David Robert Jones was born January 8, 1947 in South London.  When he was 9 years old, his father brought a batch of popular American 45's into the home. Young Davy was especially impresssed with Little Richard and Elvis Presley.  At 10 he began playing a ukulele and bass.  Attending a tech high school, David concentrated on music and design and had Peter Frampton's father, Owen, as an instructor. Instrumentally, David formed his first band at 15 and then rapidly moved through the ranks of several others, along the way changing his name to David Bowie to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees.  His solo recording debut came in the April of 1976 with the release of the single The Laughing Gnome, which was followed by his self-titled debut album six weeks later.