MILLIONS of music fans including the biggest names in showbiz were
yesterday mourning the shock death of David Bowie from cancer at the age of
69.
Admirers ranging from the Prime Minister to Paul McCartney and from film stars
to governments joined a worldwide outpouring of grief.
Most were stunned by the total secrecy surrounding the Ziggy Stardust singer’s
deteriorating health.
Bowie had told only those closest to him of his 18-month battle with
pancreatic cancer, which is believed to have spread to his liver.
A source said: “David was very private about the matter but we understand it
was pancreatic and then these cells became secondaries in the liver.”
Bowie biographer Wendy Leigh yesterday said he had also suffered six heart
attacks in recent years.
She added: “I got this from somebody very close to him.”
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his death was a work of art’: David Bowie’s most trusted friend pays tribute
The Golden Years star kept his condition from friends. Kate Moss, who looked
on Bowie as a father figure, had no idea he was sick.
She and Rolling Stone Ron Wood’s ex-wife Jo texted Bowie on his birthday on
Friday but got no reply.
They were unaware he was on his deathbed in New York, surrounded by his
closest friends and family.
It is believed Bowie learned he was dying about a year ago — and spent his
remaining months writing and recording his 25th and final album, Blackstar.
He made the project his priority — over and above efforts to prolong his
life.
Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti, whose work with the singer dates back to the
1969 album Space Oddity, was stunned when Blackstar was completed in just
three sessions spread across three months.
The lyrics of third track Lazarus, released as a single, serve as Bowie’s
poignant farewell to his fans.
He sings the opening line: “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”
The accompanying video also foretold his death, showing Bowie in a hospital
bed before ending with him retreating into a dark closet.
Album and single were released on his 69th birthday on Friday, two days before
his death
He was seen in public for the last time on December 7 at the New York premiere
of musical Lazarus, a production based on his songs.
David Cameron was among the high-profile fans tweeting tributes.
He said: “I grew up listening to and watching the pop genius David Bowie. He
was a master of re-invention. A huge loss.”
Mick Jagger, who teamed up with Bowie for 1985 single Dancing in the Street,
said: “David was always an inspiration to me and a true original.
“He was wonderfully shameless in his work. We had so many good times together.
He was my friend. I will never forget him.”
The German government said Bowie, who lived in Berlin in the late ’70s, had
helped tear down the wall that divided the city during the Cold War. Its
Foreign Office said: “Goodbye, David Bowie. You are now among Heroes. Thank
you for helping to bring down the wall.”
News of Bowie’s death led to a series of impromptu shrines, at his childhood
home, his New York apartment, the London street where the Ziggy Stardust
album cover was shot and a Dutch museum.
In his birthplace of Brixton, South London, flowers and candles were left by a
mural of the cover of his classic album Aladdin Sane, featuring Bowie with a
lightning zig-zag across his face. One note read simply: “The stars look
very different today’” — a line from Space Oddity.
Outside his ex-home in Stansfield Road fans with guitars sat strumming the
Space Oddity chords.
The museum in Groningen, Holland, opened a book of condolence for fans
visiting a Bowie exhibition.
A vigil was also held at a building in Berlin where Bowie once lived — and
wrote the song Heroes. Bowie had spent his final weeks at his New York home
and in a country house outside the city with wife Iman and daughter Lexi,
15.
The family released a statement that read: “January 10 2016 — David Bowie died
peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle
with cancer.”
Bowie’s film director son Duncan Jones, who was given the name Zowie Bowie at
his birth in 1971, said on Twitter: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.
I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”
Bowie began his musical career as a teenager playing rock ‘n’ roll.
After a brief period as a mod he got his first shot at fame with the
folk-influenced single Space Oddity in 1969. Its release coincided with the
moon landings and reached No5.
He followed up with a string of classic albums, beginning with Hunky Dory in
1971. The next year saw the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
and the Spiders from Mars. The album and its successor Aladdin Sane made
Bowie the biggest name in glam rock and launched him to superstardom.
In the following years Bowie continually changed musical styles on albums such
as Young Americans, Station to Station, Heroes and Low.
His ability to switch seamlessly from disco, to electronica, to new wave
earned him a reputation as the consummate musical chameleon. His candid
admission of his bisexuality was also ground-breaking.
He also expanded into acting in films such as The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Musically he kept a low profile after the millennium — ending a decade’s
silence in 2013 with the album The Next Day. Bowie was married twice. He
divorced first wife Angie in 1980 after a decade together. He married
Somali-born model Iman in 1992.
It is believed Bowie’s funeral will take place in America.
Glasgow-based DJ Fiona Winchester mistakenly reported the death of David
Cameron rather than David Bowie while reading the news for HeartFM
yesterday.
Terrible toll
AROUND 8,800 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year.
It is the 11th most common cancer but has the lowest survival rate of all,
with just one of every 100 people diagnosed surviving for ten years or more.
High profile victims include Dirty Dancing actor Patrick Swayze, who fought it
for 20 months, Apple boss Steve Jobs and opera star Luciano Pavarotti.
Pancreatic cancer rarely causes any symptoms in the early stages and is often
not detected until it is fairly advanced and more difficult to treat.
The first noticeable symptoms are often unexpected weight loss, yellowing of
the skin and pain in the back or stomach area.
Wife: Love you until I’m gone
On Sunday, hours before Bowie’s death, the supermodel, 60, wrote on Twitter
and Facebook: “The struggle is real, but so is God.” The day before, she
said on Instagram: “Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment
until it becomes a memory.”
Others included one on his birthday on Friday which read: “I will love you til
I die, I will see you in the sky #tonight.”