My colleague, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, is in Brixton, where tributes are being left at the David Bowie mural which marks his birth in the south London district:
Rosie Lowry, a 21 year old fashion photography student, came and laid flowers at the Brixton Bowie mural dressed in full Ziggy stardust regalia and face paint.
She said: “he was just a huge influence on me because without him I wouldn’t have had that strength to be whoever I wanted to be. His music makes you feel like he’s talking directly to you. My dad was a massive fan and I grew up listening to Bowie in the house, it’s been there my whole life.
“So I just couldn’t believe he was gone when I woke up this morning. I owe so much to him, he’s helped me through so much that I didn’t have to even think about coming down here today. I just got out of bed and got the face paint on. It felt fitting to do it as Bowie would do it.”
Jane Maloney, 44, came and laid flowers and showed off a Ziggy Stardust tattoo on her back. She said she has grown up listening to Bowie and that the tattoo had been her way of paying thanks to the singer for having such an impact on her life.
“I feel like I’ve lost a member of my family” she said. “I’ve followed him since I was a kid and have seen him live five times. The world is so much emptier without him here. He was such an independent spirit and unique human- there’s never been another person like him.”
Alison Baker, 44, was another fan who came to lay flowers at the Bowie mural. “I don’t usually take on board all of this collective mourning but I woke up this morning and heard the news and I couldn’t believe it.
“I guess David Bowie has been really influential in my life and the way I approach things. I grew up in Perth in Australia, the suburban beachside, and it wasn’t the dome thing to be different. So when Bowie came into my life as a teenager, that just changed everything.
“He was the one that people followed, he never followed anyone, and that’s just extraordinary. He was completely original and outrageous but at heart he was just this humble normal guy- he completely transcended the whole celebrity charade.
“I was listening to Blackstar this morning and you realise that it’s his farewell. For him to have looked death in the eye and then create that, what an artistic way to go. He skidded into that grave didn’t he?
Almost seven hours after the announcement was made, here’s where we are following the announcement of David Bowie’s death.
The 69-year-old musician, singer and actor has died after from cancer, his official Facebook page has announced. Bowie died on Sunday “surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer”, it said.
Bowie died two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar, which was issued on his 69th birthday, and looks set to top the UK charts.
Numerous tributes have been paid to Bowie’s astonishing catalogue of work and his many reinventions and incarnations. Those expressing sorrow have included collaborators like Iggy Pop; fellow pop stars including Madonna, the Rolling Stones and Kanye West; politicians including David Cameron and Tony Blair; and the astronaut Tim Peake.
Impromptu shrines to the singer have sprung up in several places, including at a mural showing his face in Brixton, south London, where he was born; Beckenham, south London, where he grew up; New York, where he lived for many years; and Berlin, where he lived during a peak period of creativity.
Another space-related tribute, this time from the Twitter feed of the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe.The tributes – and media – are starting to mass at the Bowie mural in Brixton, south London, where he was born.
In not entirely unexpected news, Bowie’s newly-released final album looks set to go to number one. This from the Press Association:
David Bowie’s new album Blackstar has charged into the number one spot following news of his death.
The singer’s 25th studio album was released on Friday to coincide with his 69th birthday and had already taken an early lead.
Blackstar has combined sales of more than 43,000, which puts Bowie 25,000 ahead of his closest competitor, Elvis Presley, and almost guarantees a number one when the charts are announced on Friday, according to the Official Charts Company.
If it achieves the feat, Blackstar will be Bowie’s 10th chart-topping album.
Two more reasons why Bowie was such an innovator:
BowieNet and online music
As my colleague Keith Stuart recounts, Bowie not only set up his own internet service provider in 1998, he was the first major artist to distribute a song online-only.
