Fellow Musicians Pay Tribute to Rock Icon David Bowie Following His Death at Age 69

The world was greeted this Monday morning with some incredibly sad news: rock ‘n roll icon David Bowie had passed away at the age of 69 after an undisclosed 18-month battle with cancer. As the news spread across the globe, some of the music’s biggest and most influential names expressed their sadness through moving tributes. To see this vast number of legendary musicians express their gratitude for Bowie’s career is a testament to his never-ceasing creativity and once-in-a-millennium musical genius.

Longtime collaborator Brian Eno:

“David’s death came as a complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him. I feel a huge gap now.

We knew each other for over 40 years, in a friendship that was always tinged by echoes of Pete and Dud. Over the last few years — with him living in New York and me in London — our connection was by email. We signed off with invented names: some of his were mr showbiz, milton keynes, rhoda borrocks and the duke of ear.

About a year ago we started talking about Outside — the last album we worked on together. We both liked that album a lot and felt that it had fallen through the cracks. We talked about revisiting it, taking it somewhere new. I was looking forward to that.

I received an email from him seven days ago. It was as funny as always, and as surreal, looping through word games and allusions and all the usual stuff we did. It ended with this sentence: ‘Thank you for our good times, brian. they will never rot’. And it was signed ‘Dawn’.

I realise now he was saying goodbye.”

Paul McCartney:

Win Butler of Arcade Fire:

Iggy Pop:

Michael Stipe:

Right now, it feels as if the solar system is off it’s axis, as if one of our main planetary anchors has lost it’s orbit. That said—I am certain that wherever Bowie is now—I want to be there someday.

Mick Jagger:

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter:

We need Bowie. Our culture needs him now more than ever. As a musician, he is a kind of perpetual beacon. I’ll often ask myself when I’m working on a record, What would David Bowie do? He had this ability to explore his influences and things that fascinated him and somehow photograph them through his special Bowie lens and create something totally startling and new.

Smashing Pumpkins:

Jimmy Page:

 U2:

Kendrick Lamar:

Queens of the Stone Age:

El-P of Run the Jewels:

Gerald V. Casale of DEVO:

 
The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle:

Kanye West:

The Pixies:

Mac McCaughan of Superchunk:

Producer Justin Meldahl-Johnsen:

Zola Jesus:

Owen Pallett:

 
Yoko Ono: