Tony Visconti on Grieving for David Bowie One Year After Death
David Bowie‘s longtime collaborator Tony Visconti honored the late musician on the anniversary of his death, writing on Facebook, “He was a legend in his lifetime and he will be a legend until the end of time. But he was my friend too. I miss him dearly.”
Visconti recalled the flurry of text messages he received at two o’clock in the morning last January 10th. Messages he “had been dreading for a year.” Having just played a show with his band Holy Holy, Visconti said he fell back asleep and only the next morning did the news truly sink in, when he was woken up by his bandmates, who had been unaware of Bowie’s battle with cancer.
“Looking back a year I realize I was so fortunate I was with my band when the news broke,” Visconti said. “If I was on my own I would have been totally devastated, totally.” That night, despite the news, Holy Holy played a special show in Toronto “to celebrate our dear friend’s life together (rather than scatter to the four winds in our own private grief – that would come later, of course).”
“I’ve been through every stage of grief in the past 365 days, including anger. Of course, he never left us in spirit. We are fortunate to have lived in the same time as him. We’ve seen him, we’ve heard him sing and speak, we’ve hugged him, we’ve worshipped him and we are constantly reminded of him daily.”
Visconti also touched on the making of Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, which was released two days before his death. Even though he was sick, Visconti said Bowie was “so vibrant and creative” throughout the last year of his life.
“Making Blackstar wasn’t a haphazard affair, we knew every minute we were making something akin to constructing a Gothic cathedral,” he said. “David was so happy and energetic making The Next Day but on Blackstar he was so much stronger, more positive and bursting with creativity.”