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Vale: David Bowie

Iconic pop star David Bowie has died following a battle with cancer, aged 69.

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Iconic pop star David Bowie has died, aged 69.

“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,” a post announced on his official Facebook page.

The news ends some five decades of ground-breaking music from the British singer born David Robert Jones.

His hits include such songs as Jean Genie, Space Oddity, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel, Rebel, Life on Mars, Let’s Dance, Fame, Golden Years and Suffragette City.

Bowie’s songs have appeared on numerous film and television soundtracks, notably Life on Mars.

He also made acting appearances in films including Labyrinth, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Prestige, Zoolander, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

His TV credits included The Hunger, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Full Credit, SpongeBob SquarePants, Baal, Dream On and Extras.

On stage he won raves for The Elephant Man.

A master of re-invention and androgyny, he only released his latest album Blackstar on his birthday on Friday, but there had been rumours about his health for years.

Bowie’s last live performance was at a New York charity concert in 2006.

24 Responses

  1. The Compass Facebook page has posted the ABC’s schedule (radion and TV):
    Tune into Double J today for David Bowie all day.
    Tomorrow night on ABC2, 9:15pm – Five Years In The Making Of An Icon – the definitive portrait
    Thursday 9pm – a special episode of Extras on ABC2
    Friday – Rage plays all David Bowie from 10:55pm

  2. Yeah, definitely. Rage will no doubt put on a really comprehensive tribute to David but it may take a while for them to locate/source all the material and old interviews etc.
    @Belinda, I was also watching that Rage Bowie special from July only last week.
    We actually googled his age at the time out of idle curiosity and I commented to my partner that David would be my first guest of choice at the ultimate dinner party. Such an fascinating, whimsical and intelligent man.
    The most influential and talented musician of the modern era, I think…

    1. Rage just announced on Facebook they will be doing a Bowie tribute on Friday at 10.57pm. Hopefully, it is at least as substantial as the July special. I finally sat down to watch the almost five hour special after seeing Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under and Dexter) singing Lazarus, on Colbert. There was something unsettling about it all.

      1. Thanks for the heads up.
        Will definitely be watching for hopefully the extra footage not covered in the July special.
        Apparently some more DB clips and footage on Saturday morning’s Rage as well….

  3. The first music video I saw (Ashes To Ashes) spellbound me as a five year old with visions of harlequins, JCB diggers and priests picking flowers. Right from the start I knew music and art belonged together”.

    The impact he has had on my understanding of music and of myself as an individual who’s never felt comfortable sucking on the teat of the mainstream cannot be understated. And for such an artist to release fascinating music that still inspires in the years right up until the literal week of his death (★ is wonderful!), Bowie will truly be missed.

  4. I was thinking he didn’t look all that well in the video for ‘Black Star’ but hadn’t heard he was seriously ill-a great shock and loss to the entertainment industry-RIP The Thin White Duke.

  5. Shame. I wasn’t much into the stuff that he put out after Scary Monsters but have most of his prior albums (including some on vinyl). Will be giving them a spin.

  6. Jumped in the van to come home from work and Triple R Melbourne had David Bowie playing and I thought how odd, then another played and then another non-stop for the 45 minute drive home and I thought oh no, not another one of my childhood musicians has gone 🙁

    What a month and a bit it has been since December 03rd, Scott Weiland, from Stone Temple Pilots, John Bradbury from The Specials, Stevie Wright, Lemmy from Motorhead/Hawkwind and Natalie Cole (plus Motorheads drummer Phil Taylor died on November 11th).

  7. Absolutely devastated, I’ve been a fan since the early 70s. Saw him twice in concert – once in 1978 at Western Springs in Auckland, the last at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney in 2004. My husband sat up until 1am to get the Sydney tickets on eBay for me. One of the best artists ever, RIP Mr Bowie you will be sadly missed 🙁

    1. Rage did a Bowie special in July, which I only watched a couple of weeks ago. It had scenes from The Elephant Man on Broadway, Interviews with Molly and all of those clips and reinventions across his amazing career.

      On the topic of television, his appearance on Extras was my favourite cameo on the series.

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