Iman and David Bowie, 2001. (AFP Photo/Stan Honda)
David Bowie (1947-2016) passed away on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.
According to the (not-fact-checked) comments on this blog:
He is best known as the husband of Iman Abdulmajid, a black model. He is white, she is dark. She escaped from Africa at age 12 because they were going to sew her vagina closed. He and Iman have saved many little black girls from having their vaginas sewn shut by Black Savages.
He loved black women. He dated Slash’s mother, who designed costumes for him. Despite being married to a black woman, he was not kicked out of the white club. Being a cultural contributor (and rich) helps to make up for it. The media does not show him much with Iman.
Iman and Bowie on their wedding day, June 6th 1992.
He is Mick Jagger’s “alleged” ex-lover. He is a virgin. He and Iman have a daughter, Alexandria Bowie.
Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones, 2012.
In addition to being Iman’s husband, he was raised to near god status in the music industry. His music was built on the back of black American innovative rhythm and blues and rock and roll. He influenced American bands as well as music in various areas. His music was not blah like that of Jill Scott, Al Green, Teena Marie and most soul music.
He sang “Ashes to Ashes” (1980):
and “I’m Afraid of Americans” (1997):
He was on “Soul Train” killing it.
He refused to be knighted by the Queen, apparently.
According to my own (better-fact-checked) blog posts:
He was a rock star married to Iman, a supermodel from Somalia, one of the ten most beautiful black women in 2008 according to white people (but not according to black people, at least not in 2009).
Like Robert De Niro, Kid Rock, Roger Ebert, Mr Loving and Robin Thicke, he was a white man who was part of a famous interracial couple.
He said of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” (1977):
“One day in Berlin … [Brian] Eno came running in and said, ‘I have heard the sound of the future.’ … he puts on ‘I Feel Love’, by Donna Summer … He said, ‘This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.’ Which was more or less right.”
He was sampled by Public Enemy in “Night of the Living Baseheads” (1988):
Additional remarks:
He is probably best known for “Space Oddity” (1969), aka “Major Tom”. The BBC played it during its coverage of the first moon landing. It made his name.
My favourite is his problematic “China Girl” (1983), sort of his “Brown Sugar”. Nile Rodgers produces with Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar:
To his credit, Bowie was one of the few White rock stars to appear on “Soul Train”. And not just once, but twice: on January 3rd 1976 and December 25th 1982.
Here is a YouTube video from his 1976 appearance on “Soul Train”. He is interviewed by Don Cornelius, giving James Brown as an influence, and then sings “Golden Years” (1975) and “Fame” (1975). He wrote “Fame” with John Lennon, the song sampled by Public Enemy.
RIP.
Thanks to dee for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2016.
Update (January 25th 2016): In the wake of his death, three of Bowie’s songs are now in the top 50 on the US pop charts:
#40. Lazarus (2015)
#42 Space Oddity (1969)
#45 Under Pressure (1981)
See also:
- White American music – Bowie was British but was an influence on White American music
- Don Cornelius
- the white club
- Donna Summer
- Teena Marie
- Famous interracial couples
- The most beautiful black women according to white people
- songs referenced in this post:
- James Brown: It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World
- Al Green: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
- Jill Scott: Family Reunion
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Abagond 
I nearly cried when I heard he died. I didn’t even know he had cancer.
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so many of us were grateful for this: http://www.vulture.com/2016/01/watch-bowie-criticizes-racism-at-mtv-in-1983.html
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God bless him. I didn’t know much about the man, himself.
Being he stood up for black women in Africa and was married to a black woman, i feel comfortable in he was a true ally with black people.
Rest in peace….
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I am in shock i absolutely loved him Let’s Dance is stuck in my head, the picture of the little girl Alexandria looks like Willow Smith when she was little.
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@Mary Burrell,
Yes that’s a photo of Willow Smith.
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@Abagond: The photo of David Bowie and Iman’s daughter is a mistake it’s Williow Smith.
