David Bowie’s latest album, released last week to coincide with his 69th birthday, has been described as his “parting gift” as collaborators and friends paid tribute to the iconic star after the unexpected announcement of his death.
Friends and collaborators recalled Bowie’s final interactions with them amid a re-examination of Blackstar, his final work. It includes a new single, Lazarus, whose video opens with the image of a dead spaceman and which begins: “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”
In a Facebook post, Tony Visconti, who produced a series of Bowie’s albums, revealed the significance to Bowie of Blackstar, his 25th and final studio album, released to critical acclaim.
“He always did what he wanted to do,” wrote Visconti, who was a producer on Blackstar as well as Young Americans and his seminal Berlin trilogy: Low, Heroes and Lodger.
“And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of art.”
Blackstar was the first Bowie release not to feature a picture of him on the cover: instead, a stylised black star heralded a darker work.
Visconti added: “He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”
Bowie had kept news of his cancer diagnosis from all but a few close associates. His desire for privacy – and for his message to speak through his work – was achieved by a small inner circle including his manager, Coco Schwab; archivist Jimmy King; Bowie’s wife, Iman, and daughter, Lexi; and Visconti.
It was broadly known that Bowie’s onstage heart attack in 2004 had left him frail. But a sudden death was not foreseen, whatever the portents that can now be seen Blackstar.
“He considered [privacy] the greatest luxury,” said one friend familiar with the singer’s thinking, who did not wish to be named. “It was paramount to him in the way he lived his life over the last few years.”
The death of Bowie, who had a profound influence on music, fashion and sexuality in a career spanning more than half a century, was confirmed on in a Facebook post on his official page early on Monday. “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.”
Writing on Twitter, Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, 44, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.” Some were initially sceptical, but Bowie’s publicist, Steve Martin, told Reuters: “It’s not a hoax.”
'We thought he'd go on for ever': Bowie fans gather worldwide to pay tribute
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Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove, who worked with Bowie on his last stage musical Lazarus in New York, said the singer had been suffering from liver cancer.
Hove, who attended the premiere of Lazarus with Bowie in December, told Dutch NPO radio: “I have lived for a long time with the knowledge this was coming. I was with him on stage at the premiere of Lazarus a few weeks ago. I knew when he got into the car that it might be the last time.
“He had told me in confidence and I never broke that confidence. He told me about a year and three months ago, soon after he found out himself. Liver cancer.”
He said Bowie refused to postpone Lazarus. “He absolutely did not want to and I knew why. It reminded me of Dennis Potter, who kept on writing scenarios and scripts right up to his deathbed, in a fight against death and it was the same with [Bowie] too. He put up an incredible fight. He really didn’t want to die.”He added: “It was incredibly painful to watch. He came to the rehearsals and walk-throughs as often as possible. And stayed, and I saw how much effort it was taking.
“At the premiere he seemed to be glowing with health, but afterwards he had to sit down right away. We chatted for 15 minutes. It has been very intense, working together but also keeping the secret.”
A long-time Bowie collaborator, the producer Brian Eno, told of how his death had come as a “complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him” and revealed that he had received an email from him seven days ago.
“It was as funny as always, and as surreal, looping through word games and allusions and all the usual stuff we did. It ended with this sentence: ‘Thank you for our good times, brian. they will never rot’. And it was signed ‘Dawn’.
“I realise now he was saying goodbye.”
Eno, who knew Bowie for 40 years, said that they had started talking a year ago about revisiting Outside, the last album they worked on together, and “taking it somewhere new”.
Bowie’s 25 albums produced a string of hits including Changes, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. He was known for experimenting across diverse musical genres, and for his alter egos – Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. He also had a notable acting career.
Those joining in tributes included Mick Jagger, who collaborated with Bowie on the 1985 single Dancing in the Street, and said Bowie was always an inspiration to him and “a true original”.
“He was wonderfully shameless in his work,” Jagger said on Twitter, where he described him as a friend he would never forget.
