Ground Control To The Late Major Tom.

More sad news, music fans. David Bowie, one of the most iconic rock legends is dead at 69.

He was born David Jones in 1947. Due to the fact that he shared his name with Davey Jones of The Monkees, he changed it to David Bowie in the mid 1960's. Under that moniker, he recorded classics like "Space Oddity," "Changes," "Fame," "Golden Years," "Let's Dance," and lest we forget, "Under Pressure," and "Dancing In The Streets," duets with Queen and Mick Jagger respectively. Another duet, a medley of "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth," he recorded with.... Bing Crosby!

He also starred in a number of movies, most notably "The Man Who Fell To Earth," "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," and "Labyrinth." Most recently, he had just completed his latest album, so his death comes as a complete and total shock.

RIP, Mr. Bowie, AKA Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, and so on. You will be terribly missed.

Lovely tribute and a total shock. Had the pleasure of seeing David Bowie on Broadway in 1980 when he starred in The Elephant Man. His current release at the time was "Scary Monsters" and I think his playing John Merrick was a personal exploration for him. He was absolutely brilliant. It was Christmas and at the show's end, we were all crying. I'm feeling that way now. RIP, Starman, Ziggy, Thin White Duke. What a beautiful stack of work you've left for us. Just can't believe it.

I woke up this morning to find the headline "Remembering David Bowie" on channel 2 and was puzzled. He had just recently turned 69 and had put out a new album--in fact there were some very recent music videos of his uploaded onto youtube. Surely this was merely a stunt of his, to have us remember him as if he had died--after all he was rather eccentric. However, I then saw that he had indeed died--and it was of cancer. Now this came as a shock unlike most celebrities where you are certain they are going to pass away at some point or have disclosed that they were battling a serious illness.

My father and I both agree he wrote some great music. I'd watch Labyrinth as a tribute to him (I have never seen the movie) but I fear that I will end up oogling him onscreen which may not be too respectful. As for my mother, she mentioned that she usually mixed him up with Rod Stewardt which is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Now if it was Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow, I'd be far more accepting of this mistake.