David Bowie 1947-2016.

look up here I am in heaven

The first time in my life I actually cried about the death of an artist.

It feels wrong to mourn someone you've never met, and who doesn't know you exist. And there are no words, often, for this. There will be eulogies and anecdotes. I loved him, in the way that you love a distant relative you are always happy to see.

What's to say? David Bowie is dead, and I am alive, and everything seems weird. When life let me down, when days were difficult, when moments were harder than concrete, I may have felt alone, but I was never alone with David Bowie. Because David Bowie made it more than OK, to be different. He made it right.

David Bowie made it right to do the thing that was right for you.

There was a different Bowie for everyone, and unlike many artists, whose artistic identity was defined in narrow roads, Bowie's work, whatever it was, wasn't eclectic at all ; but the work of a rounded human who showed all his sides. There something in him for everyone.

And now we come to the fact that there is a world without him in it. Every listener, viewer, or reader, everyone has a relationship with the artist ; we bring to their work ourselves, and they bring themselves to the world. We align with what we know. We love strangers, and cry to their songs that unlock emotions, or let us know that it is ok to take the mask off and let go of the weights we carry. David Bowie was a friend I didn't meet, but not a person I didn't know.

“Blackstar” is a record that yesterday sounded like a brave new artistic direction by one of the most fascinating and important artists that has ever been. Today, it sounds like a peaceful, vibrant farewell.

David Bowie always followed his own light, always did what was the right thing to do by his instinct, and I always hoped we would have 20 more years of him, quietly making records, and quietly living a wonderful life surrounded by his friends and family. That was not to be. But what was to be is a world that once had David Bowie in it, and always will, in many ways. May the Blackstar shine.

“Seeing More, And Feeling Less Saying No, And Meaning Yes This Is All I Ever Meant That's The Message That I Sent I Can't Give Everything Away.”