As of writing this on the 8th of January, it’s what would have been late Rock, Pop and Teen icon David Bowie’s 74th birthday. 

David Robert Jones, later David Bowie (1947-2016) was one of the most influential and prolific musicians of the 20th and 21st century; his erratic, ever changing set of personas and constantly evolving sound (leading to many dubbing him the “musical chameleon” and such,) have cemented him as one of the greatest music artists in his respective scenes. 

Bowie was an artist foremost, working as a musician, playwright, actor and activist. Rolling Stones Magazine posthumously named him the “Greatest Rockstar to Ever Live” though Bowie was so much more than that. It’s for these reasons that I’ll be writing a larger bio-piece detailing the highlights of his career and Bowie’s influence across the globe (and on me,) (stay tuned)! 

The majority of Bowie’s work was produced in the 1970’s, though this hasn’t prevented his work from reaching a younger audience, his popularity always growing. Your parents might best remember him because of classics such as “Space Oddity”, “Let’s Dance” and “Under Pressure”. Today’s youth might appreciate him for songs like “Changes”, “Starman” and “Heroes” (the latter of which is a teenage-angst love-anthem). 

Bowie passed on the 10th of January back in 2016 after a short-lived battle with liver cancer. This was two days after his birthday, having released his final album Blackstar on the 8th as well. He is survived by his wife Iman and his two children, one of which is film director Duncan Jones. 

David Bowie’s passing was one of the biggest losses in music history, as he’s absolutely legendary in the industry and amongst his millions of fans (it’s hard not to be when you’ve sold 140+ million records). He will be missed dearly, the five year mark maintaining its importance as it’s the name of one of his songs as well as the commonly used name for broadcasted biopics on the artist. 

On another note, I’m not saying that David Bowie was holding the universe together; it’s just conjecture on my part, but it did seem like everything went downhill after he passed.