Singer Calum Bowie has experienced a “surreal” rise to fame, transforming from busking out of his living room window to performing at Glastonbury in just a couple of years.
The 23-year-old from Banchory, Aberdeenshire, recently added the Scottish Breakthrough Artist of the Year award to his impressive 2024 accolades. This award follows his performances at major summer festivals like Worthy Farm and Belladrum, building on his 2023 slot at TRNSMT.
Bowie’s journey to stardom began with viral TikTok videos of him singing popular covers from his student flat window in Edinburgh. Known as the “window guy,” he amassed 470,000 followers and 11.7 million likes on the platform.
Now a recording artist selling out shows across Europe, Bowie shared that some people still recognize him from social media. “It’s funny when people bump into me in the street and they will sometimes say they love my music,” he said. “Other times they will be with a pal who doesn’t know who I am but then say ‘oh the guy who hangs out of his window,’ so it is nice people can associate me with that.”
The window performances led to song requests from neighbors and even members of the public throwing money into his flat. Playing to a quiet Edinburgh street is a far cry from Glastonbury, which Bowie described as a real “pinch me” moment. “I remember getting told that I was playing it and it just did not really sink in until after, it was pretty mindboggling,” he said. “To go from playing out my window and busking on the street and doing smaller gigs to playing these huge festivals is pretty surreal.”
Bowie will collect his Scottish Breakthrough Artist of the Year award at a ceremony at the Barrowlands in November, joining previous winners like Lewis Capaldi and The Snuts. On the same night, other awardees include Lulu and Travis. “That is some serious boots to fill,” he told BBC Scotland News. “It is nice to even be in the same sentence as those guys, it is a total vote of confidence and if they have won it maybe my career is going to go in the right direction.”
Looking ahead, Bowie hinted at a potential album following a series of successful singles that have reached over a million streams on Spotify. His “Through the Window Tour” will take him across Europe in December to cities like Paris and Berlin, with big headline shows in Glasgow and London in the new year.
Despite his success, Bowie hasn’t left his window busking days behind. “I still have not really stopped doing the window stuff but I’m travelling more and producing my own stuff,” he said. “I have no plans on stopping that anytime soon.”
