Angela Bowie

Angela Bowie (born Mary Angela Barnett in 1949 in Cyprus) is an American citizen who has been a covergirl, model, actress, musician. She is the former wife of musician David Bowie.

Early life

She is of paternal English and maternal Polish descent. [Angela Bowie "Backstage Passes",p.29] Her father, Col. George M. Barnett, a U.S Army veteran, [Bowie,p29] was a mining engineer and ran a mill for Cyprus Mines Corporation. Her mother was Helena Marie Galas. Angela has one older brother. She was brought up Catholic. [Bowie,p30]

Educated in Cyprus, Switzerland and Kingston Polytechnic (UK), she briefly attended Connecticut College For Women until she was expelled. [Bowie,p.30]

Relationship with David Bowie

She met David Bowie 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. [Bowie,pages 5-7] She married Bowie one year later, on 19 March, 1970 at Bromley Register Office in Beckenham Lane, Kent. On 30 May 1971, David and Angie Bowie had a son they named Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. Zowie later preferred to be known as Joe/Joey, although now he has reverted to the name Duncan Jones.

David Bowie wrote the songs "The Prettiest Star" and "Golden Years" about her. Angela often accompanied him on his international concert tours, which included the U.S., Japan and Europe. In 1973, she appeared as a guest on "The Tonight Show", hosted by Johnny Carson [Bowie,pages168-173] Angela also performed on "The Mike Douglas Show" in early 1975 [Bowie,pages247-49] She auditioned for the leading role in the television series "Wonder Woman", but the part eventually went to Lynda Carter. [Bowie,pages168-70] She also modelled for photographer Terry O'Neill.

Angie and David Bowie separated after eight years of marriage and divorced on February 8, 1980, in Switzerland. She later called it as "a marriage of convenience" for both, and settled for £300,000. She then began 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.

Later life

Angie wrote an autobiographical bestseller,Fact|date=July 2008 "Backstage Passes: Life On the Wild Side with David Bowie", published in 1993 and updated in 2000. It detailed her drug-fueled and openly bisexual lifestyle with her former husband and many other well-known musicians.

She released an album, "Moon Goddess", on Subterraneans' 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 Goldmine" was loosely based on her life with David Bowie. She was fictionalized as a character named "Mandy", portrayed by Toni Collette [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0120879/trivia Velvet Goldmine (1998) - Trivia ] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.bettyjack.com/angie/lecture.html Angie Bowie's Lecture On Bisexuality]
* [http://www.angiebowie.net Angie Bowie's official website]
* [http://community.livejournal.com/angie_bowie/ Angie Bowie Lovers LiveJournal Group]
* [http://main.bisexual.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4600 Bisexual.com's Interview With Angie Bowie - Nov. 9, 2007]

Sources

# Angela Bowie "Backstage Passes", Published by Jove Books, The Berkeley Publishing Group, 1993