08.01.47 – 10.01.16
David’s Life Story
Rock Musician, Actor, David Bowie was a vastly influential singer-songwriter and producer who recorded in the genres of glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his eclectic musical career.
Born David Robert, David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was of course so much more than that. Bowie was also an accomplished actor, a mime artist, an intellectual as well as an art lover whose deep appreciation and knowledge led to him amassing one of the most exciting collections of 20th century art.
David didn’t make the news of his diagnosis known to the public. But he did make clear to family and friends what he wanted to happen to his body. He let his loved ones, including his wife, Iman, know that he didn’t want a traditional funeral.
David chose direct cremation as a way to keep his final disposition low-key. David wanted his loved ones and friends to focus on the positive and celebrate his life, rather than mourn his passing.
David’s Memorial Service
Time & Date:
7pm
Friday 1st April
Location:
Radio City Music Hall
New York City
Notes:
18 artists performed tributes to the musical legend
test comment
He was very easy to connect with. He was happy. He and I shared one gigantic, human thing: We are so damn curious. I wanted to know about everything from his Spiders From Mars; he wanted to know everything about what working with James Brown was like. I wanted to know what the hell is up with all that orange hair and all that glam-rock stuff; he wants to know about the Chitlin’ Circuit. He listened to jazz; I played jazz. It was a meeting of the minds.
When I made Let’s Dance, Chic had broken up; I had had six failed records in a row. For me, at that young point in my career, I was just accustomed to having hit records. I couldn’t understand making six records in a row and having them all fail, whereas prior to that, every record I made was a hit. I was all by myself, and David and I formed a partnership. It was the two of us against the world. I never felt more loved; I never felt like a person trusted me more.
The friendship was basically that this guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation — simple as that. A lot of people were curious about me, but only he was the one who had enough truly in common with me, and who actually really liked what I did and could get on board with it, and who also had decent enough intentions to help me out. He did a good thing. He resurrected me.
He openly stole from his inspirations while he also possessed a gift for show. He intuited innovation and turned it into theater, his hybrids often ushering the underground into the mainstream. Perhaps Marc Bolan was the first alien to play glam, and certainly Kraftwerk honed the teutonic rhythms of Krautrock prior to Low, but to generations of listeners, it seemed as if David Bowie invented these styles outright. Such was the power of his sound and vision: even when his antecedents were apparent, Bowie made music that felt startlingly original and entirely personal.