David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God

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A01=Peter Ormerod
aladdin sane
aleister crowley
Author_Peter Ormerod
blackstar
bowiegod
buddhism
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choirboy
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creativity
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epiphany
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fame
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heroes
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jean genie
kabbalah
let's dance
low
music
nietzsche
occult
reality
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religion
revelation
rise and fall
rock star
satanism
spirituality
starman
the man who sold the world
witchcraft
young americans
ziggy stardust

Product details

  • ISBN 9781399422826
  • Weight: 464g
  • Dimensions: 158 x 236mm
  • Publication Date: 15 Jan 2026
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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'The Bowie you thought you knew is recast completely' Helen Barrett, The Spectator

''Ormerod had me singing in the choir with him' Simon Critchley, The Guardian

'a transfixing look at David Bowie's life through a spiritual lens... fresh and revealing' Publishers Weekly

The story of how David Bowie's search for meaning inspired him to write the music that defined a generation.


In this wide-ranging biography, Peter Ormerod explores the quest for spirituality that powered David Bowie's creativity from his earliest recordings to his death-defying final album. Bowie’s genre-expanding, era-crossing genius had an extraordinary impact on popular culture but his life-long search for spiritual truth and enlightenment has been overlooked.

From Bowie's first musical encounters as a choirboy, this book traces his spiritual obsessions over the years. As a young musician at the start of his career, he was enraptured by Tibetan Buddhism. It was the first step in a spiritual journey that would generate his most profound lyrics and music. From the Kabbalah-influenced tracks of Station to Station to Ziggy Stardust's messiah complex and the profound affinity between Heroes and Christian thought, Ormerod sheds new light on the spiritual traditions behind Bowie's genius.

Taking Bowie’s spiritual explorations and faith seriously, Ormerod shows us how this quest for meaning propelled him through his darkest moments and biggest successes, lending his music a timelessness and depth that has spoken to so many people across the world. Whether experiencing a dark night of the soul in LA during his occult phase or reciting the Lord's prayer in front of thousands of concertgoers, Bowie was always searching for that universal truth that lies beyond everyday reality.

Peter Ormerod is a journalist and writer who has written extensively about culture and faith for the Guardian. Peter is also an arts editor for NationalWorld. He has a lifelong fascination with religion, having been raised in a clergy family.

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