David Bowie worked in music.
David Bowie . He was a figure in popular music for over five decades , becoming acclaimed by critics and other musicians for his innovative work . `` Space Oddity '' became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969 . The character was spearheaded by the success of his single `` Starman '' and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars , which won him widespread popularity . The following year , he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low ( 1977 ) , the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that would come to be known as the `` Berlin Trilogy '' .