The Thin White Duke
The Thin White Duke was David Bowie's 1976 persona and character, primarily identified with his album Station to Station (released that year), although the 'Duke' persona had been adopted during the Young Americans tour and promotion, and mentioned by name in the title track. At first glance, the Duke appeared more "normal" than Bowie's previous incarnations, wearing a stylish, cabaret-style wardrobe, but the massive amounts of cocaine the rock star allegedly consumed during this period made his personality, or at least the personality he displayed during interviews, more alarming than it had ever been. At this time in his life, he said that he lived on "red peppers, cocaine and milk".[1]
Impeccably dressed in white shirt, black trousers and waistcoat, The Duke was a hollow man who sang songs of romance with an agonised intensity while feeling nothing, "ice masquerading as fire".[2] The persona has been described as "a mad aristocrat",[2] "an amoral zombie",[3] and "an emotionless Aryan superman".[4] For Bowie himself, The Duke was "a nasty character indeed".[5]
As his drug habit ate away at his physical and mental health, Bowie decided to move from Los Angeles to West Berlin, where he began recording the groundbreaking Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes", and Lodger) with Brian Eno.