Two weeks after the world lost one of it’s great rock n’roll icons in the shape of Motorhead’s Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, another has been taken from us all too soon. Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie, passed away on Sunday night, 10th of January 2016, surrounded by his friends and family in New York at the age of 69. Much speculation about Bowie’s health had persisted for many years, and it has now transpired he had fought an eighteen month battle with liver cancer.
Tributes have been paid by everyone from fellow musicians and politicians to thousands of his fans. Madonna called him a genius while Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis hailed him as one of the three greatest artists of all time alongside Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. The often eloquent Arsenal FC manager Arsene Wenger said that the impact Bowie had on everyone of a certain age had huge importance:
“…the message he gave to my generation was very important because it was basically after the Second World War and it was basically what I keep from his philosophical message was, be strong enough to be yourself.”
Meanwhile impromptu gatherings across South London in places such as Brixton where Bowie was born and Beckenham where he played many of his early gigs saw fans uniting in song and floral tributes.
David Bowie’s newest album, Blackstar, had been released just two days earlier on the 8th of January, Bowie’s 69th birthday no less, in what has transpired to be a parting gift to his fans and the world. The album’s producer Tony Visconti released a statement saying “it was deliberately created and timed as a “parting gift” for his fans”. The album features such songs as Lazarus and the title track Blackstar, with lyrical content having multiple meanings that will now become all the more apparent for Bowie’s legions of fans.
Everyone here at Rock Sins will join the world at large in mourning the passing of one of the world’s musical creative visionaries. Our thoughts are with his wife, children, the rest of his family and his friends.
