How long did David Robert Jones go by the name Tom Jones before using Bowie as his last name?

David Robert Jones was born on Jan. 8, 1947, in Brixton, London. At a young age, he picked up the saxophone and started playing in bands. This gave him an introduction to the music world. In 1 966, he would change his name to David Bowie. "He changed his name when he was 18 to avoid confusion with another British musician of the same name, Davy Jones, who later became the frontman for The Monkees," TIME reports. In a search for a new name, David drew inspiration from Texas and the Alamo. "David Jones adopted the name David Bowie in homage to Jim Bowie," author John Lyons wrote in his book, America in the British Imagination: 1945 to the Present. Lyons also wrote that David was a fan of the 1960 film, The Alamo, directed by John Wayne.