David Bowie and his curious best kept secrets

The legendary English musician David Bowie died just days after launching his latest Blackstar album. The British artist, who became famous for his extravagant alter ego: Ziggy Stardust, was considered one of the greatest stars of all time and occupies number 23 of a list of Rolling Stones of the 100 great singers. We tell you some of the curious and secret data of Bowie:

- David Bowie learned to play the saxophone at age 12

- His first name was David Robert Jones. He was born in Brixton, London, on January 8, 1947. His birthday coincides with that of Elvis Presley.

- Rock guitarist Peter Frampton was Bowie's best friend at school. Frampton played guitar alongside Bowie several times during his career.

"A friend of the school, George Underwood, punched him in the eye and that led to one of his permanently dilated pupils.

- The first album to hit the market was "Liza Jane / Louie Louie Go Home" in June 1964, under the name of Davie Jones, with the band "The King-Bees".

- Bowie was born in London on January 8, 1947. He later changed the name to Bowie to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of the musical group Monkees.

- At age 17, he was interviewed by a BBC program as founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Long Haired Men. On that occasion he said that "it is not pleasant when someone calls you affection and things like that".

- In 1967, he released his debut album "David Bowie", after having played for a number of bands in bars and clubs.

- Also in 1967 he released his single "The Laughing Gnome", which many fans consider as the worst he has ever recorded

- When Bowie suggested that his fans vote via phone to play the song during their 1990 world tour, "The Laughing Gnome" was the most voted song. He did not touch her.

- The first hit the Bowie in the UK - Space Oddity, 1969 - was used by the BBC to cover the arrival on the Moon.

- The fictional character referred to by Bowie in "Space Oddity", Major Tom, appears in three hits of the artist - "Space Oddity" (1969), "Ashes To Ashes" (1980) and "Hallo Spaceboy" (1996).

- Bowie's first song to reach number 1 on the US charts was "Fame" in 1975. It was written jointly with John Lenon and this figure as a vocal backup.

- At the time Bowie released his "Young Americans" album in 1975, the founder of the American band Chic, Nile Rodgers, did a test hoping to be hired as a guitarist in Bowie's band. He failed to do so, but Rodgers was then the producer of "Let's Dance," which hit the market in 1983, and was the best selling album of the entire career of the artist.

- Bowie is believed to have sold about 140 million albums throughout his career. It reached the fourth place in a popular vote that launched the program of the BBC Culture Show to choose the greater British icon of all the times.

- In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed him at number 39 on the list of the 100 greatest artists of all time and the number 23 of the great singers.