Angela Bowie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Angela Bowie, most commonly known as Angie Bowie, was born 1950 in Cyprus, as Mary Angela Barnett.
She is an American citizen who has been a covergirl, model, actress, musician, groupie and most recently, best-selling author. She has publicly proclaimed that she is proudly and openly bisexual. Her father, Col. G. M. Barnett, was a mining engineer and ran the mill for Cyprus Mines Corporation. Her mother was Helena Marie Galas.
Educated in United States, Switzerland and Kingston Polytechnic (UK), Angie grew up in the US, where she attended Connecticut College For Women until she was expelled for having a lesbian affair with another student. She met future rockstar legend David Bowie in 1969, at the age of 18. According to David, they met when they were both "fucking the same bloke" (Asian record executive Calvin Mark Lee). She is credited as being one of David's biggest influences in his career rise to fame. She married David one year later on 19 March 1970 at Bromley Registry Office in Beckenham Lane, Kent, England where she permanently took his last name - although it has to be said that "Bowie" is not David's real last name, as he was born David Robert Jones and changed his name for publicity reasons. They had a son (born on 30 May 1971) whom they named Zowie (Zowie later had his name changed to Joe/Joey, although he currently is known as Duncan). Zowie, who legally changed his name to Duncan Zowie Heywood Jones, was the only child David and Angela conceived.
She and David separated after eight years of marriage and divorced on 8 February 1980, in Switzerland. Angie, later citing it as "a marriage of convenience" for both, settled for a mere (by celebrity standards) 300,000 British Pounds. She then married punk musician Drew Blood (real name Andrew Lipka) and they had a daughter, Stacia (born 1980), also mistakenly called Stasha. The legendary rock ballad "Angie" (performed by The Rolling Stones) was written by Keith Richards about Anita Pallenberg and not "Angie" Bowie, as commonly mistaken.
She wrote autobiography best-seller, Backstage Passes: Life On the Wild Side with David Bowie, published in 1993, and updated in 2000, detailing their drug-fuelled and openly bisexual lifestyle together with David and many other well-known rockers.
In the book, she tells of her notorious firsthand encounter seeing David and Mick Jagger naked in bed together, confirming the long-rumored bi encounters the two of them had back in their 30s. They have both, however, denied this allegation, citing the strained relationship Bowie and his ex-wife had.
[edit] Trivia
- Ms. Bowie's vital statistics in December of 1974: 5'9" 33-24-34 (courtesy imdb.com)
- Angela is of English (father) and Greek Cypriot (mother) descent.
- David Bowie wrote the songs "The Prettiest Star" and "Golden Years" about her. After recording the latter, in an effort to rekindle their failing relationship, David called up Angela, played the unfinished version to win back her heart and succeeded.
- Angie Bowie sung the song "La Piscine" with the french band "The Little Rabbits" on their 1998 album "Yeah!".
