{"id":68661,"date":"2016-01-11T03:52:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T08:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=68661"},"modified":"2016-01-11T23:53:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T04:53:36","slug":"david-bowie-innovative-iconic-singer-dies-69-battle-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/01\/11\/david-bowie-innovative-iconic-singer-dies-69-battle-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"David Bowie, the innovative and iconic singer, dies at 69 after battle with cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"davidbowie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NEW YORK\u2014David Bowie, the innovative and iconic singer whose illustrious career lasted five decades with hits like \u201cFame,\u201d \u201cHeroes\u201d and \u201cLet’s Dance,\u201d died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 69.<\/p>\n

Representative Steve Martin said early Monday that Bowie died \u201cpeacefully\u201d and was surrounded by family. He had battled cancer for 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief,\u201d the statement read. No more details were provided.<\/p>\n

Bowie turned 69 on Friday, the same day he released a new album called \u201cBlackstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer, who was born David Jones, came of age in the glam rock era of the early 1970s. He had a striking androgynous look in his early days and was known for changing his looks and sounds. The stuttering rock sound of \u201cChanges\u201d gave way to the disco soul of \u201cYoung Americans,\u201d co-written with John Lennon, to a droning collaboration with Brian Eno in Berlin that produced \u201cHeroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had some of his biggest successes in the early 1980s with the stylist \u201cLet’s Dance,\u201d and a massive American tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy entire career, I’ve only really worked with the same subject matter,\u201d Bowie told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. \u201cThe trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety\u2014all of the high points of one’s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a concert for rescue workers after the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, his performance of \u201cHeroes\u201d was a highlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I’m most proud of is that I can’t help but notice that I’ve affected the vocabulary of pop music. For me, frankly, as an artist, that’s the most satisfying thing for the ego.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie kept a low profile in recent years after reportedly suffering a heart attack in the 2000s. He made a moody album three years ago called \u201cThe Next Day\u201d\u2014his first recording in a decade which was made in secret in New York City. \u201cBlackstar,\u201d which earned positive reviews from critics, represented yet another stylistic shift, as he gathered jazz players to join him.<\/p>\n

He felt uneasy about some of his greatest material, once embarking on a \u201cgreatest hits\u201d tour saying it would be the last time performing much of his old material. He later relented, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not a natural performer,\u201d he said in the 2002 interview. \u201cI don’t enjoy performing terribly much. Never have. I can do it and, if my mind’s on the situation, do it quite well. But five or six shows in, I’m dying to get off the road and go back into the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted that Bowie’s death is \u201ca huge loss.\u201d He wrote he had grown up listening to and watching Bowie and called the singer a \u201cmaster of reinvention\u201d and a pop genius who kept on getting it right.<\/p>\n

Kanye West said on Twitter that Bowie \u201cwas one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie was married to international supermodel Iman since 1992.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AP entertainment writer Dave Bauder contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014David Bowie, the innovative and iconic singer whose illustrious career lasted five decades with hits like \u201cFame,\u201d \u201cHeroes\u201d and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,2,106],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-68661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-breaking","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-original","mauthors-mesfin-fekadu","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}