David Bowie and his gigs with the Manish Boys and Level Three in Maidstone and other parts of Kent Published: 06:00, 10 January 2021 Today marks the fifth anniversary of the death of David Bowie - the singer/songwriter, glam rock star and actor who died on January 10, 2016, from liver cancer. But although his name is known across the Western world as an icon of pop fashion, few know of the famous musician's links to Kent. David Bowie turns radio DJ for a Star Special broadcast in May 1979. Image BBC David Robert Jones was born illegitimately in Brixton. His father, a former Royal Fusilier soldier named John Jones, was still married to his first wife Hilda at the time that Bowie's mother Peggy gave birth to him in 1947. Jones senior later divorced Hilda and married Peggy (Margaret), who had herself been born in Folkestone.