It is with extremely heavy hearts and teary eyes, that we report the David Bowie, music’s most beloved eccentric, has passed away at the age of 69, after an 18-month battle with cancer.
According to his official social media accounts, the legendary musician, whose career lasted more than four decades, passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. Read the full statement below.
“January 10 2016 – 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.”
This news certainly comes as a shock to all of us who were so overwhelmingly excited about Bowie’s latest record Blackstar, which debuted January 8, and what it indicated about the singer’s creative direction as he headed into the twilight years of his career.
It is safe to say that music as we know it today, in all of its vastly different and far-reaching appendages, simply would not be the same without the singular genius of David Bowie. I can’t help but think of the words Dizzy Gillespie spoke in 1971 after the death of Louis Armstrong: “No him, no me.” Certainly this succinct elegy applies to the inimitable English musician as well. Whether Bowie was experimenting with glam rock, dance rock, soul, psych, punk, or a litany of other genres, he was always on the vanguard, paving the way for his contemporaries and those that grew up listening to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
In the days to come, we will celebrate David Bowie’s life as he so rightfully deserves, but for now, we must accept the shock and sadness of his passing while we blast his music loud into the early hours of the morning.
Though David Bowie is no longer with us, he never really inhabited the same planet as the rest of us; he was always a starman, floating in a distant astral plane. I’d like to think that is where is right now, where he’s always been, and where he’ll always be. Rest in peace, David Bowie. You will be missed far more than you could ever know.
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Featured Image by Jimmy King
