It’s related to the yodel, and other (worldwide, age-old) vocal styles where the voice changes immediately, without any real transition, between the “head voice” and the “chest voice.”
Think of Sinead O’Connor, and such of her clones as Alanis Morissette–the latter of which managed to make it sound more like the bark of a clubbed baby seal than a yodel. Peter Gabriel was one of its early proponents too; early enough that I think he deserves more credit as source of the phenomenon than a follower.
And Bowie would probably acknowledge that he borrowed it (restyled of course in his own image) from Anthony Newley. Which probably links us right back to same British-Isles Folk influences that Sinead drew from.