(Photo by Mark Weiss)
A man so out of time and place, he created his own and changed all of ours. And he did it again, and again, and again.
But no more. The singular rockstar outcast, David Bowie, has given us his last breath. His final costume change came just a few days ago, on his 69th birthday, for his album Blackstar—his ‘parting gift’ to fans, according to longtime collaborator Tony Visconti.
A man never died with such style.
Many know Bowie as a man of hits. “Fame,” with John Lennon. “Under Pressure,” with Queen. “Space Oddity,” “Let’s Dance,” “China Girl,” and so on. But this majestic chameleon, who had worn so many faces over the last fifty years of pop music, was for the outsiders. And not just the geeks who argue which record was the best of his Berlin Trilogy or the fans who grew up on Labyrinth and fell in love with his seemingly endless and fabulous wardrobe.
Bowie was for everyone, but he truly spoke to the alienated, the uncomfortable, the weird and the strange among us. He wore his fantasies, feelings and failings in his personas—Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, Aladdin Sane, The Man Who Sold The World. He was an icon for alternative lifestyles, alternative thinking, alternative being. A man defined by change.
If you wanted to be weird, David Bowie was there with you. You were not alone.
It’s impossible to imagine the ‘70s and ‘80s without David Bowie, and through his tremendous influence, popular music and entertaining has never been the same since. Few artists command the respect that Bowie earned throughout his life, one that could never be summarized in so few paragraphs.
He was more than a man. He was a starman, now gone supernova, whose atoms are now and forever weaved throughout this universe, floating among us always.
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For limited edition, autographed, classic rock photos by Mark Weiss of David Bowie and others, being auctioned to benefit the Light Of Day Foundation during Winterfest 2016, go to charitybuzz.com/lightofday.
