The Vocal Range of David Bowie

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Low notes:
0:00 Bowie greets the musical world with some easy B2s from his first hit single, "Space Oddity".
0:11 A solid Bb2, sliding down to a quiet F2, from "Bring Me the Disco King" live in 2003.
0:19 Strong A2s from "Beauty and the Beast" (with a slide down to C#2).
0:28 A menacing low passage from "Cat People", with effortless Bb2s and a great G#2.
0:50 Warm, resonant melody singing down to A2s and G2s, from "Word on a Wing" live in 1999.
1:09 One of Bowie's finest low passages from "Heroes" live in 1984. Bottoms at F#2.
1:31 Solid F#2s and E2s from "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)".
1:38 Strong E2 from the backing vocal of "See Emily Play".
1:46 Classic low singing down to E2 from "Sound and Vision".
1:57 A magnificent low passage from "Sweet Thing", with G2s, F#2s and a couple of brief C2s!
2:13 Great G2s and some D2s as well from this creepy passage of "Sister Midnight", live in 2003.
2:32 Brief D2 from "China Girl". Great low singing throughout the song.
2:44 Impressive! The classic slide down from "Fame" done live in 2003: it bottoms at a very strong, sustained D2. Bowie appears shocked himself.
3:03 Effortless low singing with lots of D2s from "Heroes" live in 2002.
3:28 Sustained C#2 from David's cover of "I Feel Free".
3:43 The classic intro to "Modern Love", with solid spoken E2s and C2s.
3:53 Solid B1 from "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spacecraft", live in 2002!
4:00 The same passage from the studio version of the same track, bottoms at a cool fried G1!

High notes:
4:09 Magnificent operatic F#4 (preceded by a short G4) from the obscure "Fantastic Voyage".
4:22 A fabulous sustained G4 from "Cat People".
4:40 Crazy sustained G4 from Mick Ronson's cover of "Like a Rolling Stone", where David sings lead.
4:55 Some great, passionate belting around G4 from the soul-influenced "Win".
5:17 For contrast, some totally effortless G4s from "Cygnet Committee", an obscure early song. Bowie's voice was noticeably higher back in 1969.
5:39 G#4 sliding down to a great sustained G4 from "Black Tie White Noise".
5:53 Some of Bowie's most savage belting, topping at G#4 from "Never Get Old", live in 2003.
6:16 Some surprisingly effortless G#4s from "Ashes to Ashes", recorded in 1980 when Bowie's voice was already considerably lower.
6:31 Extremely easy G4s/A4s from the classic chorus of "Changes".
6:48 A great sustained A4 followed by some brutal belting topping at G4 from "Big Brother".
7:11 Light, easy operatic singing from "The Width of a Circle". Tops at A4.
7:33 Complete contrast again, very aggressive and rough singing from "Working Class Hero". Great G4 and A4.
8:01 Passionate Bb4s from the classic theatrical coda of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide".
8:30 Perhaps the best demonstration of Bowie's effortless high register in the early 70s: the legendary chorus of "Life on Mars?" with classic Bb4s. This was never attempted live.
8:53 An awesome soulful Bb4 from "Rock and Roll With Me".
8:59 Very easy sustained A4s and B4 from the chorus of "All the Young Dudes".
9:13 One of my favourite Bowie high passages, taken from "Sweet Thing": fabulous G4 and A4 followed by a short B4.
9:28 Another classic clip, from one of Bowie's most emotional performances. The song is "Heroes" and the excerpt tops at B4.
10:00 C5 from "Suffragette City".
10:06 Totally easy C5 from "Changes" live 1972.
10:11 Light melody singing up to C5 from "Shining Star (Makin' My Love)", an oddity for the crooning 80s Bowie.
10:21 A great sustained C#5 from "Here Comes the Night"!
10:29 That was very unexpected: solid, melody-sung C#5 from a live performance of "Changes" in 2003.
10:38 The anthemic coda of "All the Madmen", with lots of light C#5s and D5s.
10:58 The classic falsetto D5 from "Young Americans", one of Bowie's most glorious singing moments. Preceded by belted G4s.
11:12 Gorgeous falsetto D5 from "Heroes" live in 1977.
11:21 Another shocker: a strong E5 from a live "Five Years" rehearsal in 1976!
11:31 Hoarse sustained falsetto E5 from "Across the Universe".
11:40 The soulful harmonies of "Sweet Thing", topping at F5 in falsetto. The lead vocals get down to Bb2.
11:55 Sustained G#4 sliding up to a crazy, non-modal F#5! Song is "Joe the Lion".
12:05 Faint, soft sustained G#5 from "Lady Grinning Soul" --David's highest known recorded note.