“Bowie was still writing on his deathbed, you could say”, Mr Van Hove said.
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Visconti produced Bowie’s final album Blackstar, which was released on January 8 – the singer’s 69th birthday. “At that late stage, he was planning the follow-up to Blackstar”, he said. However, Visconti says that in the final weeks of his life Bowie had begin demoing five new songs and that the pair were in discussions about starting a new record.
Illness The musicians who worked with Bowie on jazz-inspired Blackstar have said they had no idea the musician was ill, and Bowie’s family has chosen not to confirm what type of cancer he had, the circumstances around his death or where he died.
Visconti was also aware Blackstar was a parting gift for fans and wrote on his Facebook page following Bowie’s passing: “He always did what he wanted to do”.
Brits boss Max Lousada said the “extraordinary life and work” of the “visionary and ground-breaking” three-time award victor would be celebrated at the ceremony at London’s O2 on February 24.
To only call David Bowie a “rock star” is to paint only a portion of his image, and does a disservice to the enormity of his legendary status as a man who found ways to reinvent himself time and again as the living embodiment of the word “cool”. He fought like a lion and kept working like a lion through it all.
He went into remission and was “optimistic” – but the cancer came back suddenly in November.
On Wednesday, reports said the singer was secretly cremated in the United States without any friends or family present after telling his loved ones that he didn’t want a funeral.
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According to the Daily Mirror, David had told his nearest and dearest, including his 60-year-old wife Iman, that he only wanted to remembered for his music.
