"Fame" is a song recorded by David Bowie, initially released in 1975. Written by Bowie, Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, it was a hit in North America, becoming Bowie's first number 1 single in the Canadian Singles Chart as well as the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song was one of the most successful singles of the year, ranking at number 7 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. It was less successful in Europe, reaching number 17 in the UK Singles Chart.
The song is one of four of Bowie's songs to be included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
With the Young Americans sessions mostly concluded by late 1974, the material was delayed while Bowie extricated himself from his contract with manager Tony Defries. During this time, he was staying in New York City, where he met John Lennon. The pair jammed together, leading to a one-day session at Electric Lady Studios in January 1975. There, Carlos Alomar had developed a guitar riff for Bowie's cover of "Footstompin'" by the Flairs, which Bowie thought was "a waste" to give to a cover. Lennon, who was in the studio with them, sang "aim" over the riff, which Bowie turned into "Fame" and he thereafter wrote the rest of the lyrics to the song.
Lennon's voice is heard interjecting the falsetto "Fame" throughout the song.
Bowie would later describe the song as "nasty, angry", and fully admitted that it was written "with a degree of malice" aimed at the Mainman management group with whom he had been working at the time. In 1990, Bowie reflected: "I'd had very upsetting management problems and a lot of that was built into the song. I've left all that behind me, now... I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants."
"Fame" became Bowie's biggest hit to that point in the US. It was his first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as his first to break the top 10, but would only reach number 17 in the UK Singles Chart.
Bowie would later claim that he had "absolutely no idea" that the song would do so well as a single, saying "I wouldn't know how to pick a single if it hit me in the face."
- "Fame" (Bowie, Alomar, Lennon) – 3:30
- "Right" (Bowie) – 4:13
The alternate version of the single had "Golden Years" as the B-side.
The Italian version of the single had "Space Oddity" as the B-side.
David Bowie – lead vocals, guitar
John Lennon – backing vocals, guitar, production, tape loops
Carlos Alomar – guitar
Emir Ksasan – bass
Dennis Davis – drums
David Bowie – vocals, guitar
Carlos Alomar – guitar
Mike Garson – piano
Willie Weeks – bass
Andy Newmark – drums
David Sanborn – saxophone
Larry Washington – conga
Luther Vandross, Robin Clark, Ava Cherry – backing vocals
A live version recorded at the Nassau Coliseum stop on the 1976 Station to Station tour was released on Live Nassau Coliseum '76, part of the 2010 Station to Station reissues.
A spring 1978 performance from the "Heroes" tour can be heard on Stage.
A live performance filmed on 12 September 1983 is included in the concert DVD Serious Moonlight.
Live versions recorded during Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider Tour (in Sydney, Australia and Montreal, Canada) were released as part of the Glass Spider concert DVD/CD package.
An updated version recorded live by Bowie on 27 June 2000 was released on BBC Radio Theatre, London, June 27, 2000, a bonus disc accompanying the first release of Bowie at the Beeb in 2000.
A November 2003 live performance from the A Reality Tour is featured on the A Reality Tour DVD, released in 2004, as well as the A Reality Tour album, released in 2010.
It was released as the B-side of the US release of "Beauty and the Beast" in January 1978.
It appears on several compilations in its album version:
ChangesOneBowie (1976)
Fame and Fashion (1984)
Bowie: The Singles 1969–1993 (1993)
The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979 (1998)
Best of Bowie (2002)
The Platinum Collection (2006)
Nothing Has Changed (2014)
Bowie Legacy (2016)
The 7" single version appeared on The Best of Bowie (1980) as well as on Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box (1998). Re:Call 2, part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) compilation released in 2016, included an attempted reconstruction of the single edit, which has been criticized as inaccurate.
Bowie performed the song in a 1975 episode of Soul Train, one of the few white artists to appear on the long-running black music television series.
In 1990, a new mix was used on the soundtrack for the movie Pretty Woman (see below).
It was used in the movie A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries by James Ivory and Ismail Merchant.
It was used in the movie Copycat during a murder scene in a bar.
It was released as a picture disc in the RCA Life Time picture disc set.
It was featured on an episode of Nip/Tuck.
It was featured on an episode of Doogie Howser, M.D..
It featured in the Ashes to Ashes episode "Charity Begins at Home".
It was featured on an episode of Ugly Betty.
It appears as a playable track in Guitar Hero 5.
It was featured on an episode of Lizzie McGuire.
It is downloadable content for Rock Band 3.
It was used in the movie Next Friday for Pinky's intro to his record store.
It was used in the movie Bustin' Down the Door by Shaun Tomson.
It was featured in the Baseball episode The Tenth Inning by Ken Burns.
It was featured in the movie Rush.
It was used in a US TV commercial for the 2015 Cadillac Escalade (starting during the spring of 2014).
It was used in the American Horror Story: Freak Show episode "Pink Cupcakes", along with a cover of "Life on Mars?" by Jessica Lange. It is actually an anachronism, since the plot is set in 1952.
