David Robert Jones, better known by his stage name David Bowie, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is renowned for his distinctive singing voice and various alter-egos – including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and The Thin White Duke.

Bowie first shot to fame with the release of his 1969 single Space Oddity – which was a UK Top 5 hit – along with the album of the same name. This was swiftly followed by the 1970 album The Man Who Sold the World, which reached number 26 in the UK and included songs like The Width of a Circle, The Man Who Sold the World and The Supermen – and the 1971 album Hunky Dory, which reached number three in the UK and spawned the classic singles Changes and Life on Mars?

However, Bowie’s mainstream breakthrough came, unusually, with the 1972 concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Hitting number five in the UK and 75 in the US, the album spawned the singles Starman, Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide and Ziggy Stardust, and is now considered to be one of the greatest albums ever made by the likes of Rolling Stone, Q and TIME magazines.

Since then, in a career spanning five decades, David Bowie has released a further 21 studio albums (along with another 30 compilations, live albums and EPs) and a grand total of 108 singles. These include an incredible 23 UK and US Top 10 hits, such as The Laughing Gnome, Starman, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel, Fame, Ashes to Ashes, Fashion, Under Pressure (ft. Queen), Little Drummer Boy (ft. Bing Crosby), Let’s Dance, China Girl, Modern Love and Dancing in the Street (ft. Mick Jagger).

With over 140 million records sold to date, Bowie is generally considered to be one of most important and influential popular music figures of all time – not to mention one of the most successful.