ROCKER: Rest in peace, David Bowie
David Bowie has had an illustrious career in both music and film, featuring in classic movies such as the 2001 hit, Zoolander, in which he played himself, and the 2006 release, Prestige, in which he played Nikola Tesla. ILLUSTRATION| JOSEPH NGARI
What you need to know:
This is an indication of Bowie’s fighting spirit, his desire to leave a lasting legacy for his fans. It is rumoured that Bowie had recorded five demos for a post- Blackstar album.
David Bowie has had an illustrious career in both music and film, featuring in classic movies such as the 2001 hit, Zoolander, in which he played himself, and the 2006 release, Prestige, in which he played Nikola Tesla.
Bowie had controversial views on religion and politics, usually siding with the most extreme opinions. Perhaps, in hindsight, that was just his artistic side seeking to explore unexploited prospects. Bowie’s sexual orientation was also a point of interest.
At the start of the year, The Rocker featured a few headline acts which we would be looking forward to this year. One of the more outstanding ones was going to be David Bowie’s new album, Blackstar, which was released on January 8.
It was also David Bowie’s 69th birthday and the album was received with critical acclaim, as expected. The theme of the lyrics in the album revolved largely around impending death and media outlets around the world picked up on this almost immediately. Two days later, the world received the shocking news of his death.
It was only after death that the world got to know that Bowie had had a long battle with liver cancer, which very few people knew about. Following the news of his death, there were tributes from all over the world, with some mourning his death while most
were simply celebrating the life of a musical trailblazer. Ivo Van Hove, who claims to have been aware of Bowie’s illness, said in an interview with dutchnews.nl that Bowie was still writing music on his death bed, and that he fought fearlessly and kept working through it all.
This is an indication of Bowie’s fighting spirit, his desire to leave a lasting legacy for his fans. It is rumored that Bowie had recorded five demos for a post- Blackstar album.
David Bowie has had an illustrious career in both music and film, featuring in classic movies such as the 2001 hit, Zoolander, in which he played himself, and the 2006 release, Prestige, in which he played Nikola Tesla.
Bowie had controversial views on religion and politics, usually siding with the most extreme opinions. Perhaps, in hindsight, that was just his artistic side seeking to explore unexploited prospects. Bowie’s sexual orientation was also a point of interest.
He said in an interview with Michael Watts on January 22, 1972, that he was gay and later in an interview with Playboy magazine in September 1976 saying he was a bisexual.
He regretted both comments, which he later addressed in a 1983 interview with the Rolling Stone magazine.
Bowie was many things, but most of all, he was artistic and revolutionary. He made everything about his death much like he did his life, a work of art.
Rest in peace, David Bowie.
