Becoming David Bowie
His given name was David Robert Jones, but once he was ready to embark on his musical career as a teenager, there was one particular problem: There already was a Davy Jones. Davy was the lead singer of The Monkees and a known name in the music industry. And so, that’s why David Jones changed his name to David Bowie – to avoid any possible confusion.
Photo by George Harris / Evening News / Shutterstock
In 1967, 14-year-old super fan Sandra Dodd sent Bowie what happened to be his first fan letter from the US. In her letter, she asked him about his name. Bowie responded to her with: “In answer to your questions, my real name is David Jones and I don’t have to tell you why I changed it.” He then quoted his manager who once told him: “Nobody’s going to make a monkey out of you.”