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To Kiwi:
David Bowie is definitely no ally of Asians. He made a fetishistic song that objectifies Asian women in the most colonial and paternalistic way.
If the song had been written and performed by any number of other artists, I would have agreed with you, but note what he said about the song when it came out:
“As with his earlier video Let’s Dance, Bowie described the video as a “very simple, very direct” statement against racism, through a parody of “Asian female stereotypes”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/75801093/Bowies-China-Girl-Geeling-Ng-remembers-warm-and-engaging-star
https://books.google.com/books?id=mKSSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124&dq
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@ Kiwi
I still listen to The Rolling Stones despite the fact that they made the songs “Brown Sugar” and “Some Girls.” I also listen to a female singer who loves to cry about political correctness. You can like (most) of the music, but disagree with their personal views.
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@ Kiwi
I dunno. i’ve since read a lit of commentary that “Little China Girl was actually a tongue-in-Cheek criticism of Western Men and imperialism. Maybe, maybe not.
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
I could escape this feeling, with my China girl
I feel a wreck without my, little China girl
I hear her heart beating, loud as thunder
Saw they stars crashing
I’m a mess without my, little China girl
Wake up mornings where’s my, little China girl
I hear her heart’s beating, loud as thunder
Saw they stars crashing down
I feel a-tragic like I’m Marlon Brando
When I look at my China girl
I could pretend that nothing really meant too much
When I look at my China girl
I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
Plans for everyone
It’s in the whites of my eyes
My little China girl
You shouldn’t mess with me
I’ll ruin everything you are
You know, I’ll give you television
I’ll give you eyes of blue
I’ll give you men’s who want to rule the world
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says
She says
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
And when I get excited
My little China girl says
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth
She says, sh-sh-shhh
She says
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
Oh, oh, oh, little China girl
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ooh can’t believe it. this is a man i thought would live forever. “Young Americans” was my favorite song.
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I liked some of his songs. The news shocked me. RIP.
And yeah, he was messy and, as they say “problematic” in some areas. I guess this is how it goes for most celebrities (and people in general). But I do admit I was shocked and saddened by the news.
He also played Nikola Tesla in “Prestige”.
Abagond,
“He is a virgin”, though. ?!?
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To Kiwi:
Point taken, however, Bowie’s supposed intent to satirize a racist stereotype was and likely continues to be lost on the masses, especially those who actually believe the stereotype.
I think you’re right, I can actually give you an example of a song released one year after “China Girl” in 1984, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” that was less subtle than Bowie’s China Girl in it’s intent but was wholly embraced as pro-USA nationalist song even as the lyrics and the artist made it plain that it was not. One month after it was released, I sat at a table with three co-workers in a restaurant in a conservative part of the nation who were all praising “Born in the USA” as pro-American song that made them feel good about the country, I stared at them incredulously and said “Are you serious”? They all said yes.
Here are some of lyrics from Born In the USA:
“The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much”
“Down in the shadow of penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go”
Yeah, a real feel good song about working class America.
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China Girl was racist? I’d just assumed that it was about cocaine with references to women in order to get passed censors.
Thought The Beatles’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was about LSD, The Stones’ ‘Brown Sugar’ was about heroin, Cab Calloway’s ‘Minnie the Moocher’ was about smoking opium or marijuana, and Rick James’ ‘Mary Jane’ was about, well… MaryJane.
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I hated China Girl in part because it was over played on the radio and the music Bowie was producing in the 80’s wasn’t what I was into.
Major Tom, Hero’s with Brian Eno and Ziggy Stardust is the Bowie I liked. Brian Eno isn’t well known but was an innovator to synthisized sound which influenced 1980’s music, ambient and more. Listening to Eno led me to Robert Fripp of King Crimson.
RIP
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@ Mary
I did a reverse Google search on that picture and still got Alexandra Jones. But I see what you mean. I put up a new, more current picture.
