RIP David Bowie

The music world lost another iconic legend as singer David Bowie has died at the age of 69 from cancer. Tributes have been paid from around the world to the “extraordinary artist” whose last album was released days ago. His son, film director Duncan Jones, confirmed the news and a statement was issued on his social media accounts. The statement said that Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer, asking for privacy for the family.

Bowie was born David Jones in Brixton, south London, on 8 January in 1947. He changed his name in 1966 after The Monkees’ Davy Jones achieved stardom. Bowie’s hits include Let’s Dance, Space Oddity, Starman, Modern Love, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel, Rebel and Life on Mars. He was also well known for creating his flamboyant alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The singer, who had been living in New York in recent years, only released his latest album Blackstar on his birthday on Friday. The album, which includes just seven songs, has been well received by critics and was intended as a “parting gift” to the world, according to long-time friend and producer Tony Visconti.

IN a career spanning 57 years, his net worth is supposed to be around 135 million pounds with 140 million albums sols, 111 singles and movie roles. Bowie also carved out a successful acting career, including his role as an alien seeking help for his dying planet in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976. He did a three-month stint as The Elephant Man on Broadway in the 1980s, with other roles that decade including Labyrinth, Cat People, The Last Temptation of Christ and The Hunger. The late 1980s were dominated by Bowie’s involvement with his new band, a postmodernist heavy metal outfit, Tin Machine. In the United Kingdom, he was awarded 9 Platinum, 11 Gold and 8 Silver albums, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold. In the BBC’s 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked 29. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time. Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996 and named a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in June 2013 and 2 Grammys.

David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016)

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