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Jan 11, 2016 David Bowie By Mark Redfern Photography by Jimmy King

David Bowie has died. He passed away yesterday after an 18-month battle with cancer. His death comes as something of a shock, as his cancer diagnosis was not made public and on Friday he just released a critically praised brand new album, Blackstar (styled as ★), which was also Bowie’s 69th birthday. The fact that Bowie released an acclaimed and innovative new album only two days before his death is a testament to Bowie’s long history of pushing boundaries and confounding expectations.

Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947 in South London. He changed is name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davey Jones of The Monkees and his first successful single was the still iconic “Space Oddity,” released on July 11, 1969, only five days before the Apollo 11 launch. In the 1970s we was at the forefront of the glam movement. He had an androgynous look (wearing a dress on the U.K. cover of his 1970-released third album, The Man Who Sold the World) and created the persona of Ziggy Stardust (inspired in part by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop). By 1976 he had a new persona, The Thin White Duke, and the same year he starred in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth. In the late 1970s he recorded the Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno (1977’s Low and “Heroes” and 1979’s Lodger). In the 1980s he went in a more pop direction (such as 1983’s Let’s Dance), did more acting (such as 1983’s The Hunger and 1986’s Labyrinth), and formed the rock band Tin Machine. In the 1990s Bowie embraced electronic dance music (such as on the drum ‘n’ bass incorporating Earthling from 1997). To 2000s were relatively quiet for the musician, with a 10 year gap between 2003’s Reality and 2013’s well-received comeback release, The Next Day. Just last Friday came the release of the jazz influenced Blackstar, which was acclaimed by critics and serves as a fitting finale to one of the true legends of music.

Bowie is survived by his wife, model Iman, and two children: Alexandria “Lexi” Zahra Jones (born in 2000 to Iman) and Duncan Jones (born 1971 to his first wife, Angela Barnett). Duncan Jones is an accomplished film director who made Moon, Source Code, and the upcoming Warcraft. Below is a selection of Bowie videos.