Bowie Bonds
In a hugely innovative 1997 scheme, Bowie sold the rights to future royalties to his songs in the form of securitised bonds. The FT has more here.Here’s David Cameron giving his tribute to David Bowie. Asked for a favourite track he slightly wimps out and opts for a whole album – Hunky Dory. But to be fair Cameron is a politician who, as his Desert Island Discs appearance showed, has some grasp of and interest in popular music.Further to my précis below of David Bowie’s film career, the far better-informed Peter Bradshaw has penned his own tribute of Bowie’s life in acting. Bradshaw notes:
She said: “he was just a huge influence on me because without him I wouldn’t have had that strength to be whoever I wanted to be. His music makes you feel like he’s talking directly to you. My dad was a massive fan and I grew up listening to Bowie in the house, it’s been there my whole life.
“So I just couldn’t believe he was gone when I woke up this morning. I owe so much to him, he’s helped me through so much that I didn’t have to even think about coming down here today. I just got out of bed and got the face paint on. It felt fitting to do it as Bowie would do it.”
Jane Maloney, 44, came and laid flowers and showed off a Ziggy Stardust tattoo on her back. She said she has grown up listening to Bowie and that the tattoo had been her way of paying thanks to the singer for having such an impact on her life.
“I feel like I’ve lost a member of my family” she said. “I’ve followed him since I was a kid and have seen him live five times. The world is so much emptier without him here. He was such an independent spirit and unique human- there’s never been another person like him.”
Alison Baker, 44, was another fan who came to lay flowers at the Bowie mural. “I don’t usually take on board all of this collective mourning but I woke up this morning and heard the news and I couldn’t believe it.
“I guess David Bowie has been really influential in my life and the way I approach things. I grew up in Perth in Australia, the suburban beachside, and it wasn’t the dome thing to be different. So when Bowie came into my life as a teenager, that just changed everything.
“He was the one that people followed, he never followed anyone, and that’s just extraordinary. He was completely original and outrageous but at heart he was just this humble normal guy- he completely transcended the whole celebrity charade.
“I was listening to Blackstar this morning and you realise that it’s his farewell. For him to have looked death in the eye and then create that, what an artistic way to go. He skidded into that grave didn’t he?
Almost seven hours after the announcement was made, here’s where we are following the announcement of David Bowie’s death.
The 69-year-old musician, singer and actor has died after from cancer, his official Facebook page has announced. Bowie died on Sunday “surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer”, it said.
Bowie died two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar, which was issued on his 69th birthday, and looks set to top the UK charts.
Numerous tributes have been paid to Bowie’s astonishing catalogue of work and his many reinventions and incarnations. Those expressing sorrow have included collaborators like Iggy Pop; fellow pop stars including Madonna, the Rolling Stones and Kanye West; politicians including David Cameron and Tony Blair; and the astronaut Tim Peake.
Impromptu shrines to the singer have sprung up in several places, including at a mural showing his face in Brixton, south London, where he was born; Beckenham, south London, where he grew up; New York, where he lived for many years; and Berlin, where he lived during a peak period of creativity.
Another space-related tribute, this time from the Twitter feed of the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe.The tributes – and media – are starting to mass at the Bowie mural in Brixton, south London, where he was born.
In not entirely unexpected news, Bowie’s newly-released final album looks set to go to number one. This from the Press Association:
David Bowie’s new album Blackstar has charged into the number one spot following news of his death.
The singer’s 25th studio album was released on Friday to coincide with his 69th birthday and had already taken an early lead.
Blackstar has combined sales of more than 43,000, which puts Bowie 25,000 ahead of his closest competitor, Elvis Presley, and almost guarantees a number one when the charts are announced on Friday, according to the Official Charts Company.
If it achieves the feat, Blackstar will be Bowie’s 10th chart-topping album.
Two more reasons why Bowie was such an innovator:
BowieNet and online music
As my colleague Keith Stuart recounts, Bowie not only set up his own internet service provider in 1998, he was the first major artist to distribute a song online-only.
