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Updated at 10.38pm
DAVID BOWIE HAS died at the age of 69.
One of the major figures of rock and an influence on generations of musicians, he passed away after a battle with cancer, a publicist confirmed.
“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer,” a statement on Facebook said.
While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.
Bowie, who stopped touring in 2004 following health concerns, had just released his latest album, Blackstar, to hugely positive reviews.
The Guardian called it “urgent, contemporary and elliptical”.
His son, the film director Duncan Jones, tweeted a picture of himself with his father, and the following simple message:
Born David Jones on 8 January 1947, the London singer changed his name in the mid-60s to avoid confusion with the Monkees member of the same name.
His artistic and commercial breakthrough came with 1972′s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which included the songs Starman, Ziggy Stardust and Five Years.
A late addition to the album, Starman entered the UK top ten after Bowie’s iconic appearance on Top of the Pops, and spent 11 weeks in the charts.
Known for his unexpected stylistic and image changes from album to album, Bowie’s title as rock’s greatest ‘chameleon’ became a cliché over the decades.
An influence on and friend of other major figures in rock like Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, his output included glam rock, pop, soul, electronic, art rock, drum n’bass and experimental releases.
The hits are almost too numerous to mention – but include, in no particular order, Changes, Heroes, Let’s Dance, Life on Mars, Rebel Rebel, Ashes to Ashes, Golden Years, Young Americans, China Girl, and The Man Who Sold the World.
He also had a successful, if intermittent, acting career, that included iconic performances in the science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth and the Jim Henson fantasy epic Labyrinth.
Hiatus and triumphant return
The star began a prolonged career hiatus after a health emergency on tour in 2004: he underwent an emergency angioplasty after a concert in Prague.
There were some appearances and acting gigs in the decade that followed – like his performance with Arcade Fire at the televised Fashion Rocks event, and a memorable showing in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.
He eventually faded away further from public view, his once-busy website going unattended, leading to speculation that he was ill or had simply chosen to retire.
In January 2013, however, on his 66th birthday, the website sprang back into life and a new album The Next Day was announced, earning hugely positive reviews.
It sparked a renewed interest in the singer – and an exhibition of artefacts, ‘David Bowie is’ was sold-out for months at Victoria and Albert Museum in London before touring the world.
Originally published at 7am
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The dude had a terrible death, so many people watching and nobody tried to stop it.
@Tony Maguire: the dude that murdered the old lady?
@SFLoonies: The old lady who sold drugs?
@Earth Traveller: the drugs that many seem to have been thankful for?
Do we know exactly what she was selling, by the way?
Bottom line is didn’t get due process so his killing is in no way justified, and the manner by which he was killed was brutal.
Should people be praising the guy with the rope? Is that what you’re saying?
@SFLoonies: we don’t know he murdered anyone. He was never afforded a trial.
@Earth Traveller: She wasn’t selling drugs. She was a shaman who presided over a ceremony that goes back hundreds if not thousands of years. The problem is that westerners are coming to Peru to take part in the ceremony to get high and are not doing it for its intended purpose which is spiritual. It’s a bit like going to Mass and getting pissed on altar wine and completely ignoring the spiritual side of things. That’s why shamans are telling westerners to take a hike.
@SFLoonies:
*allegedly
@SFLoonies: he was lynched by a mob. He was never proven guilty
Terrible
@Lance Chancer: yes .. but he has been punished for murdering her.
@SFLoonies: Extrajudicial murder. That’s not punishment, that’s criminal.
‘Vigilante’ killings, without giving your victims a fair trial, are repulsive, as is anyone who respects it.
@SFLoonies: You should replace the jury system with your ability to identify killers based on nothing.
@Magua: How is ex judicial murder / lynching the same as communism? Is Peru now a communist country? Your ignorance is showing.
Seems to me they targeted the local gringo cause they suspected the killer a white man.
Ignorant people will never be civil.
@Fabio Dillon: Only simpletons reduce everything to race. Were you trying to say civilized?
Yet more misery inflicted on people who believe in hocus pocus powers /mysticism/religion nonsense
What the f**k is wrong with people that they would watch this video & circulate it.
Yet more misery inflicted on people who believe in hocus pocus powers /mysticism/religion nonsense
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