aNewDomain — Rock music icon David Bowie died Sunday after an 18-month cancer battle. The singer best known for such hits as “Fame” and “Let’s Dance” released a new album, “Blackstar,” on Friday, just two days before dying peacefully in the presence of family and friends, representatives said today.
The Thin White Duke, as he was sometimes known, was 69.
News of the singer’s death took the rock and pop world by surprise today, as Bowie and his reps kept his struggle with cancer a secret. A month ago, he attended opening night of his new show, “Lazarus,” a musical based on a track on the new album.
The type of cancer that killed Bowie remains unknown at this writing. “While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief,” said a statement posted on his Twitter account. Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, shared the same message on his account early Monday morning, adding “very sorry and sad to say it’s true, I’ll be offline for awhile, love to all.”
Born David Jones in London, Bowie changed his name to avoid being confused by The Monkees singer of the same name.
In tribute to Bowie on the social nets, fans are sharing songs from Bowie’s 1972 breakthrough album”The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars” and hits like “Changes,” “Young Americans” (co-written with John Lennon) and “Under Pressure” (a collaboration with Queen). Vanilla Ice made the hook of that song famous again when he notoriously used it in “Ice Ice Baby.”
Check out the excellent David Bowie animated infographics below, courtesy the folks at PrettyFamous.com.
RIP David Bowie. What a loss.
For aNewDomain, I’m Gina Smith.