Friends and collaborators recalled Bowie’s final interactions with them amid a re-examination of Blackstar, his final work. It includes a new single, Lazarus, whose video opens with the image of a dead spaceman and which begins: “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”
In a Facebook post, Tony Visconti, who produced a series of Bowie’s albums, revealed the significance to Bowie of Blackstar, his 25th and final studio album, released to critical acclaim.
“He always did what he wanted to do,” wrote Visconti, who was a producer on Blackstar as well as Young Americans and his seminal Berlin trilogy: Low, Heroes and Lodger.
“And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life – a work of art.”
Blackstar was the first Bowie release not to feature a picture of him on the cover: instead, a stylised black star heralded a darker work.
Visconti added: “He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”
Bowie had kept news of his cancer diagnosis from all but a few close associates. His desire for privacy – and for his message to speak through his work – was achieved by a small inner circle including his manager, Coco Schwab; archivist Jimmy King; Bowie’s wife, Iman, and daughter, Lexi; and Visconti.
It was broadly known that Bowie’s onstage heart attack in 2004 had left him frail. But a sudden death was not foreseen, whatever the portents that can now be seen Blackstar.
“He considered [privacy] the greatest luxury,” said one friend familiar with the singer’s thinking, who did not wish to be named. “It was paramount to him in the way he lived his life over the last few years.”
The death of Bowie, who had a profound influence on music, fashion and sexuality in a career spanning more than half a century, was confirmed on in a Facebook post on his official page early on Monday. “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.”
Writing on Twitter, Bowie’s son, the film director Duncan Jones, 44, said: “Very sorry and sad to say it’s true.” Some were initially sceptical, but Bowie’s publicist, Steve Martin, told Reuters: “It’s not a hoax.”
'We thought he'd go on for ever': Bowie fans gather worldwide to pay tribute
Read more
Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove, who worked with Bowie on his last stage musical Lazarus in New York, said the singer had been suffering from liver cancer.
Hove, who attended the premiere of Lazarus with Bowie in December, told Dutch NPO radio: “I have lived for a long time with the knowledge this was coming. I was with him on stage at the premiere of Lazarus a few weeks ago. I knew when he got into the car that it might be the last time.
“He had told me in confidence and I never broke that confidence. He told me about a year and three months ago, soon after he found out himself. Liver cancer.”
He said Bowie refused to postpone Lazarus. “He absolutely did not want to and I knew why. It reminded me of Dennis Potter, who kept on writing scenarios and scripts right up to his deathbed, in a fight against death and it was the same with [Bowie] too. He put up an incredible fight. He really didn’t want to die.”He added: “It was incredibly painful to watch. He came to the rehearsals and walk-throughs as often as possible. And stayed, and I saw how much effort it was taking.
“At the premiere he seemed to be glowing with health, but afterwards he had to sit down right away. We chatted for 15 minutes. It has been very intense, working together but also keeping the secret.”
A long-time Bowie collaborator, the producer Brian Eno, told of how his death had come as a “complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him” and revealed that he had received an email from him seven days ago.
“It was as funny as always, and as surreal, looping through word games and allusions and all the usual stuff we did. It ended with this sentence: ‘Thank you for our good times, brian. they will never rot’. And it was signed ‘Dawn’.
“I realise now he was saying goodbye.”
Eno, who knew Bowie for 40 years, said that they had started talking a year ago about revisiting Outside, the last album they worked on together, and “taking it somewhere new”.
Bowie’s 25 albums produced a string of hits including Changes, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. He was known for experimenting across diverse musical genres, and for his alter egos – Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. He also had a notable acting career.
Those joining in tributes included Mick Jagger, who collaborated with Bowie on the 1985 single Dancing in the Street, and said Bowie was always an inspiration to him and “a true original”.
“He was wonderfully shameless in his work,” Jagger said on Twitter, where he described him as a friend he would never forget.
Resource: http://www.theguardian.com
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