-TV
telefilm Wonder Woman which aired on 12 March 1974 and starred Cathy Lee Crosby
(not as often reported for the later television series Wonder Woman
, which eventually went to Lynda Carter
). Newsweek
reported in their 11 February 1974 issue that she apparently lost the part because of her refusal to wear a bra. She also modelled for photographer Terry O'Neill
and others, often under the name Jipp Jones.
Angela has often been rumoured to be the inspiration for the Rolling Stones 1973 hit "Angie" from the album Goat's Head Soup, however Mick Jagger
has dispelled these tales. He was quoted as saying: "People began to say that song was written about David Bowie's wife but the truth is that Keith [Richards] wrote the title. He said, 'Angie.' And I think it was to do with his daughter. She's called Angela. And then I just wrote the rest of it."
In addition to appearing as herself in the above-mentioned Ziggy Stardust film (1973) and Glitter Goddess of Sunset Strip (1991), her film work includes credited acting roles in at least four films: Eat the Rich (1987, as "Henry's wife"), Demented (1994), Deadrockstar (2002, as "Bartender") and La Funcionaria Asesina (a.k.a. The Slayer Bureaucrat, 2009, as "Helen Price/Constance").
A CD maxi-single, "The World Is Changing" (six mixes, including prominent vocal support by Dabonda Simmons and all credited to Angela Bowie as composer with various co-composers including David Padilla, Morgan Lekcirt, Tom Reich, Jim Durban and D.J. Trance and published by Angela Bowie Music) appeared in 1996 on the New York label Warlock Records (distributed in Europe through Music Avenue on the Nite Blue label). The cover featured a logo of the Bowie name clearly modelled on the one seen on her former husband's Let's Dance releases. An album, Moon Goddess, on Subterraneans
' was released on the London-based record label The Electric Label in 2002. The UK release of the album contained a duet with Subterraneans' vocalist Jude Rawlins on a version of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time". She is currently working on her second album, Fancy Footwork.
was loosely based on her life with David Bowie. She was fictionalized as a character named "Mandy", portrayed by Toni Collette
.
. Zowie later preferred to be known as Joe or Joey, although now he has reverted to the name Duncan Jones.
Angie and David Bowie separated after eight years of marriage and divorced on 8 February 1980, in Switzerland
. She later called it "a marriage of convenience
" for both, and settled for £300,000. She had already begun a long-term relationship with punk
musician Drew Blood (real name Andrew Lipka), and on 24 July 1980 gave birth to their daughter, Stacia Larranna Celeste Lipka, in Mendocino, California
.
Angela Bowie currently lives in Tucson, Arizona
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cover girl
Cover girl
A cover girl is a woman whose photograph features on the front cover of a magazine. She may be a model, celebrity or entertainer. The term would generally not be used to describe a casual, once-off appearance by a person on the cover of a magazine....
, model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, actress and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. She is the former wife of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
musician David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie 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...
and mother of film director Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones
Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones , also known as Zowie Bowie is an English film director, best known for directing the science fiction films Moon and Source Code .-Childhood and family life:...
.
Early life
Angela, born an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
citizen on September 25, 1949 in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, is of paternal English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and maternal Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
descent, and she was brought up a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
. She has one older brother. Her father, Col. George M. Barnett, a U.S Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
veteran, was a mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
engineer and ran a mill for Cyprus Mines Corporation
Cyprus Mines Corporation
The Cyprus Mines Corporation was an early twentieth century American mining company based in Cyprus. In 1914, Charles G. Gunther began prospecting in the Skouriotissa area after reading in ancient books that the island was rich in copper and noticing promising ancient Roman slag heaps in the area....
. Her mother was Helena Maria Galas. Both her parents died in 1984.
Educated in Cyprus, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(Kingston Polytechnic
Kingston University
Kingston University is a public research university located in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, United Kingdom. It was originally founded in 1899 as Kingston Technical Institute, a polytechnic, and became a university in 1992....
), she briefly attended Connecticut College For Women until she was expelled.
David Bowie and career
She met musician David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie 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...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1969, at the age of 19. According to David Bowie, they met through their mutual friendship with Chinese-American record executive Dr. Calvin Mark Lee. She married Bowie one year later, on 19 March 1970 at Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
Register Office
Register office
A register office is a British term for a civil registry, a government office and depository where births, deaths and marriages are officially recorded and where you can get officially married, without a religious ceremony...
in Beckenham Lane, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones
Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones , also known as Zowie Bowie is an English film director, best known for directing the science fiction films Moon and Source Code .-Childhood and family life:...
is their son.
David Bowie wrote the songs "The Prettiest Star
The Prettiest Star
"The Prettiest Star" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as a single in 1970.Bowie had recently re-recorded an old Deram track, "London Bye Ta Ta", intended as a follow-up single to "Space Oddity" in early 1970. However, the same sessions had also spawned a new composition named "The...
" and "Golden Years
Golden Years (song)
An updated single for "Golden Years" was released in 2011 to coincide with the re-release of Station to Station. 4 new remixes were provided by DJs from radio station KCRW in California.-Track listing:# "Golden Years " - 3:27...
