{"id":4880,"date":"2016-01-12T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/legendary-musician-david-bowie-dies-of-cancer-at-69\/"},"modified":"2016-01-12T09:00:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T17:00:11","slug":"legendary-musician-david-bowie-dies-of-cancer-at-69","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/legendary-musician-david-bowie-dies-of-cancer-at-69\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary musician David Bowie dies of cancer at 69"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK<\/strong> \u2014 David Bowie, the chameleon-like star who transformed the sound \u2014 and the look \u2014 of rock with his audacious creativity and his sexually ambiguous makeup and costumes, died of cancer Sunday.<\/p>\n

Bowie, whose hits included \u201cSpace Oddity,\u201d \u201cFame,\u201d \u201cHeroes\u201d and \u201cLet\u2019s Dance,\u201d died surrounded by family, representative Steve Martin said early Monday. The singer, who was 69, had fought cancer for 18 months.<\/p>\n

Long before alter egos and wild outfits became commonplace in pop, Bowie turned the music world upside down with the release of the 1972 album, \u201cThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,\u201d which introduced one of music\u2019s most famous personas. \u201cZiggy Stardust\u201d was a concept album that imagined a rock star from outer space trying to make his way in the music world. The persona \u2014 the red-headed, eyeliner wearing Stardust \u2014 would become an enduring part of Bowie\u2019s legacy, and a touchstone for the way entertainers packaged themselves for years to come.<\/p>\n

Bowie\u2019s birthday was Friday, the same day as he released his new album, \u201cBlackstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

A statement on social media asked fan\u2019s to respect the family\u2019s privacy. No more details were provided.<\/p>\n

Born David Jones in London, the singer came of age in the early 1970s glam rock era. He had a striking androgynous look in his early days and was known for changing his appearance and sounds. After \u201cZiggy Stardust,\u201d the stuttering rock sound of \u201cChanges\u201d gave way to the disco soul of \u201cFame,\u201d co-written with John Lennon, to a droning collaboration with Brian Eno in Berlin that produced \u201cHeroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had some of his biggest successes in the early 1980s with the bombastic \u201cLet\u2019s Dance,\u201d and a massive American tour. Another one of his definitive songs was \u201cUnder Pressure,\u201d which he recorded with Queen; Vanilla Ice would years later infamously use the song\u2019s hook for his smash hit \u201cIce Ice Baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy entire career, I\u2019ve only really worked with the same subject matter,\u201d Bowie told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. \u201cThe trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I\u2019ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety \u2014 all of the high points of one\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie lived in West Berlin in the late 1970s and Mayor Michael Mueller said Monday that \u201cHeroes\u201d became \u201cthe hymn of our then-divided city and its longing for freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Foreign Ministry added Bowie was \u201cnow among heroes\u201d and thanked him for \u201chelping to bring down the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie\u2019s performance of \u201cHeroes\u201d was also a highlight at a concert for rescue workers after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m most proud of is that I can\u2019t help but notice that I\u2019ve affected the vocabulary of pop music. For me, frankly, as an artist, that\u2019s the most satisfying thing for the ego,\u201d Bowie said.<\/p>\n

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, but he didn\u2019t attend the ceremony. Madonna accepted for him and recounted how a Bowie concert changed her life when she attended it as a teenager. David Byrne, of the art rockers Talking Heads, inducted Bowie and said he gave rock music a necessary shot in the arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike all rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, it was visionary, it was tasteless, it was glamorous, it was perverse, it was fun, it was crass, it was sexy and it was confusing,\u201d Byrne said.<\/p>\n

Bowie kept a low profile in recent years after a reported heart attack in the 2000s. He made a moody album three years ago called \u201cThe Next Day\u201d \u2014 his first recording in a decade. \u201cBlackstar,\u201d which earned positive reviews from critics, represented yet another stylistic shift, as he gathered jazz players to join him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid always did it his way and his way was the least obvious way,\u201d said Tony Visconti, Bowie\u2019s longtime producer. \u201cHe was a true genius who proved it over and over again through groundbreaking albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie released a music video on Friday for the new song \u201cLazarus,\u201d which shows a frail Bowie lying in bed and singing the track\u2019s lyrics. The song begins with the line: \u201cLook up here, I\u2019m in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the U.S. iTunes albums chart, which updates frequently throughout the day to reflect digital purchases from users, Bowie\u2019s \u201cBlackstar\u201d peaked at No. 1 on Monday. \u201cBest of Bowie\u201d was No. 2, and two other Bowie albums reached the Top 10.<\/p>\n

His music has also been electrifying audiences this winter in New York in the sold-out new off-Broadway musical \u201cLazarus,\u201d led by Michael C. Hall of \u201cDexter\u201d fame and inspired by the 1963 science-fiction novel \u201cThe Man Who Fell to Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tributes poured in for the singer after the announcement of his death. British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted about his sadness from outer space aboard the International Space Station, saying \u201chis music was an inspiration to many.\u201d<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that Bowie\u2019s death is \u201ca huge loss.\u201d He wrote he had grown up listening to and watching Bowie and called the singer a \u201cmaster of reinvention\u201d and a pop genius who kept on getting it right.<\/p>\n

Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, in a statement, said Bowie was his inspiration and \u201ca true original.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was wonderfully shameless in his work we had so many good times together,\u201d Jagger said. \u201c He was my friend. I will never forget him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Beatle Paul McCartney has also paid tribute, calling Bowie \u201ca great star.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis music played a very strong part in British musical history,\u201d McCartney wrote on his website.<\/p>\n

Bowie felt uneasy about some of his greatest material, once embarking on a \u201cgreatest hits\u201d tour saying it would be the last time performing much of his old material. He later relented, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a natural performer,\u201d he said in the 2002 interview. \u201cI don\u2019t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind\u2019s on the situation, do it quite well. But five or six shows in, I\u2019m dying to get off the road and go back into the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie was married twice, to actress and model Mary Angela \u201cAngie\u201d Barnett from 1970-80, and to supermodel Iman since 1992. He had two children \u2014 Duncan Jones and Alexandria Zahra Jones \u2014 one with each wife.<\/p>\n

The two-time Grammy Award winner was remembered by The Recording Academy as a \u201c\u201dRenaissance man and visionary artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is remembered and celebrated today for his audacious approach to pushing creative boundaries and ability to reinvent himself time and time again, changing the course of pop music in the process. … His art will live on forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP entertainment writers David Bauder and Mark Kennedy in New York and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show the accurate spelling of Bowie\u2019s daughter\u2019s first name is Alexandria, not Alexandra; that he co-wrote the song \u201cFame,\u201d not \u201cYoung Americans\u201d with John Lennon; and to show the correct title of the album is \u201cThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 David Bowie, the chameleon-like star who transformed the sound \u2014 and the look \u2014 of rock with his audacious creativity and his sexually ambiguous makeup and costumes, died of cancer Sunday. Bowie, whose hits included \u201cSpace Oddity,\u201d \u201cFame,\u201d \u201cHeroes\u201d and \u201cLet\u2019s Dance,\u201d died surrounded by family, representative Steve Martin said early Monday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4880"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}