Thanks.
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@ Mira
One commenter said he was a virgin.
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@ MJB – Eno worked with lots of progressive artists during many of their most creative times (U2, Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Devo, Roxy Music, and Bowie – as well as more recent Ambient projects). You seem to like Bowie most during his Tony Visconte and Brian Eno years. Maybe the Nile Rodgers produced ‘Let’s Dance’ was too much of a change for you.
I remember seeing ‘Ashes to Ashes’ on late night/early morning video shows prior to the advent of MTV. By the time MTV (as well as shows like Night Flight, MV3, Radio Vision,…) became popular it was starving for new content which the art school inspired New Wave movement would produce in large numbers. Being a new medium for music delivery, even many Blacks from the time knew of most European artists. Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ was even a popular video in the hood.
I’d never looked at African women until I saw Iman. After Iman I looked at Ethiopian and Somolian (and currently Eritrean women) in a different light.
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RIP, David Bowie.
I co-sign the protests of Kiwi regarding the racist nature of the poem Little China Girl . In fact, I don’t like even the expression itself: little China girl. This expression, definitively, belittle people not only from China but also from other Asian neighbor countries like Korea (both), Japan, Vietnam, etc. The image that this expression suggests is of an Asian woman, petite in build if not also in mind, at full disposition of her White, quasi-colonial lover. It’s similar to: little Neger girl!
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@Abagond
“She escaped from Africa at age 12 because they were going to sew her vagina closed. He and Iman have saved many little black girls from having their vaginas sewn shut by Black Savages.”
I think putting it like this would sound better for the sake of readers who think Africa is a country.
“She escaped from Somalia because of the outdated cultural tradition of sewing vaginas.”
That change will save us from being asked by random Westerners why we sew our women’s vaginas shut. In my culture everyone gets to keep their gonads intact.
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@Villagewriter.
The quote you are referring to came from another poster on this blog from a prior thread and I believe Abagond used it highlight how white people think when it comes to “saving Africa” and celebrities who “save” Africans either through marraige, adoption or writing checks.
It’s unclear where FGM originally came from though it has existed within certain communties long before the arrival of Islam. Its practice is limited to the upper continent of Africa and many countries have taken steps to educate and eradicate it’s practice within their countries culture.
Their is no mention of this practice within original Islam though some Islamic sects have made it a part of their beliefs.
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@Michaeljonbarker
Thanks for the correction.
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I’ve always interpreted “China Girl” as a critique of western imperialism. By the way it was written for and first performed by Iggy Pop, whose vocal performance of the song is way better than Bowie’s. Bowie’s music in the 80’s was so drugged out and flat. If it wasn’t for Nile Rodgers and Stevie Ray Vaughn his career would have been dead.
Which leads to Bowie’s greatest genius as a musician and the key to his amazing longevity: his tendency to collaborate with other great musicians and give them a huge amount of room to shape his music. Exhibit A would be Luther Vandross creating more or less the whole sound of “Young Americans”.
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Quite saddened when I heard the news, loss of a great Artist…RIP
Bowie’s passing is signaling the end of another cultural era- one that will not be duplicated anytime soon.
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Much respect
RIP David
You are missed
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@Village writer, gonads are just ovaries and testicles, is that what you really meant?
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@Uglyblackjohn
Interesting confession!
Firstly, it shows how much the American public in general and Black (or “colored”) American public ignores the continent of Africa.
But, secondly, it raises the question about why you concentrate specifically in one region of the continent. Have you no curiosity about how women look like in other regions of the continent. For example: South African women, Nigerian women, Senegalese women, etc?
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[…] Sourced through Scoop.it from: abagond.wordpress.com […]
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“Interesting confession!
Firstly, it shows how much the American public in general and Black (or “colored”) American public ignores the continent of Africa.”
.
@Munubantu
I usually enjoy reading your insights and perspectives from an African perspective. But I have to ask this…
Why would you think that one Black person’s confession is representative of how millions of other Black people in Amerika think or act regarding Africa??
