David Bowie dies of cancer aged 69
Singer David Bowie, one of the most influential musicians of his era, has died of cancer at the age of 69.
A statement was issued on his social media accounts, saying he “died peacefully, surrounded by his family” after an “18-month battle with cancer”.
Tributes have been paid from around the world to the “extraordinary artist” whose last album Blackstar was released days ago.
Read more at BBC.co.uk.
LGBT activists, actors, musicians on David Bowie’s towering shadow
First he came out as gay. It was 1972, just five years after Britain decriminalised homosexuality.
Elton John and Freddie Mercury were still in the closet. Boy George and George Michael were still at school. But in an interview with Melody Maker, Bowie, as ever, trailblazed. “I’m gay,” he told the journalist Michael Watts. “And always have been, even when I was David Jones.”
Read more at buzzfeed.com.
Photo By Photographer: Photobra|Adam BielawskiDerivative work: Y2kcrazyjoker4 [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons