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Updated at 10.38pm
DAVID BOWIE HAS died at the age of 69.
One of the major figures of rock and an influence on generations of musicians, he passed away after a battle with cancer, a publicist confirmed.
“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer,” a statement on Facebook said.
While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.
Bowie, who stopped touring in 2004 following health concerns, had just released his latest album, Blackstar, to hugely positive reviews.
The Guardian called it “urgent, contemporary and elliptical”.
His son, the film director Duncan Jones, tweeted a picture of himself with his father, and the following simple message:
Born David Jones on 8 January 1947, the London singer changed his name in the mid-60s to avoid confusion with the Monkees member of the same name.
His artistic and commercial breakthrough came with 1972′s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which included the songs Starman, Ziggy Stardust and Five Years.
A late addition to the album, Starman entered the UK top ten after Bowie’s iconic appearance on Top of the Pops, and spent 11 weeks in the charts.
Known for his unexpected stylistic and image changes from album to album, Bowie’s title as rock’s greatest ‘chameleon’ became a cliché over the decades.
An influence on and friend of other major figures in rock like Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, his output included glam rock, pop, soul, electronic, art rock, drum n’bass and experimental releases.
The hits are almost too numerous to mention – but include, in no particular order, Changes, Heroes, Let’s Dance, Life on Mars, Rebel Rebel, Ashes to Ashes, Golden Years, Young Americans, China Girl, and The Man Who Sold the World.
He also had a successful, if intermittent, acting career, that included iconic performances in the science fiction film The Man Who Fell to Earth and the Jim Henson fantasy epic Labyrinth.
Hiatus and triumphant return
The star began a prolonged career hiatus after a health emergency on tour in 2004: he underwent an emergency angioplasty after a concert in Prague.
There were some appearances and acting gigs in the decade that followed – like his performance with Arcade Fire at the televised Fashion Rocks event, and a memorable showing in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.
He eventually faded away further from public view, his once-busy website going unattended, leading to speculation that he was ill or had simply chosen to retire.
In January 2013, however, on his 66th birthday, the website sprang back into life and a new album The Next Day was announced, earning hugely positive reviews.
It sparked a renewed interest in the singer – and an exhibition of artefacts, ‘David Bowie is’ was sold-out for months at Victoria and Albert Museum in London before touring the world.
Originally published at 7am
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this whole “my bill is bigger than your bill” malarkey is pathetic.
I read as far as the first line of the Green Party bill (after the definitions).
It says “No person shall sell or manufacture products containing micro-beads or add micro-beads to cosmetics, soaps or similar products.”
the rest is just clarification on this ban and how to monitor it.
what more do we need?
@stopit: “Billy waving” i think is what they call it ….
Don’t know why this is taking so long and FF attitude is appalling. Must be because the lizards use the microbeads to get rid of loose scales.
The only reason these exist is because of marketing… plenty of natural exfoliants, silicon, quartz, cellulose that are just as effective. But they just don’t look as attractive as bright blue or orange in the animated representation of the product in use during ads and give it that something extra to make it seem different.
True, and there’s absolutely no doubt that when these were dreamed up by some marketing genius, they were fully aware of the completely pointless environmental destruction they would cause. And they did it anyway. Ban them immediately. Then introduce “more robust” legislation later.
I wouldn’t give marketing execs that much credit, microbeads are far cheaper to produce than exploiting natural exfoliants; environmental impact is often overlooked when taking an existing material in a new application. BTW, unless you’re work in Intel or something I think you mean Silica ;)
Typical FF new politics my arse
FF – “Oh gosh no, we can’t make a decision for ourselves! Lets wait and see what Europe tells us to do”
@William Roche: You mean Merkel lol.
What a bunch of lies FF are telling the greens bill is as comprehensive as it’s possible to be more so than most countries that have enacted bans. The only sense it is restrictive is restricting the further pollution of our Environment pity FF don’t seem to value that.
Surely this should be a worldwide thing if not an EU thing to get this excess plastic out of the environment?
What sort of conscience do these manufacturers have to make this stuff in the first place
***Profit***
Those coffee pods are also an environmental time bomb that nobody talks about!
@Philip Kenna: Who cares about the environmental impact? George Clooney’s gawjus…
The ban should be at European level , you can exfoliate just as well with shower gel and salt or oil and salt mixed together .
Here’s an idea d1kheads in the oireachtas. Why not sit down together and draft legislation that will work instead of the usual one upmanship..
Manufacturers don’t need time to adapt, just stop putting that shit in their products.
Boycott them all until they remove the beads
Shame on Ireland
When will they discuss puppy farming and animal abuse???
I am more worried that something that goes down thee same hole as my faeces and urine ends up in rivers and seas.
Great to see our political parties tackling the urgent, important issues.
@Daisy Chainsaw:
I sense sarcasm, maybe if you took time to understand the issue and the incremental effects these beads can have over time you’d see it as an important issue worthy of government time. You might also see that what’s being reported is a snapshot of why ordinary citizens are disgusted with politics.
@Daisy Chainsaw:
Couldn’t agree more!!!
This is an important issue
@Daisy Chainsaw: It is killing the wildlife that other wildlife feeds on, it is polluting our environment and killing wildlife.
A bulking agent to make a profit on goods, god knows what they are made from but they end up in the rivers and sea as well then in the wildlife.
The type of plastic used in them might effect the hormones in wildlife and in people as I do not think they care what the plastic might be made from. Can you imagine if it was recycled farm plastic waste lol.
I think salt would be better for you than these plastic beads?
Why would they do that?
Darn we’ll be sweating beads of plastic sweat.
I am SO angry about that political fudging. Microbeads are getting into the food chain via seafood/fish. They were recently found in Plankton. No debate, they are a known toxin. Big pharma HAVE to stop their production NOW – end of.
Would some one please tell the Greens to politely F off. They did nothing in power they will do less put of it
have your say