David Bowie dies following battle with cancer

Bowie passed away yesterday following an 18 month battle with cancer. He released his latest album ‘Blackstar’ last week (January 8) on his 69th birthday.

The official statement, published on Bowie’s Facebook page, reads: “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”

Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8th, 1947 in Brixton, South London. His father, Heywood Jones, worked in promotions for a charity that benefited children and his mother, Margaret Mary Jones, was a waitress. A fight with a classmate when he was young left the singer with a permanently dilated left pupil. He began learning saxophone at age 13 and attended a high school that would prepare him for a career as a commercial artist. By 20, he had spent time at a Buddhist monastery in Scotland and dabbled in theatrical troupes.

Bowie was married for more than 20 years to the international model Iman, with whom he had a daughter, Alexandria Jones. Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, also confirmed the news. “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true. I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all,” he tweeted.

Iggy Pop also paid a tribute to David Bowie by posting the following message on Twitter after the news broke: “David’s friendship was the light of my life. I never met such a brilliant person. He was the best there is.”

Bowie and Iggy Pop enjoyed a working relationship and toured together on 1976 on the “Station To Station” tour.  The pair lived together in Berlin in 1977 with Bowie helping Pop write “The Idiot” and “Lust For Life”, his first two solo albums following the end of The Stooges.

Bowie also played keyboards in Pop’s live performances during that period while Pop contributed backing vocals on Bowie’s “Low”.

Other tributes to date have included record producer Tony Visconti, Whoopi Goldberg, the Pixies, Giorgio Moroder, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, Gary Numan, Marc Almond, David Sylvian, Nina Hagen, Russell Crowe, Gene Simmons, Graham Coxson, Arsene Wenger, David Cameron and the German Foreign Office.

Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti said his death “was no different from his life – a work of Art.”

“He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”

David Bowie released his first studio album in 1969, having changed his name from David Jones the year before. His early records included “Space Oddity” and 1971’s “Hunky Dory”.

In 1972 Bowie reinvented himself and released “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” which features the singles “Ziggy Stardust” and “Suffragette City”.

One of the most original and singular voices in rock & roll for nearly five decades, Bowie championed mystery, rebellion and curiosity in his music.  Ever unpredictable, the mercurial artist and fashion icon wore many guises throughout his life.  Beginning life as a dissident folk-rock spaceman, he would become an androgynous, orange-haired, glam-rock alien (Ziggy Stardust), a well-dressed, blue-eyed funk maestro (the Thin White Duke), a drug-loving art rocker (the Berlin albums), a new-wave hit-maker, a hard rocker, a techno enthusiast and a jazz impressionist.  His flair for theatricality won him a legion of fans.

Along the way, he charted the hits “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Fame,” “Heroes,” “Let’s Dance” and “Where Are We Now?” among many others.  Accordingly, his impact on the music world has been immeasurable.  Artists who have covered Bowie’s songs and cited him as an influence include Nirvana, Joan Jett, Duran Duran, Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson, Arcade Fire, Oasis, Ozzy Osbourne, Morrissey, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lady Gaga, Bauhaus and Nine Inch Nails.

The arrival of MTV in the 1980s was the perfect complement to his sense of theatricality and fashion.  “Ashes to Ashes”, the “Space Oddity” sequel that revealed “we know Major Tom’s a junkie”, and “Let’s Dance”, which offered, “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues”, both gave him worldwide popularity.

Bowie largely left the spotlight after a heart attack in 2004 brought an abrupt end to a tour supporting his album “Reality”.  The singer experienced pain during a performance at a German festival and sought treatment for what he believed was a shoulder injury; doctors then discovered a blocked artery.

The following year he performed with Arcade Fire, a band he had championed.  In 2006, he performed three songs in public for what would be the final time, at the Keep a Child Alive Black Ball fund-raiser at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

Bowie has released two albums in the past decade, his new album “Blackstar” and 2013’s “The Next Day”.

Concurrent with his music, Bowie also enjoyed a long career as an actor.  His first starring role was as Thomas Jerome Newton in 1976’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth”, a surrealistic film about a marooned alien attempting to bring water back to his home planet.  In 1980, he played the titular role in a theatrical production of “The Elephant Man”.  He played a vampire in Tony Scott’s 1983 erotic horror “The Hunger” and had roles in Julien Temple’s 1986 film “Absolute Beginners”, Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film “The Last Temptation of Christ” and David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”.  In 1986, he played the shrub-haired, codpiece-wearing Jareth the Goblin King in the puppet-starring musical “Labyrinth”.  Beginning in 2000, he hosted a TV series based on “The Hunger”, and he played himself in “Zoolander” and the TV show “Extras”.  He also played Nikola Tesla in “The Prestige”, lent his voice to SpongeBob SquarePants and played himself in the Vanessa Hudgens film “Bandslam”.

His last album, “Blackstar”, his 26th studio album, a collaboration with a jazz quintet that was typically enigmatic and exploratory, was released on Friday — on his birthday.  Producer Tony Visconti previously stated that the record was influenced by Kendrick Lamar with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy among the collaborators. He was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall on March 31 featuring the Roots, Cyndi Lauper and the Mountain Goats.

He had also collaborated on an Off Broadway musical, “Lazarus,” that was a surreal sequel to his definitive 1976 film role, “The Man Who Fell to Earth.”

In Brixton, South London, fans are laying flowers by a mural of the late singer. The mural, which is situated on the wall of Morley’s department store on Brixton Road, shows Bowie with his flash make-up from 1973 “Aladdin Sane” cover. Bowie was born in Brixton and lived on nearby Stansfield Road as a child. He later moved to Beckenham, south east of London, at the age of six. Brixton’s Ritzy cinema is also carrying a tribute to the late musician today, with “Our Brixton boy. RIP” written on their readograph.

Meanwhile, fans wishing to pay tribute to Bowie will be able to attend a street party in Brixton tonight, starting at 7PM. A Facebook event page has been created with more details of the event here : https://www.facebook.com/events/198250820524540/

“Bowie’s time on this earth was brief, but he sure left us some great music. Today is a day to gather together and celebrate,” organisers of the event wrote. “Please share with anyone you think would be able to help with music or any other element of this event – bring instruments, speakers, food and most importantly love.”

A live stream from the street party in Brixton will be available from 7PM :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUqjJoFoIF0