David Bowie, 69; musical, cultural icon
David Bowie, the selfdescribed “tasteful thief” who appropriated from and influenced glam rock, soul, disco, new wave, punk rock and haute couture, and whose edgy, androgynous alter egos invited fans to explore their own dark places, died Jan. 10, two days after his 69th birthday.
The cause was cancer, his family said on official Bowie social media accounts. Relatives also confirmed the news but did not disclose where he died. He had recently been collaborating on an Off Broadway musical, “Lazarus,” a sequel to his starring role in the 1976 film “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” And days earlier, he had released his 25th studio album, “Blackstar,” backed by a small jazz group and featuring songs as boldly experimental as anything else in his long career.
With his sylphlike body, chalk-white skin, jagged teeth and eyes that appeared to be two different colors, Bowie combined sexual energy with fluid dance moves and a theatrical charisma that mesmerized male and female admirers alike.
Citing influences from Elvis Presley to Andy Warhol — not to mention the singer Edith Piaf and writers William S. Burroughs and Jean Genet — Bowie was trained in mime and fine arts, and played saxophone, guitar, harmonica and piano. Ascavenger of musical and visual styles, he repackaged them in striking new formats that were all his own, in turn lending his dramatic, genderbending aesthetic to later performers such as Prince and Lady Gaga.
With “a melodic sense that’s just well above anyone else in rock & roll,” the singer Lou Reed once wrote, “David Bowie’s contribution to rock & roll has been wit and sophistication.” His output between 1969 and 1983 made up “one of the longest creative streaks in rock history,” according to Rolling Stone magazine.
By the height of his fame in the early 1980s, Bowie had enacted his own death repeatedly, in the form of characters and ensembles he would create, inhabit and then discard. “My policy has been that as soon as a system or process works, it’s out of date,” he said in a 1977 interview. “I move on to another area.”