David Bowie passed away (15 photos). David Bowie passed away (15 photos) David Bowie passed away

A shock to all fans of rock music, cinema and art in general was the news that director Duncan Jones shared with the world. At the age of seventy, just three days ago celebrating his 69th birthday, his father, a legendary man, musician, actor and producer, died - David Bowie .

David Robert Jones(this is the name given to the future star at birth) showed extraordinary abilities in music and acting, without even taking on a capacious and hooligan pseudonym Bowie- in honor of the Louisiana adventurer and revolutionary James Bowie. And although the young singer’s early experiments in mixing several genres were not successful, the views of critics and the public were already riveted on the young man, who was not afraid to appear on stage in the image of a skinny alien Ziggy Stardust or exhausted White Duke. The art freak proved with all his appearance that he didn’t care about boundaries and prohibitions, that for him there were no compromises or conventions, and on stage his powers became almost limitless.

It is not surprising that the artist, who was prone to theatricalization of his performances, which he stuffed with intricate choreographic inserts and visual effects, Bowie The film industry was not spared either. Certainly, David will go down in history primarily thanks to his revolutionary musical masterpieces, which in some years the prolific author released in dozens. However, those who have ever seen Bowie on the screen, he would not dare to say that this area of ​​his activity was a side one.

It is very symbolic that the first full-fledged film work for David became a role in the film “The Man Who Fell to Earth”. By the way, for her 1977 the actor received the award Saturn" But perhaps his most famous images for a wide audience are the vampire John from "Hunger" Pontius Pilate from "The Last Temptation of Christ", FBI Agent Philip Jeffries from Twin Peaks: Fire Follow Me, pop artist Andy Warhol from Basquiat, physicist Nikola Tesla from The Prestige and, of course, the Goblin King Jareth from "Labyrinth". It is not known where the professionals in charge of various awards were looking - from David in the last of these films you just can’t take your eyes off it. With his magnetic gaze, cat-like grace and voice that penetrates the heart (the musician composed and performed several compositions especially for the film), he frightens and enchants at the same time. However, as in most of his performances.

Cinephiles will remember and Bowie-composer of soundtracks - his songs sounded in 452 tapes, and in 1983 he was nominated for " Golden Globe"for the musical accompaniment to the fantasy drama "Cat People". In addition, hits like “ Space Oddity”, “Heroes”, “Life on Mars?”, “Fame”, “Ashes to Ashes" And " Young Americans” still haunt film makers and are chosen by them without hesitation as a win-win sound decoration for their projects.

With reference to the musician’s press service, and was later confirmed on the official Facebook. “Bowie passed away peacefully today after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. We understand that many of you are experiencing this loss, but we ask you not to disturb the family at this sad time,” the message said.

Actor, producer, artist, poet, musician - Bowie was a person and artist who is incredibly difficult to overestimate; rather, on the contrary, there is a great danger of forgetting or not taking into account something important.

To make it clearer: in recent weeks, a website has become popular where anyone can enter their age and find out what David Bowie was doing during these years. The most active users are already complaining of depression caused by understanding the emptiness of their existence.

And yet. David Robert Jones was born in Brixton, London. Choreography teachers noted nine-year-old David's unusual abilities for music and choreography, and then he heard Elvis and Little Richard and began buying vinyl records of rock and roll. Bowie's pseudonym appeared in 1966 - it was then that his single “Can't Keep Thinking About Me” was released. Jones became Bowie both to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from The Monkees, and out of love for Mick Jagger, who was then just starting out: “jagger” "- knife translated from Old English, "Bowie" is a model of an army knife, named after the Louisiana adventurer and revolutionary James Bowie.

The first album, called "David Bowie", was released in 1967 and did not gain much success. David, who managed to be a vocalist in several rhythm and blues groups, on his debut solo album immediately embarked on experiments in mixing the manner of pop crooners like, theatricality, psychedelia and folk. The mixture was crude, but two years later it sprouted in the form of the first masterpiece, “Space Oddity,” a song about the infinity of the universe and cosmic loneliness that became an instant classic.

