It has been a week of beautiful and heartwarming tributes to the late, great, and iconic David Bowie. The singer, fashion icon, and constant Hollywood presence passed away this week at age 69 from cancer and ever since all of his friends and admirers have been coming out of the woodwork to honor his legacy. Now his longtime friend and peer Elton John has joined in with an intimate but moving performance to remember Bowie.
As Rolling Stone reports, Elton performed a mashup of “Rocket Man” and “Space Oddity” at a recent performance and dedicated it to “the Starman”. It’s not an easy feat to mesh those two songs together and still sound 100% sincere, but if anybody can accomplish it there’s no surprise that it’s Elton.
The “Tiny Dancer” singer also spilled about the way that Bowie influenced his own career. When speaking about finding a producer for his self-titled first album, John admitted:
“The songs were very classically orientated,” … “I didn’t know who I wanted to use. Then I heard a record which blew me away. It’s called ‘Space Oddity.’
Through that connection, he found Gus Dudgeon and Paul Buckmaster, both of which he worked with for a long time to come. Ever humble about his good fortune, John continued:
“I have David Bowie to thank for that amazing collaboration”
There will surely be heaps more tributes and memorials to Bowie as the month goes forward, some amazing and some not so much, but this gesture should rocket right to the top of the list as far as great performances in Bowie’s honor. Anybody lucky enough to be at the show can relay the story of the song and the emotions in the room for years to come. We’ll all miss you,Starman. But at least the string of tributes is helping with the grief.
(Via Rolling Stone)