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@teddy1975
I used it as a euphemism thinking that every level headed human would know what I meant.
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Other than his performance in The labyrinth(one of my favorite movies) I don’t really know much about him. Very interesting to learn more.
As the world falls down was my favorite song.
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@ munubantu – Haven’t been to Africa since I was child on vacation. It’s just that soon after seeing Iman I met a couple of twins from Ethiopia who said that Iman was thought to be ugly in their country. In college some supposed princess (I forgot which country) kept hitting on me but I didn’t find her at all attractive. I’ve recently met two Eritrean sisters new to America. I’m not judging all African women – just those to which I’ve been exposed. (The only ‘South African’ women I’ve seen are Winnie Mandela and Charlize Theron.)
But I think Ab has a post about the most beautiful African women somewhere.
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@Kiwi: So does this mean that parodying racist tropes and stereotypes is not a good way to attack them, as the parodic nature can often be lost on the audience, and so it often ends up reinforcing, rather than breaking, them?
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@villagewriter, Well, considering the views some people (including ones from that country mainly in between Mexico and Canada) have about male genital mutilation, being in denial about it being genital mutilation and so on, the non-castration euphemism was a bit too specific, in context it is obvious that it serves as a wide scale denial of female genital mutilation, but whether male genital mutilation is included as well, is made a bit unclear, if you were making a generic non-genital-mutilation claim, congrats with your culture being more civilized in this aspect than that country.
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Sorry but I am not interested in celebrating the legacy of a pedophile. I find it interesting how nobody mentioned this… I wonder why…
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@ Fan
Yes… you are right! I concede that I made a mistake, a bad generalization.
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> He is best known as the husband of Iman Abdulmajid, a black model. He is white, she is dark. She escaped from Africa at age 12 because they were going to sew her vagina closed.
I’m not quite sure about this. I knew about both Bowie and Iman long before they got married. And she didn’t “escape form Africa at age 12”. You might confuse her for Waris Dirie, another Somali model, born in a nomadic clan. Iman is from a rich and educated urban family; the vagina thing would be unthinkable for her.
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@ George
Abagond was citing/collating comments made about Bowie and Iman by commenters on this blog.
His voice/the established facts are in the second section of the piece.
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If I’m not mistaken, I think Abagond has done a bit of satire/ parody post regarding the way black celebrities are written about in the white MSM except “in reverse.”
Black celebrities are always shown in reference to white people they worked with or knew, or anything that white people are familiar with, with a majority of the article not being about the person who died, but about the lives of the white people they worked with.
Like when Bernie Mac died, a host of morning shows brought on members of the cast of Ocean’s Eleven because to white people, George Clooney and Brad Pitt are the biggest stars Bernie Mac – a mega-star in his own right – ever worked with. The only person I saw from the Bernie Mac show was his TV wife -never his own family.
Or like when Luther Vandross died, hearing the song “Here and Now” over and over again because that’s practically the only song white people knew him for, even though there are many more songs that defined his legacy better and were definitely better loved by black people who knew his music best.
The worst part about all of this is that from the media, you would never know that Bowie and Iman were married at the time of his death. This article is the first mention of their marriage I’ve seen.
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@ ThatDeborahGirl
Right, I flipped the script.
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Bowie called MTV out on their not showing black artists on the show. It’s true because before the show was hyper white then Michael Jackson was premiered with Thriller.
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@ Kiwi
Wow, I didn’t know that Bowie was actually dating the Chinese Girl in his video!
http://www.usnews.com/news/entertainment/articles/2016-01-13/david-bowies-china-girl-says-music-video-changed-her-life
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It seems you were right.
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Update: Three of Bowie’s songs are now in the top 50 on the US pop charts:
#40. Lazarus (2015)
#42. Space Oddity (1969)
#45. Under Pressure (1981)
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