The Thin White Duke
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The Thin White Duke, David Bowie's 1976 persona, is primarily identified with his Station to Station album (released that year) and mentioned by name in the title track. Ostensibly, the Duke appeared more "normal" than Bowie's previous incarnations, with blonde (rather than red) hair and a stylish, cabaret-style wardrobe, but the massive amounts of cocaine the rock star consumed during this period made his personality, or at least the personality he displayed during interviews, more alarming than it had ever been. The Duke was obsessed with the occult, fascism, and Hitler -- he was even rumored to have given a Nazi salute at the Victoria Station in London.
As his drug habit ate away at his physical and mental health, Bowie decided to move from L.A. to Berlin, where he recorded the groundbreaking Berlin Trilogy (Low, "Heroes", and Lodger) with Brian Eno.
Bowie's personality today bears almost no resemblance to that of the Thin White Duke.
[Station to Station - The Thin White Duke (http://www.angelfire.com/my/tvc15/)]