" about her. (Angela appears in the D.A. Pennebaker concert film Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture; in a backstage sequence, David calls her by the name "Star".) She often accompanied him on his international concert tours, which included North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In 1973, she appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
, hosted by Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
on 16 November 1973 alongside Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
, Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
and Ashley Montagu
Ashley Montagu
Montague Francis Ashley Montagu was a British-American anthropologist and humanist, of Jewish ancestry, who popularized topics such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development...
. Angela also performed on The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from 1961 to 1982, distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations.The program featured light banter with...
in early 1975. She auditioned for the leading role
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
in what dates show to have been the ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
telefilm Wonder Woman which aired on 12 March 1974 and starred Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby
Cathy Lee Crosby is an American actress. She achieved TV and film success in the 1980s and was a co-host of the television series That's Incredible!. -Personal life:...
(not as often reported for the later television series Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
, which eventually went to Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter
Lynda Jean Carter is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and as the star of the 1970s television series The New Original Wonder Woman and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ....
). Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
reported in their 11 February 1974 issue that she apparently lost the part because of her refusal to wear a bra. She also modelled for photographer Terry O'Neill
Terry O'Neill (photographer)
Terry O'Neill is an English photographer, who achieved his greatest success documenting the fashion style, and celebrities of the 1960s. He attracted attention for photographing his subjects in unconventional or candid settings....
and others, often under the name Jipp Jones.
Angela has often been rumoured to be the inspiration for the Rolling Stones 1973 hit "Angie" from the album Goat's Head Soup, however Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
has dispelled these tales. He was quoted as saying: "People began to say that song was written about David Bowie's wife but the truth is that Keith [Richards] wrote the title. He said, 'Angie.' And I think it was to do with his daughter. She's called Angela. And then I just wrote the rest of it."
Writing, film work and musical releases
Angela has written two autobiographies, Free Spirit (1981, including samples of the author's poetry) as well as the bestseller, Backstage Passes: Life On the Wild Side with David Bowie, published in 1993 and updated in 2000. It detailed her alleged drug-fueled and openly bisexual lifestyle with her former husband and many other well-known musicians.In addition to appearing as herself in the above-mentioned Ziggy Stardust film (1973) and Glitter Goddess of Sunset Strip (1991), her film work includes credited acting roles in at least four films: Eat the Rich (1987, as "Henry's wife"), Demented (1994), Deadrockstar (2002, as "Bartender") and La Funcionaria Asesina (a.k.a. The Slayer Bureaucrat, 2009, as "Helen Price/Constance").
A CD maxi-single, "The World Is Changing" (six mixes, including prominent vocal support by Dabonda Simmons and all credited to Angela Bowie as composer with various co-composers including David Padilla, Morgan Lekcirt, Tom Reich, Jim Durban and D.J. Trance and published by Angela Bowie Music) appeared in 1996 on the New York label Warlock Records (distributed in Europe through Music Avenue on the Nite Blue label). The cover featured a logo of the Bowie name clearly modelled on the one seen on her former husband's Let's Dance releases. An album, Moon Goddess, on Subterraneans
Subterraneans (band)
Subterraneans are an art-rock band from London, England. Fronted by former Angelhead vocalist and songwriter Jude Rawlins, they also feature former Wave guitarist Carl Homer, former Solstice bass player Robin Phillips, and Van der Graaf Generator drummer Guy Evans.-Film, Theatre and...
' was released on the London-based record label The Electric Label in 2002. The UK release of the album contained a duet with Subterraneans' vocalist Jude Rawlins on a version of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time". She is currently working on her second album, Fancy Footwork.
Fictional portrayals
The movie Velvet GoldmineVelvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 British/American drama film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The film tells the story of a pop star based mainly on David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' character and is set in Britain during the days of glam rock in the early 1970s.Sandy Powell received another Academy...
was loosely based on her life with David Bowie. She was fictionalized as a character named "Mandy", portrayed by Toni Collette
Toni Collette
Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish....
.
Personal life
On 30 May 1971, David and Angie Bowie had a son they named Duncan Zowie Haywood JonesDuncan Jones
Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones , also known as Zowie Bowie is an English film director, best known for directing the science fiction films Moon and Source Code .-Childhood and family life:...
. Zowie later preferred to be known as Joe or Joey, although now he has reverted to the name Duncan Jones.
Angie and David Bowie separated after eight years of marriage and divorced on 8 February 1980, in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. She later called it "a marriage of convenience
Marriage of convenience
A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than the reasons of relationship, family, or love. Instead, such a marriage is orchestrated for personal gain or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as political marriage. The phrase is a calque of - a marriage of...
" for both, and settled for £300,000. She had already begun a long-term relationship with punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
musician Drew Blood (real name Andrew Lipka), and on 24 July 1980 gave birth to their daughter, Stacia Larranna Celeste Lipka, in Mendocino, California
Mendocino, California
Mendocino is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. Mendocino is located south of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 154 feet...
.
Angela Bowie currently lives in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
Further reading
- Angela Bowie "Free Spirit", Published by Mushroom Books, 1981 (name appears as "Angie Bowie" on cover)
- Angela Bowie "Backstage Passes", Published by Jove Books, The Berkeley Publishing Group, 1993