DPM Tharman pays tribute to David Bowie
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam published a poignant Facebook post yesterday, paying tribute to the recently deceased music icon David Bowie.
In his post, DPM Tharman hailed Bowie, who died after an 18-month battle with cancer, as the ‘musical genius of a generation’.
He also noted that Bowie’s 1969 hit song, Space Oddity, was played by the BBC when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon that same year.
As at 7am on Wednesday (Jan 12), his post had garnered about 1269 likes, 136 shares and 47 comments.
DPM Tharman is one many Singaporeans who were left reeling after the death of the British musician. In interviews with Yahoo Singapore, singer-songwriter Kevin Mathews and DJ Chris Ho both admitted they cried when hearing the news.
Bowie was no stranger to Singapore, having performed here twice - in 1983 and again in 2004. The singer also appeared in a video with a local taxi driver as part of the 1984 documentary, ‘Ricochet’. In the video, Bowie and the taxi driver discuss things like Singapore’s chewing gum ban and stance against drug offences.
The documentary was shot as part of the singer’s ‘Serious Moonlight’ concert tour of Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Bowie’s death came mere days after the release of his latest studio album, Blackstar, which had been critically acclaimed.
