Duncan Jones
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Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971), also known as Zowie Bowie or Joey Bowie, is a British film director best known as the son of popular music icon David Bowie.
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[edit] Childhood and family life
Zowie is the son of David Bowie and his ex-wife Angela Bowie. He was born at Beckenham Hospital in Kent. Zowie's birth prompted David to write the song "Kooks" for his 1971 album Hunky Dory. Duncan is the half-brother of Alexandria 'Lexi' Jones and Stacia Lipka.
As a child, Zowie spent time growing up in Berlin, London, and Vevey, Switzerland where he attended the first and 2nd grade at the Commonwealth-American School. In 1980, when David and Angela divorced, David Bowie was granted custody of 9-year-old Zowie, who was enrolled in the prestigious Scottish boarding school, Gordonstoun.
Around the age of 12, Zowie decided that he preferred to be called "Joe" and so adopted that name. His father David has been quoted as saying "If when he gets old enough to care about his name he doesn't like it, he can always change it, or give himself a nickname, it's OK by me." The press reported that he went by Joe in 1992 when attending his father's wedding to Iman Abdulmajid (he was the best man).
At the age of 15, Zowie decided that it would be best to refer to himself as Duncan Jones.
[edit] College and career choice
By 1995, when he graduated with a philosophy degree from The College of Wooster, he was registered under the name Duncan Jones. His independent study thesis was titled How to Kill Your Computer Friend: An Investigation of the Mind/Body Problem and How It Relates to the Hypothetical Creation of a Thinking Machine.[1]
He pursued a PhD degree at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee but left before completion to attend London Film School, where he graduated as a director.
He was also one of many cameramen at David Bowie's widely-televised 50th birthday party at Madison Square Garden.
[edit] FCUK - Fashion vs Style
In 2006, Duncan Jones directed the new campaign for the French Connection fashion label. The concept of 'Fashion vs Style' was to re-invigorate the brand and move it away from the former incarnation of FCUK, which style pundits believed had got tired and overused.[citation needed]
The advert debuted in the week ending 20 February 2006 and featured two girls (representing fashion and style) fighting and briefly kissing each other.
It was reported in various newspapers the week after that the advert had received between 121 and 127 complaints over the previous week.
[edit] Current Projects
Duncan recently directed his debut feature film, "Moon". Produced by Liberty Films, the film was shot in the UK between January and March 2008. It is a sci-fi thriller starring Sam Rockwell. Update: Press Releases in May 2008 state that Moon was bought by Sony pictures for all English language territories.
[edit] Zowie Bowie Band
There is a band called "Zowie Bowie" based in Las Vegas, NV. They have nothing to do with Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie. It is the stage name of Chris Phillips, a Las Vegas lounge act.
[edit] References
- Aris, Brian. "The wedding of David Bowie and Iman". Hello!, 13 June 1992. Available on the internet.
- Koofreh, Uti. "Bowie on Zowie". Fan magazine, 1973. Available on the internet.
- "Kung-Fu lesbian advert sparks viewer protests" Telegraph, 2006. Available on the internet.
- Burrell, Ian. "Duncan Jones: The new talent in advertising". The Independent, 2006. Available on the internet.
