Artist News

No David Bowie autobiography, though the key to his life story may lie in massive personal archives

By | Published on Monday 25 January 2016

David Bowie

David Bowie did not complete an autobiography, or a planned retrospective book focussed on items from his past, reports Newsweek. However, a personal account of his life may lie in a massive archive of items housed in a New York warehouse.

Rumours of a Bowie autobiography have circulated since the 70s, though a source told Newsweek that nothing was finished prior to his death earlier this month. A book titled ‘Bowie: Object’, planned to be published through Penguin since at least 2010, was also apparently not completed. The book would have showcased 100 items from the musician’s life and career, with explanations written by Bowie himself. A spokesperson for the publisher said that “Penguin is not expecting it to happen”.

However, while no written account of his life will seemingly be published, Bowie does leave behind an archive of items vastly larger than the V&A’s ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition, which is currently still touring the world.

Curator of the exhibition, Victoria Broackes, says that she was given access to a collection of over 75,000 items, with 300 (including material from other collectors) selected for the show. “The archives are unique in pop music and would be unusual, in their scope, for any artist or indeed any individual”, she told Newsweek. “Bowie’s collection is like its own museum”.

The article also claims that Bowie left plans for a series of retrospective releases of his music. Read all about it here.



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