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DEATH OF DAVID BOWIE

MUSIC

Bowie’s old studio opens doors for fan farewell

The former Hansa Studios, where David Bowie spent much of his time in the years he spent in Berlin in the late 1970s, is throwing a party on Friday for his fans in the capital to raise a glass – or just put on the red shoes and dance the blues.

Bowie's old studio opens doors for fan farewell
File photo: DPA

“We are all still shocked and endlessly sad about David's passing and his unsuccessful battle against cancer,” the event organizers wrote on Facebook.

“Only a few days ago we were celebrating David's birthday and Blackstar album release,” at the Meistersaal (formerly Hansa Studio 2), they went on. “Now we have to say goodbye to the true chameleon of pop music.”

Among the guests is sound engineer Eduard Meyer, who worked with Bowie at Hansa Studios during his Berlin period in 1976-9, when the singer produced the albums “Low” (1977), “Heroes” (1977) and “Lodger” (1979).

“Now we're standing here and crying,” he told fans gathered in the Meistersaal.

Fans are invited along all afternoon on Friday to “say goodbye to David Bowie in their own way” at the singer's former haunt.

And by the morning a queue had already formed along the street to join in the memorial.

“You can use the stage to share personal words or memories with us, play his music or just light a candle and think of him together,” organizers wrote.

“We can be heroes, forever and ever!”

Petition for a 'David Bowie Street'

The event is just the latest in a series of moves to commemorate Bowie in the city where he left an indelible mark on culture and consciousness.

Almost 10,000 people had by Friday signed a petition to administrators in the Schöneberg district to rename Hauptstraße, where the rock icon lived with Iggy Pop at number 155, in Bowie's honour.

“There are many Haupstraßen in Berlin, but still no David Bowie Street,” the petition read. “This extraordinary artist has earned a special honour in Berlin.”

SEE ALSO: Berlin pays tribute to dearly departed Bowie

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CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

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