Bowie mourned
The singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who turned 69 two days ago, on January 8, kept his illness secret from the public. His children and other family members were with him at his passing. He died at his home in New York.
“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer,” his management company posted on social media. “While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”
Initially some fans were unsure if rumours of his passing were true. Before official word came one fan, Louis DeCarlo, wrote on the Bowie Facebook page: “Please tell me that this is another one of those fake death hoaxes. Bowie’s been the victim of one of those before.”
Sadly that is not true, his death confirmed by his son from his first marriage, Duncan Jones (a.k.a. Zowie Bowie) who wrote of his father’s death on his Twitter page: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true,” Jones wrote. “I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”
Musical beginnings
He was born David Robert Jones in South London, and raised there. He showed promise in music as a very young boy and was even then considered by one teacher to be “vividly artistic.” He formed his first band at age 15 and was on the road by 20 and a star by 25.
Early in his career, in part to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of The Monkees, he changed his surname to Bowie, after the American adventurer Jim Bowie and the Bowie knife named after him. The name, the man and the music would soon become a leading force in the modern rock movement.
Along with the concept album ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars’, Bowie had hit albums throughout his career, such as ‘Space Oddity,’ ‘Aladdin Sane,’ ‘Diamond Dogs’ and ‘Let’s Dance.’ He also had an affiliation for jazz and later in life performed concerts in that genre.
Known for costumes and theatrics, Bowie was considered one of rock music’s earliest and greatest innovators. He once said “I had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, “Fuck that. I want to be a superhuman.”
Tributes to Bowie
He had not performed in public for months but just last Friday, on his birthday, he released his final album, ‘Blackstar’ and it has quickly risen up the charts. It was Bowie’s 25th studio album.
Ever the one to experiment, he had also successfully tried his hand at acting and, among other roles in other films, Bowie played Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ (1988).
Tributes to him on social media began minutes after the announcement of his death, including from Ricky Gervais, Kanye West, Allison Moyet, Russell Crowe, Ruby Rose, Gene Simmons, Eddie Izzard and Adam Lambert.
British Prime Minister David Cameron wrote: “I grew up listening to and watching the pop genius David Bowie. He was a master of re-invention, who kept getting it right. A huge loss.”
One of the more fitting tributes came from Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro, who wrote on Twitter that “Bowie existed so all of us misfits learned that an oddity was a precious thing.
“He changed the world forever.”
