This image was posted on Facebook by David Bowie
British music legend David Bowie has died after a long battle with cancer, his official Twitter and Facebook accounts said Monday, prompting an outpouring of tributes. Mr Bowie died on Sunday surrounded by family, just two days after he turned 69 and released his new album Blackstar. "David Bowie died peacefully today (Sunday) surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer," said a brief statement posted to both his Twitter and Facebook accounts. "While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief," it added.
The death brings the curtain down on one of the most acclaimed artists of modern British music, with a career dating back to the hit
Space Oddity in 1969, about an astronaut called Major Tom, who is abandoned in space. (Also Read:
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It spanned styles ranging from glam rock, New Romantic, Krautrock and dance music to alternative rock, jungle, soul and hard rock, underpinned by an astonishing array of stage personas from the sexually ambiguous Ziggy Stardust to the so-called Thin White Duke.
He was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, inner south London, on January 8, 1947, before his family moved out to the leafy suburb of Bromley when he was six.
Master of Re-InventionIn the first of many re-inventions, he named himself David Bowie in 1966 to avoid confusion with Davy Jones, lead singer with Beatles rivals The Monkees, and studied Buddhism and mime. (Also Read -
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The 1970s - the decade that saw him dominate the British music scene and conquer the United States - brought forward a string of successful albums.
It began with the critically acclaimed
Hunky Dory, continued with
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - whose hits included
Starman and
Suffragette City - followed by the rock album
Aladdin Sane, the apocalyptic
Diamond Dogs and a fling with so-called plastic soul,
Station to Station.
He then switched gears once more, moving to Berlin to work with the electronic experimentalist Brian Eno product a trio of albums -
Low,
Heroes and
Lodger.
The 1980s saw him win over a new generation with
Let's Dance, which yielded the hit singles
China Girl and
Modern Love, and a 1985 teamup with Mick Jagger for a cover of
Dancin' in the Street that helped to push the BandAid and LiveAid charity projects.
British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to David Bowie's ability for innovation.
Mr Bowie was also a record producer, painter and actor. His best known screen work is in
The Man Who Fell To Earth, in which he played the lead, and as the Goblin King in
Labyrinth. He made cameo appearances in
Zoolander and
The Last Temptation Of Christ. He also starred in an acclaimed production of
The Elephant Man on Broadway.
David Bowie was married twice, first to model-actress Angie Bowie and later to supermodel Iman, who survives him. He is also survived by filmmaker Duncan Jones, his son with Angie, and Alexandria, his daughter with Iman.