Bowie Bonds
In a hugely innovative 1997 scheme, Bowie sold the rights to future royalties to his songs in the form of securitised bonds. The FT has more here.Here’s David Cameron giving his tribute to David Bowie. Asked for a favourite track he slightly wimps out and opts for a whole album – Hunky Dory. But to be fair Cameron is a politician who, as his Desert Island Discs appearance showed, has some grasp of and interest in popular music.Further to my précis below of David Bowie’s film career, the far better-informed Peter Bradshaw has penned his own tribute of Bowie’s life in acting. Bradshaw notes:
Pop singers from Sinatra to Elvis to Madonna have dabbled in the movies, with varying results, but David Bowie always convinced his public that every role he accepted was an artistic decision and an artistic experiment, governed by his own idealism.
Finally, the story you’ve all been waiting for, via Guardian Witness and the efforts of my colleague, Elena Cresci: how a Guardian reader’s mother cooked David Bowie a Fray Bentos pie in 1969. And he didn’t eat it. This collection of photos might help overseas readers understand why perhaps he didn’t.
My mum cooked him a Fray Bentos pie in 1969
It was Guy Fawkes night and the whole band was there. He didn't eat the pie.
My mum, Valerie Jubb, and her flatmates went to Bonnyrigg Regal, just outside Edinburgh, on a Friday night to see him play. The band didn't show up as they got lost en route from Perth. My mum and her friends waited in the bar to hitch a ride back to Edinburgh. The band showed up late and they got talking.
Mum and her flatmates thought 'what the hell' and invited them to let off fireworks and for dinner. The band was staying in nearby Broughton and they accepted (her flat was on nearby Northumberland St). Mum pulled out all the stops with a Fray Bentos pie. She says he ate very little and none of the pie - it may have been her cooking apparently! Then they let off fireworks in the garden.
Space Oddity had just been a hit that summer I believe. She always said he was incredibly polite but distant. Got the impression he was coming to terms with impending stardom.
It's one of my favourite stories and I've very possibly told to everyone who has spent more than five minutes in my company. It never occurred to me he would do something as mundane as dying. Sad day.
I hope the story makes others happy when remembering a truly great man. I think Rise and Fall is the only music I listen to just about every single week. Five Years will accompany me across Sydney harbour bridge tomorrow.
Pete Sanderson
Finally, the story you’ve all been waiting for, via Guardian Witness and the efforts of my colleague, Elena Cresci: how a Guardian reader’s mother cooked David Bowie a Fray Bentos pie in 1969. And he didn’t eat it. This collection of photos might help overseas readers understand why perhaps he didn’t.
My mum cooked him a Fray Bentos pie in 1969
It was Guy Fawkes night and the whole band was there. He didn't eat the pie.
My mum, Valerie Jubb, and her flatmates went to Bonnyrigg Regal, just outside Edinburgh, on a Friday night to see him play. The band didn't show up as they got lost en route from Perth. My mum and her friends waited in the bar to hitch a ride back to Edinburgh. The band showed up late and they got talking.
Mum and her flatmates thought 'what the hell' and invited them to let off fireworks and for dinner. The band was staying in nearby Broughton and they accepted (her flat was on nearby Northumberland St). Mum pulled out all the stops with a Fray Bentos pie. She says he ate very little and none of the pie - it may have been her cooking apparently! Then they let off fireworks in the garden.
Space Oddity had just been a hit that summer I believe. She always said he was incredibly polite but distant. Got the impression he was coming to terms with impending stardom.
It's one of my favourite stories and I've very possibly told to everyone who has spent more than five minutes in my company. It never occurred to me he would do something as mundane as dying. Sad day.
I hope the story makes others happy when remembering a truly great man. I think Rise and Fall is the only music I listen to just about every single week. Five Years will accompany me across Sydney harbour bridge tomorrow.
Pete Sanderson
As several people have pointed out on social media, Bowie’s acting career was strictly a sideline, and yet he still worked with a pretty impressive range of directors. These included Martin Scorcese (The Last Temptation of Christ), Nagisa Oshima (Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence), Nicolas Roeg (The Man Who Fell to Earth), David Lynch (Twin Peaks), Julian Schnabel (Basquiat), Jim Henson (Labyrinth), and Tony Scott (The Hunger).
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