In this November 1, 1974, file photo, David Bowie performs at Radio City Music Hall in NY.
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Joshua Rubenstein, who heads the trusts and estates practice at Katten Muchin Rosenman in NY, said in an email that when an artist dies the demand for their work generally goes up because fans know that another album, movie or painting will not get created.
Paul McCartney has issued a heartfelt statement on the death of rock icon David Bowie, who passed away Sunday at age 69 following a private, 18-month battle with cancer.
Queen star Brian May, who recorded hit 1981 track Under Pressure with Bowie, reacted with shock to the news, revealing he had no idea the singer had been so ill and regrets that he was not given the chance to say goodbye.
David Bowie performs live on stage with Tin Machine at Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1989.
In the video for his mournful new song “Lazarus,” David Bowie lies in what looks like a shabby hospital bed, bandages over his eyes, straining his frail body upward.
The most popular of Bowie’s alter egos was Ziggy Stardust, a glittery and flamboyant character that emerged in 1972.
We reel at the news of David Bowie’s passing because, like everything else he set his wondrous mind and prescient instincts to, he left us in such a composed, impactful flash, as though he saw something coming that the rest of us didn’t. We had so many good times together. “Blackstar” has earned positive reviews from critics, represented yet another stylistic shift, as he gathered jazz players to join him.
Blackstar is being reassessed in the context of Bowie’s death, and as the album’s producer, Tony Visconti, explained in a Facebook post, “his death was no different from his life – a work of art”.
Blackstar opens with the lyric, “Look up here, I’m in heaven”. “The two audible breaths Bowie (presumably) draws through his nose before the beginning of the second song, “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore”, sounded weird and random on Friday. I like costume changes, too, but I’m drawn more to the consistent musical intelligence he’s exhibited throughout his career, excepting maybe a couple of albums in the 80s, a dark, dismal period for most rock stars of his generation.
“I’m not a natural performer”, he said in the 2002 interview.
Bowie felt uneasy about some of his greatest material, once embarking on a “greatest hits” tour saying it would be the last time performing much of his old material.
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Such was Bowie’s unique style that by 1992, when he married Somali-American fashion model Iman, his “relationship to fashion had already been sealed long before”, according to prominent fashion blogger Diane Pernet. He had two children – Duncan Jones and Alexandria Zahra Jones – one with each wife. “He changed the music”. “As well as being a wonderful and kind man, he was an extraordinary artist, and a true original…”