Another - the most ambitious - breakthrough happened three years later, when the album “The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars” was released.

Bowie not only reincarnated himself into an absolutely organic image of an alien, he combined his achievements in the field of music, choreography and visual effects into one, making visitors to rock concerts believe that the possibilities of a person on stage are virtually limitless. From a musical point of view, "Ziggy Stardust" along with the recordings became the most important milestone of glam rock, which to this day remains one of the favorite musical styles of art freaks around the world. And most importantly, Bowie managed to remind us of the true meaning of the word “artist” - a person of art who is not tied to a specific type of art. In the following decades, he invariably only confirmed this status, expanding the sphere of cultural influence for reasons of personal interest and craving for experimentation.

The main occupation all these years, of course, remained music.

Bowie said that the desire to change identities, for which he earned the title of rock chameleon, was always an internal need, a reflection of his spiritual movements.

The same as changing cities: from London the artist moved to the USA, from where, driven by the fight against drug addiction, he fled to Berlin. And then back to New York, where he lived in recent years.

A number of serious studies have already been devoted to the images that Bowie created on stage over many years: after Ziggy, the skinny hero of soul and funk of the era of the Young Americans album, the Gaunt White Duke (“Station to Station”), an equal member of the Tin quartet, took the stage Machine, industrial decadent (“Outside”) and man without age from the last tours with the albums “Heathen”, “Hours” and “Reality”.

In 2004, the tour in support of the album “Reality” was interrupted due to a heart attack, which David suffered on stage at the German Hurricane Festival. After the emergency operation, the musician did not resume touring and in subsequent years only occasionally appeared as a guest - mainly in the company of his young favorites like Arcade Fire or TV On The Radio. In one of his interviews, Bowie said that he always felt like an outsider and never a hero of show business, a character in the pop party. In recent years, he has fully confirmed these words, almost never appearing at public events, with the rarest exceptions like the premieres of his son’s paintings (named Zoe Bowie at birth).

On his 66th birthday, January 8, 2013, David broke his years of silence as suddenly as he disappeared from the radar.

A video for the new song “Where Are We Now” appeared online, and in March of the same year the album “The Next Day” was released, almost unanimously accepted by critics and fans as Bowie’s return to the game. Nevertheless, the artist fundamentally refused to tour and do interviews, appearing only in a few music videos for songs from the record.

The announcement at the end of 2015 of the release of a new, 28th album, entitled Blackstar, was just as surprising, especially considering that it had previously been reported that Bowie was engrossed in writing songs for the musical Lazarus, which premiered in December at Broadway. The album, which was the last for the musician, was recorded with the participation of several New York jazzmen and has already been recognized by critics as one of the best in the musician’s discography, the most avant-garde and daring in many years. When the record was released, just a couple of days ago, following the eerie video for the song “Lazarus” with Bowie chained to a hospital bed, no one (except David himself) could imagine that this work would be the last for the great musician.

The musician’s passing made us remember his travels to Russia

His death clearly took everyone by surprise. The musician's illness was a secret to the public, and Bowie himself had long lived with the reputation of a man who, like a cat, would have at least nine lives. Eleven years ago he suffered a heart attack and a complex operation, but even after that he looked, in his own words, like “a mere mortal, but with the makings of a superman.”

Bowie's new album gave his fans hopes of touring that had been absent for years, but instead Blackstar, released on the musician's 69th birthday and two days before his death, served as a farewell gesture. And it also turned out in the spirit of Bowie. There are only seven songs, but there is a lot of room for imagination. Industrial and airy folk, jazz and hip-hop, surrealism and clarity of melodies. Only Bowie could put it all together, and it's sad that this is the last time he's done it.

Musicians and experts about Bowie

Alexander Kushnir, music producer and writer : “Bowie was an artist to the core, thinking not only about music and lyrics, but also about visuals and image. He was often called a “chameleon of the new wave” because he foresaw styles: he was one of the pioneers of glam rock, then switched to “semi-punk”, experimented with triphop and electronics.

