The Bowie Bible

David Bowie dies

Joe — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:00:47 +0000

David Bowie died on 10 January 2016 at his apartment at 285 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, New York City. He had been battling liver cancer for the previous 18 months. Bowie’s death came two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his acclaimed final album, Blackstar. Bowie had been diagnosed with cancer in mid 2014. He shared the news with close family members and a small number of friends and collaborators. Among them were Bowie’s friend and long-term producer Tony Visconti, who was told in January 2015, and Ivo van Hove, director of the musical Lazarus. However, many

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Album release: ★ (Blackstar)

Joe — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 09:00:27 +0000

Blackstar, or ★, was David Bowie’s final album and masterpiece. It was released on the singer’s 69th birthday, 8 January 2016, two days before he died. The single ‘Blackstar’ went on sale as a digital download ahead of the album, on 19 November 2015. Already by January 8 they’re going to hear ‘Blackstar’, which isn’t typical of the album but it is typical in the sense that Bowie’s changed again. When ‘Where Are We Now?’ came out I knew that people were almost going to have a heart attack because he’s silent for 10 years, then on the morning of

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Video release: Lazarus

Joe — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 09:00:41 +0000

On 7 January 2016, the day before the release of the Blackstar album, the video for David Bowie’s ‘Lazarus’ premiered. It was just three days before Bowie’s death, and ensured that the song, along with the album’s title track, received much attention when the news broke. The video was directed by Johan Renck, who had done the same for the ‘Blackstar’ video. Renck used an edited version of the song, which reduced the running time from 6:22 to 4:05. I just thought of it as the Biblical tale of Lazarus rising from the bed. In hindsight, he obviously saw it

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Single release: Lazarus

Joe — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 09:00:52 +0000

David Bowie’s ‘Lazarus’ was released as a digital download on 17 December 2015. On the same day, it received its world premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq show. ‘Lazarus’ topped the singles chart in Poland, and entered the top 10 in Belgium, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, and on the USA’s Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart. It reached number 40 in the US Billboard Hot 100, and in the UK it peaked at 45. The video for the song, directed by Johan Renck, premiered on 7 January 2016, the day before the release of the Blackstar album. On 8

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David Bowie attends the Lazarus musical premiere

Joe — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 20:00:51 +0000

David Bowie made his final public appearance at the premiere of the musical Lazarus on 7 December 2015. The event took place at the New York Theatre Workshop, at 79-83 East 4th Street in Manhattan, New York City. The director was Ivo van Hove, and the play starred Michael C Hall, Cristin Milioti, Sophia Anne Caruso and Michael Esper. It was written that he looked so well, so healthy. But behind the podium he collapsed from exhaustion. It was then that I realised that it may be the last time I would see him. I have known for about a

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Single release: ★ (Blackstar)

Joe — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 09:00:25 +0000

David Bowie’s song ★ (‘Blackstar’) was released as a digital download on 19 November 2015, the same day that the video was released on David Bowie’s YouTube and Vevo channels. The song had originally been more than 11 minutes long, but was edited to 9:57 after Bowie and Tony Visconti learned that iTunes would not allow tracks for individual sale that lasted longer than 10 minutes. It’s total bullshit, but David was adamant it be the single, and he didn’t want both an album version and a single version, since that gets confusing. Tony Visconti Rolling Stone, 23 November 2015

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Single release: Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)

Joe — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 09:00:37 +0000

David Bowie’s single ‘Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)’ was released as a digital download on 17 November 2014. It was issued as a 10″ vinyl single on the same day in the United Kingdom, and on the compilation Nothing Has Changed. The song had been premiered on Guy Garvey’s BBC Radio 6 Music show on 12 October. In the USA, a 10″ single with different artwork was issued on 28 November, for the Black Friday version of Record Store Day. The album features Bowie’s first new music since he stunned the world with the critically lauded ‘THE NEXT

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Single release: ’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore

Joe — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 09:00:14 +0000

David Bowie’s demo recording of ‘’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore’ was released as a digital download on 10 November 2014. It received its radio premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music on the morning of 10 November, on Shaun Keaveny’s breakfast show. The song came out one week before the ‘Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)’ single, on which it appeared as a b-side. You know, the song that’s the b-side to ‘Sue’ was ‘’Tis A Pity She Was A Whore’, and that original version of the song – in demo form – was David. He had played

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Album release: The Next Day

Joe — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:00:12 +0000

The Next Day, David Bowie’s 24th and penultimate studio album, was released on 8 March 2013, a full decade after his previous album Reality. The single ‘Where Are We Now?’ was released without promotion or publicity at 5am GMT on the morning of 8 January 2013, Bowie’s 66th birthday. The singer had been mostly out of the public eye since the end of A Reality Tour in 2004, and had not released any new music since the previous year’s Reality. There had been rumours of ill-health and retirement, and expectations of new music were low. The video for ‘Where Are

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Single release: Where Are We Now?

Joe — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:00:03 +0000

David Bowie’s ‘Where Are We Now?’ was released without promotion or publicity on 8 January 2013, Bowie’s 66th birthday. Bowie had been mostly out of the public eye since the end of A Reality Tour in 2004, and had not released any new music since the previous year’s Reality. There had been rumours of ill-health and retirement, and expectations of new music were low. ‘Where Are We Now?’ was released without advance publicity at 5am GMT on the morning of 8 January 2013. The video went live on Bowie’s YouTube and VEVO channels, followed by news of the forthcoming album

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