Upping Your Ziggy: How David Bowie Faced His Childhood Demons - and How You Can Face Yours

by Oliver James

David Bowie was one of the most famous men of his generation, and remains one of the greatest rock stars of all time. But while his flamboyant career in the public eye has been well documented, much less is known about his family history. In this new book psychologist Oliver James, bestselling author of They F*** You Up, Affluenza and Not in Your Genes, explores the mental illnesses that afflicted members of Bowie's family, and Bowie's fear that he too was destined for insanity.Three of his aunts became psychotic and his grandmother declared the family cursed. His half brother Terry also became psychotic, hallucinating a visitation from God, the famous 'crack in the sky and a hand pointing down to me' about which Bowie sang. These family crises left Bowie afflicted with a fear of madness. His music and stage personae during the 1970s were his way of eluding it.Born David Jones, he dubbed himself Bowie. During 1973 there were periods in which he actually believed he was Ziggy Stardust. Through Ziggy, and other subsequent personae including Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke, he engaged in an internal dialogue played out on an international stage from which he eventually emerged as the emotionally healthy man who died in January this year.If most exceptional achievement derives from childhood adversity, so does nearly all mental illness. His brother Terry passed through the door marked 'Madness'. Bowie opened it, took a good look around and then passed through the adjoining one, marked 'Artistic Self-Expression'.Using Bowie's example, Oliver James shows the therapeutic value to us all of personae, illustrated with cases from his work as a therapist. He demonstrates how we can convert the lead of childhood adversity into the gold of emotional health through identifying the roots of our many selves and choosing who we become.

Genres: Music, Psychology, Nonfiction

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 3, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Oliver James is a clinical psychologist, writer, broadcaster, and television documentary producer. He frequently broadcasts on radio and acts as a pundit on television.

He is the author of several books, including Affluenza, which examines the role that consumerist aspirations play in making us miserable.

In 1997 he presented The Chair for BBC 2, a series that put celebrities on the psychologist's couch, and in which Peter Mandelson famously shed a tear.

Oliver has produced and presented several other television series about the issues surrounding mental illness, and various psychological aspects of British society. He also presented a series for This Morning on child development and is a regular contributor to several broadsheet newspapers.

He is a trustee of the Alzheimer's charity, SPECAL and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife and two small children.

Reviews

[John Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting book - likely to be interesting because of the detail it goes into to explain David Bowie's childhood and the cause of his mental health issues. And then how he used his multiple identities to manage his anxieties about going mad or about being broken by fame. And how he navigates his way through. Although I suspect it was also intended to be a kind of self help book in terms of managing your different personas I got lost at that point. And the question I am left with is What would David Bowie have made of the book. This is hypothetical - no interviews with David Bowie took place and the great man is no longer with us so no right of reply. I worry a little that this is psychotherapy at arm's length and how useful or true it is. Though no question that it is provocative and a gripping read.

[SLT · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting look at one of our generation's most fascinating icons and the concept of nature vs. nurture in our psychological makeup, as well as what we identify as "self." This idea was probably the most profound to me: "It is highly beneficial for us to understand that we do not have a single 'true' self...and that we can have a measure of choice about which ones host our conscious lives at any given time." Upping Your Ziggy at 155. I had recognized this phenomenon in my own life experience, but thought it was maybe unique to me. Not so. We have many selves inside us; it's just a question of who we let take the wheel in any given situation. We don't just have our parents to thank/blame.

[Ian Yarington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never judge a book by its cover, I expected this to be a bio of Bowie but quickly realized it was actually much deeper than that. I found this book to be well written but what really got me was the way James approached Bowie's mental illness and the way Bowie navigated around it. It was fascinating and I found myself page turning and engaged.

[DeanJean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title was obviously peddling self-help bait and I got this feeling throughout that the author seemed to be using Bowie as a prop to explain psychological disorders (and it's also one-sided), which didn't sit well with me. But, still, you know - BOWIE.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read about the deliberate use of personas to protect yourself psychologically as you grow up and throughout adulthood. The Bowie aspect feels slightly exploitative and not 100% integrated but is nonetheless of real interest.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read that prompted some self reflection. However, there is rather a lot of supposition and some ideas seem less than fully formed, which is disconcerting when you know that the author is a well established psychologist. Nevertheless well worth a read.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read.

[Jonathan Tindale · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the best reads on Bowie's family but his main point that Bowie escaped psychosis and his brothers fate through his art seemed a bit woolly

[Cami Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was much better than I expected. My only regret is that it isn't longer. I love the idea of exploring Bowie's psyche. Listening to his music, I often have wondered what his lyrics meant. This book begins to get inside the head of Bowie.
I had a very good childhood, so most of the psychology behind it doesn't apply to me. But, it is true that we all show different sides of our personality at different times and under different circumstances. This was something that really troubled me as a child and I wondered who my "true self" was. This book answers that question and more. I will be reading more of this authors work.

[Sean Farrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A self help book, not a biography, I started off by enjoying this, as it offered a different analysis of the bowie legacy (though one which draws heavily on the Gilmans Alias David Bowie). However, clearly written in haste, it contains a lot of inaccuracies, fudged writing and research and a convoluted and ultimately unclear message. Might have worked better as an article, rather than an entire book.