Identified in posts on social media platforms including X (archived) and Facebook (archived) as "David Bowie's Last Letter," the text described the process of recording "Blackstar," the final album Bowie released during his lifetime, which hit shelves on Jan. 8, 2016 — two days before the musician died, reportedly from liver cancer, on Jan. 10, 2016. Several lines from the letter appeared to reference the lyrics of "Lazarus," a single from that album.
BBC reveals in a new documentary, David Bowie: The Last Five Years, that the star, who died Jan. 10, 2016 just after Blackstar came out, found out his cancer was terminal while filming the music video for “Lazarus.”
However, there was no concrete evidence that Bowie was the letter's author.
At the time of this writing, no sign of the letter appeared on any social media account officially associated with Bowie or his estate. We also found no coverage of the letter from reputable news outlets — something we would expect to find if the letter was genuine.
I will die… I know there are only a few months left until the end of my earthly journey…
What should I do? Despair, sink into depression, reject the idea of death, and pretend the illness doesn’t exist?
Or should I decide to defeat death… I decide it with my soul because only the soul and the heart give me the inspiration to compose music, as I’ve done for 50 years…
I count the hours I have left, and as the doctors tell me, I can predict, within a certain margin, the date of my death. The release of my last work is scheduled for January 8, 2016, my 69th birthday.
I work day and night; I have the time to compose, perfect, perform, record in the studio, and make videos… I do it as quickly as possible because I don’t want my face to show the mark of death, which mockingly is cutting down my body without me being able to defend myself…
But I challenge you, death… To hell with it if I don’t challenge you!
I challenged and conquered the world of fans in the ‘70s with the pride of ambiguity… I loved men and women; I was a man, a woman, an alien, and finally, a celestial body.
What can you do, death, against my eternity, my genius, my madness, my creativity, my music that will live forever?
I am Lazarus, torn from the scars. I will die in the body, but I will live forever through my music.
I lived long enough to receive birthday wishes. I thought I wouldn’t make it to see my album released… I survived January 8… And you, my dear killer, lost!
Just think, if you hadn’t knocked on my door, I would have created 24 works; I would have managed to live to 100, and instead, thanks to you, I have 25!
You know… I will be free as a bird.
David Bowie wrote a reflective letter to his old friend Gary Oldman in 2016 to tell him of his terminal cancer diagnosis, with the star cracking jokes until the very end.
"He wrote me an email and he said: ‘I’ve got some good news, I’ve got some bad news’,” said Oldman. “He wrote: ‘the bad news is I’ve got the big C’.
“And underneath he wrote: ‘the good news is I got my cheekbones back’, which I thought was just really dark and really sweet and funny of him.”
Pat Metheny: "David Bowie? He wasn't brilliant, he was beyond".
"I didn't know who Bowie was when we did 'This Is Not America'. I bought his records, got to know him and understood".
