David Bowie, who has died from cancer at the age of 69, was at one stage of his career an enthusiastic follower of kabbalah, and may have had unexpected Jewish links.
Rumours have circulated on the internet that Bowie’s mother, Peggy Burns, was Jewish.
The claims may be related to the fact that she had a relationship with a Jewish man, Jack Isaac Rosenberg, resulting in the birth of Bowie’s older half-brother, Terry Burns.
Bowie is also known for allegedly giving a Nazi salute in the 1970s. One of his many musical alter-egos was the controversial character of the Thin White Duke, from 1976. Bowie developed the persona for his Station to Station album and described him as an “emotionless Aryan superman”.
As the Duke, Bowie was known to make pro-fascist comments, praising nationalism and Hitler in interviews. He subsequently blamed heavy drug use for his behaviour.
At the same time, Bowie was dabbling in kabbalah, the spiritual belief system that is often associated with Jewish mysticism. In Station to Station he uses kabbalistic terminology, singing: “Here are we, one magical movement from Kether to Malkuth” using the Hebrew words ‘Kether’, meaning crown and ‘Malkuth’, meaning kingship.
Bowie's interest in kabbalah was part of an on-going spiritual journey that saw him practicing Tibetan Buddhism, Christian mysticism and the occult.
Along with his many alter-egos, Bowie incorporated different styles of music into his repertoire. Two of his greatest early influences were Jewish singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. He paid tribute to Dylan in 1971 with “Song for Bob Dylan” and produced Lou Reed's 1972 album Transformer.