David started when the Beatles actually broke up. I see a sacred, metaphysical meaning in this, a passing of the baton. At this moment, at the turn of 1969–1970, two new artists appeared on the scene - Elton John and David Bowie. One era has ended and another has begun.

David was perhaps the only Western artist who did not support communism, who in the 20th century tried to love Russia with both his mind and heart. These are not just nice words. Everyone knows the story when in three weeks he crossed our entire country from the Far East to the Trans-Siberian Express, observing either the tundra or the taiga through the window.

This is all Bowie: the purpose of such an act was solely emotions and impressions. When the train stopped in (then Sverdlovsk), David decided to take a photo with the local police, almost ending up in the police station. It is paradoxical that the artist was saved by half-conductor-half-KGB women who let him onto the departing train. The first date ended with a visit to Red Square. The story of the trip was not advertised in any way, because at that time there was no particular love for the USSR in the West. David traveled solely for himself, for personal experience. Photos preserved from the trip began to surface only decades later.

In 1996, at the David Bowie concert in the Kremlin, the “party elite” occupied the front rows. The hall was dead and cold. They say that when the artist then entered the dressing room, he almost cried and said that he would never return to Russia. He tried his best to love and understand our country, but he failed.

Nevertheless, he had a huge influence on some Russian musicians. For example, Grebenshchikov’s early texts were written with an eye to the works of Bob Dylan and David Bowie.”

Philip Soloviev (“NonAdaptants”) : “Within the genre in which we work, the influence of David Bowie on our work cannot be ignored. I have always had an ambiguous attitude towards him, although he occupied a special place in my life. The image of the androgyne on the stage in the 1970s, erasing the gender hierarchy, was truly revolutionary for that time.

His most significant works for me were the components of the “Berlin Trilogy” (a series of albums David Bowie recorded in collaboration with Brian Eno in the late 1970s), especially the album “Heroes”, which also featured King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. This is a kind of peak of David Bowie's creativity as an artist.

His main influence on the era is that he, combining in his work the musical and poetic techniques of Syd Barrett and the Velvet Underground, was a conductor and popularizer of the underground trends of the late 60s in mass culture. Thus, he made a revolution, making contemporary art of that time accessible to a wide audience, and not just to the discerning public!

Ruslana Sultanova (A la Ru) : “A lot is connected to the work of David Bowie for me. His music, lifestyle, boundless talent taught not to be afraid of experiments, inspired actions, launched some kind of electrical charges that helped not to give up in his work.

Every concert, every change in his style was an incredible experience that could even raise my temperature. He is a show in himself, a real musician and artist, someone who has the right to stand on stage and do whatever he wants with us.

He passed away so beautifully that there are no words, two days after he released a stunning album on his birthday, which became the last in his discography and the first in many years. This is all David, “a mere mortal with the makings of a superman,” who is still alive and will live for a long time, because of the music, because of Bowie.”

Gaya Harutyunyan (“Children of Picasso”) : “Have you noticed that the greats leave in packs? I discovered Bowie late. Only a couple of years ago I began to hear and understand him. He simply followed the path of Pablo Picasso. All the time it was reset and updated, searched and did not fade, put on new masks and selected new roles.

His androgynous voice and stage persona both repelled and attracted me. I think the sign of a great artist is his sphere of influence. For several decades, almost half a century, he watered his favorite tree called Glam Rock and influenced several generations of musicians.

Even Nirvana wrote a great cover of his song The Man Who Sold The World, and his collaborations with Iggy Pop and Freddie Mercury are still very relevant today. I think Bowie's passing is as beautiful and eccentric as his life.

Knowing that he has little time left, he performs 3 actions in a row: celebrates his birthday, releases a new album and... dies. And I’m sure that his new album Black Star, to which he attracted jazz musicians from , will entail a whole echelon of similar free jazz experiments in the world.”