“A superb biography” William BoydA major new biography of David Bowie on the 10th anniversary of his death, exploring the second half of his career from commercial failures to critical rebirth in the 21st century. When David Bowie died on 10 January 2016, aged 69, his death was greeted with the greatest display of public mourning since Princess Diana three decades before. Twenty-five years before, Bowie appeared to be washed up.

His Eighties career had been a slow descent into self-parody, his attempts to diversify into hard rock with the had been disastrous,...