Duran Duran have paid tribute to the late David Bowie, calling the musician the “reason they started writing songs”.
The group led an A-list line-up of stars who honoured Bowie on Friday, January 8th – what would have been his 75th birthday – during the A Bowie Celebration: Just For One Day celebration.
They delivered a poignant performance of his classic hit, Five Years – less than 48 hours before the fifth anniversary of his passing – and, in a statement, frontman Simon Le Bon admitted the song is very important to him.
Explaining the significance of the track to himself and bandmates Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor, he shared: “My life as a teenager was all about David Bowie.
“He is the reason why I started writing songs. Part of me still can’t believe in his death five years ago, but maybe that’s because there’s a part of me where he’s still alive and always will be.
“When we got the Ziggy Stardust LP and put the needle in the groove, our first taste of its perfection was the song Five Years.
“I can’t begin to explain how honoured I feel for Duran Duran to be given the opportunity to perform (for) this icon, and to place our name alongside Bowie’s for this commemoration of his music,” he told People.
Stars including Boy George, Rick Wakeman, Gary Barlow, Peter Frampton and Macy Gray also performed during the special virtual event, which was organised by Bowie’s long-time keyboard player, Mike Garson, who fronted a house band made up of musicians who played with the Life on Mars hitmaker throughout his career.
It comes as one of Bowie’s final collaborators, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, revealed his last album, Blackstar, may not contain his final recordings.
He explained: “There is the narrative of Blackstar being this farewell, which I totally get.
“But that co-exists with the fact that he was just so creative. He was planning on doing more.”
He added: “He was working on new music and he wanted to record in January.”
It is unclear if any recordings had been completed for the mystery album before Bowie passed away.
