08 January 2022

David Bowie would be 75 today: Famous locations around the world linked to the music icon

08 January 2022

Considered one of the most influential artists of all time, David Bowie had a colourful career spanning six decades.

The musician, who died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 69, was born in London but made his mark all over the world – and now there are landmarks in the UK and abroad where you can pay tribute to the great man.

To mark what would have been his 75th birthday on January 8, these are the locations made famous by David Bowie…

1. Brixton

Artist James Cochran in front of his David Bowie mural (Nick Ansell/PA) (PA Archive)

Born David Robert Jones, Bowie lived at 40 Stansfield Road in London’s Brixton until he was six, when the family moved further south in the city to Bromley.

Australian artist James Cochran marked Brixton’s famous resident in 2013, with a mural of Bowie wearing lightning make-up – as seen on his Aladdin Sane album cover.

2. West Hampstead

After officially adopting his Bowie moniker in the mid-Sixties, the fledgling musician recorded his first single, Liza Jane, at Decca Studios – around the corner from West Hampstead tube station in North London.

The building was once a town hall, housed the recording studio until 1980, then was owned by the English National Opera.

3. Soho

Trident Studios in London’s Soho (Alamy/PA)

A blue plaque above the door of what was (until 1981) Trident Studios in London’s Soho commemorates the place where Bowie recorded the single Space Oddity, as well as the albums Hunky Dory and The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.

The cover of the latter, showing Bowie outside the now-defunct K West fur shop, was also shot in Soho, on Heddon Street.

4. Berlin

View of door to the ‘Meistersaal’ at Hansa Studios (Alamy/PA)

Bowie recorded much of three albums – Low, Heroes and Lodger, known as the Berlin Trilogy – at Hansa Studios when he relocated to the German city in the 1970s.

He lived in the neighbouring Schöneberg district, sharing a flat at 155 Hauptstrasse with fellow musician Iggy Pop.

5. New York

After spending time in Los Angeles, New York and Switzerland (he married supermodel wife Iman in Lausanne in 1992), Bowie eventually settled in the Big Apple in the Nineties.

He said in a 2003 interview with New York Magazine that two of his favourite places in the city were the Strand bookshop and Washington Square Park, which he called “the emotional history of New York in a quick walk”. Following his death, Bowie fans gathered outside the singer’s home on Lafayette Street.

The best videos delivered daily

Watch the stories that matter, right from your inbox