David Bowie’s final album ‘Blackstar’ released just 2 days before death

Iggy Pop, who was also among the long list of artists who collaborated with Bowie, said: “David’s friendship was the light of my life”.

British Prime Minister David Cameron: “Genius is an overused word but I think musically, creatively, artistically David Bowie was a genius”.

Bowie’s wife Iman took to social media to post emotional messages about her husband’s death. He wanted a young person to appear with him. “And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way”.

The Rolling Stones paid tribute to “an extraordinary artist” and a “true original”.

By the ripe old age of 21, the Londoner formerly known as David Jones had already weathered one failed bid for teen-pop stardom – and after studying dance and mime, honing his songwriting skills and reinventing himself for the first of countless times, he was ready to conquer the world. He was married to Angela Bowie between 1970 and 1980, with whom he had a son, the film director Duncan Jones.

Friend and collaborator Brian Eno said: “David’s death came as a complete surprise, as did almost everything else about him”.

“Inspiring us from our earliest days – he continues to inspires us today, as we work on our 18th album”.

Comedian Ricky Gervais, fresh from hosting the Golden Globes on Sunday night, said that David Bowie was a “hero” of his.

“No one had a camera to record that moment, but the memory of it will last forever for us”.

She first encountered him in the movie The Labyrinth when she was five, she said.

As he fought cancer unknown to the world, Bowie, an elusive rock star whose music has been as famously changeable as his image, had remained active, working and launching projects.

Meanwhile on Twitter, 80s music icon Boy George said: “This picture really breaks my heart!”

“At the loss of someone who has impacted and influenced your life, you can hardly begin to measure the shape of what’s left behind”.

Beneath a triumphant Wall of Sound the singer tells us about this pair of nameless lovers who meet for trysts next to that other Wall, this symbol of conflict, division, and totalitarianism.

Breaking down in tears she added: “The stardust is gone”.

A musical changeling, Bowie may have lost fans as he changed his incarnations from Ziggy Stardust to a dance recording star.

Bowie made a number of trips to Scotland, with his last gig coming at the SECC in November 2003. He has truly changed my life. “But even when he was (alter ego) ‘Ziggy Stardust, ‘ it showed me I could dress how I wanted to and just to be myself”. “That was so powerful and influential on what I did”.

In 2013, a company called Fantex Holdings created a security allowing investors to receive a share of an athlete’s income in exchange for an upfront payment, much like the fixed-income securities brought to market by David Bowie two decades ago.

Rodgers said he never asked Bowie about his physical condition. He said: “He provided a soundtrack to our lives, from the first time I heard Space Oddity to the pride of welcoming British athletes at the London Olympics to one of his masterpieces, Heroes”.

A cinema in Brixton replaced the name of the latest film with “David Bowie, Our Brixton Boy R.I.P”. With a macabre backdrop, the song shifts musically several times with Bowie’s voice – in a gentle wail – holding it together.