It's DAVID BOWIE week

Brief encounters from my Introduction to the Thin Black Book.

It’s what has come to be called David Bowie week as, perfectly orchestrated, nine years ago he released Black Star the same day as he turned 69 years old…then succumbed to liver cancer two days later. In a cultural climate more used to learning about rock stars and musicians quietly reaching the end of the line when it had been expected, or going out in a hazy blaze of drugs or booze, or some kind of accident, Bowie went after leaving his millions of devoted followers an album he recorded when he knew it would be his last; one of the best he ever made with two stunning videos to trailer it. His death came as a major shock. I remember that morning, hearing her crying while I sat downstairs sitting in the tiny medieval Essex cottage I shared with Helen before she was also claimed by cancer two years later. “David Bowie’s dead,’ she finally said and social media was ablaze.