It appeared in the movie Foxcatcher in a post-match celebration.
It was featured in the pilot episode of Lucifer.
It was featured in the episode "Lovin' the D" from Scream Queens.
James Brown – "Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved)" 7" single (not a cover, strictly speaking, but used identical guitar riffs)
Dennis Coffey – "Fame" / Vinyl-LP: "Finger Lickin Good" (1975/USA/Westbound)
Duran Duran – 12" single for "Careless Memories"; included on Starman: Rare and Exclusive Versions of 18 Classic David Bowie Songs, CD premium from the March 2003 issue of Uncut magazine
Egostatic – .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)
Eurythmics – Previously unreleased bonus track on 2005 remaster of the album Touch (1983)
The Feelies – Something Wild video
FuckEmos – Only Bowie (1995)
God Lives Underwater – Up Off The Floor (2004)
Nina Hagen – The chorus in Nina Hagen's song "Heiss" is the vocal part and line "Is it any wonder" from "Fame"
Infectious Grooves – Sarsippius' Ark (1993)
Jay Z – "The Takeover" from the album The Blueprint interpolates the "Fame!" vocal
Tommy Lee – Featured as "Fame 02" on the album Never a Dull Moment
Love and Money – 12" single
Dave Matthews Band – Live recording
Umphreys McGee – Encore: 30 December 2005
George Michael – Performed live at his 1991 Cover to Cover tour.
Rie Miyazawa – Japanese lyrics version titled "Game" (1990, 3" CD single)
Pearl Jam – Live recording
RC – Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath (1996)
Rikki Rockett – Glitter 4 Your Soul (2003)
The Rockridge Synthesiser Orchestra – Plays David Bowie Classic Trax
Stardust – Live performance
Stickfigure – Hero: The Main Man Records Tribute to David Bowie (2007)
Vanilla Ice – Mind Blowin' (1994) Used a vocal sample.
Scott Weiland – Features Paul Oakenfold on Weiland's second solo album "Happy" in Galoshes, released in 2008
Lady Gaga – Sampled the beat on the early song "Fancy Pants"
The Smashing Pumpkins – Live on 2014 tour, including one performance featuring Ninja of Die Antwoord
A remixed version of "Fame" was released by EMI in 1990 to coincide with the Sound+Vision Tour, the release of the Changesbowie compilation, and the Pretty Woman soundtrack. Bowie wanted to remix a successful American single for the tour and album release; of the two options ("Let's Dance" and "Fame"), "Let's Dance" was simply too recent. Bowie liked the choice: "It covers a lot of ground, Fame; it stands up really well in time. It still sounds potent. It's quite a nasty, angry little song. I quite like that." The "Gass Mix" was subsequently included on the Pretty Woman soundtrack.
Song written by David Bowie, Carlos Alomar, and John Lennon.
US CD single (Rykodisc RCD5 1018)
- "Fame '90" (with Queen Latifah) – 4:10
- "Fame '90" (House Mix) – 5:58
- "Fame '90" (Gass Mix) – 3:38
- "Fame '90" (Hip Hop Mix) – 5:58
- "Fame '90" (Absolutely Nothing Premeditated/Epic Mix) – 14:25
West Germany maxi CD single (EMI CDP 560-20-3805-2)
- "Fame '90" (House Mix) – 5:58
- "Fame '90" (Hip Hop Mix) – 5:58
- "Fame '90" (Gass Mix) – 3:38
- "Fame '90" (Queen Latifah's Rap Version) – 3:10
"Exclusive Changes pack" 7" vinyl single (FAMES 90)
- "Fame '90" (Gass Mix) – 3:38
- "Fame '90" (Queen Latifah's Rap Version) – 3:10
Limited edition 7" vinyl picture disc (FAME PD 90)
- "Fame '90" (Gass Mix) – 3:38
- "Fame '90" (Bonus Beat Mix) – 4:45
The single was released in a variety of formats: as a 7" single, a cassette single, a 12" single, CD singles and two limited edition releases: a picture disc (featuring the unique "Bonus Beat mix") and a 7" envelope pack that included 3 prints reflecting different phases in Bowie's career and a unique mix of Queen Latifah's mix
Film director Gus Van Sant directed the promotional video for this version, which featured clips from many of Bowie’s previous videos. In the music video, Bowie also performs a dance with Louise Lecavalier, one of the main dancers of the Québécois contemporary dance troupe La La La Human Steps (whom Bowie would collaborate with on the Sound + Vision tour).
David Bowie's "Fame" was used as the soundtrack of an animated music video of the same title, directed by Richard Jefferies and Mark Kirkland while students at California Institute of the Arts. The film, released in 1975, went on to win the Student Academy Award for animation and aired on NBC's The Midnight Special.
"Fame '90" also appeared on:
Changesbowie (1990)
Best of Bowie (2002) (Germany/Switzerland/Austria and Australia versions; Colombia/Ecuador/Peru/Venezuela contains both versions)
