SOME rock stars achieve overnight success, some take a little longer, but David Bowie almost didn't make it.
Born David Robert Jones, he underwent an odyssey of career moves before establishing himself as a major performer.
He began his musical career playing saxophone during his teens mainly with school groups, The Konrads, The King Bees, The Manish boys and finally The Lower Third.
Bowie finally secured a contract with Pye records in 1966.
He had been known as Davy, Davie Jones but because of the surge of popularity of Davy Jones of The Monkees, changed his name to David Bowie after the inventor of the famous knife.
In the last five years, the value of this disc has doubled in value from £500 to £1,000 making it the most collectable single of Bowie's career.
Surprisingly, despite it playing frequently especially by the pirate radio stations it failed to make the charts.
Bowie did give it a resurgence in the late nineties however by performing the song in his stage repertoire.
The interpretation of the lyrics is open to speculation, once, when asked to explain the content, he remarked to it as " bleedin obvious" but refused to elaborate further also denying that the song was auto-biographical.
In the mid sixties the birth pill was officially only available to married women. There was almost a stigma about being an unmarried mother.
This resulted in parental pressure for both parties to do what was termed as "the right thing", hence the term "shotgun wedding".
The song implies that the couple did not get together.
No reason is given but the young man is ordered out of the family home because of the shame and scandal it has caused.
The relationship appears to have ended amicably as the final lyrics of the song relate to a chance meeting with the girl saying "Hi Dave, drop in, come back sometime, see you around if you're this way again".
It then took a further four years before Bowie found success.
Eight more singles failed to chart before the eponymous 'Space Oddity' released to coincide with the American moon landings.
It's the unusual tale of Major Tom whose sojourn in space disorientates him to such a degree that he chooses to remain adrift rather than return to earth captured people's imagination.
David Bowie remains as one of the enigmas of popular music and certainly one of the most mercurial.
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