Bowie's early years

Maybe it’s one for our shrinks, but when we look at the lives of famous folk the aspect we find most fascinating is the part before they cross the Rubicon of success.

Perhaps it’s something to do with their motivations, or maybe it's because at that point they’re still to be tainted by commercial considerations and their lives are yet public property. Anyway, it’s early (or late) and this is getting too deep.

Needless to say, David Bowie has a rather colourful backstory. Before his big break in 1972, via his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, he toiled away at the coalface of creativity for quite some time, even having an initial brush with fame in 1969 with his hit Space Oddity.

As the title of Any Day No: David Bowie The London Years (1947-1974) suggests, this book looks at Bowie’s life both before and immediately after megastardom came knocking. To mark its publication we’ve gathered some cracking footage of pre-fame Bowie for your persual.

Pictures: Rex Features