Rock icon David Bowie dies

David Bowie, the British glam rock chameleon whose innovative career lasted five decades and included hits like “Fame,” “Heroes” and “Let’s Dance,” died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer. He was 69.

Born in London as David Robert Jones, he had his first hit with “Space Oddity” in 1969. After a three-year break, he came of age in the early ’70s, when he shape-shifted into the androgynous alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. The stuttering vocals he recorded on the rock hit “Changes” are as infectious today as they were in 1972. More musical mutations followed with “Fame,” a sax-filled track of disco soul co-written with John Lennon, and a trilogy of electronic rock albums produced with Brian Eno.

Bowie’s biggest commercial success came in the early 1980s with the album Let’s Dance, supported by a massive U.S. tour. Other memorable hits included “Under Pressure” (recorded with Queen) and “Ashes to Ashes.”

Biographer David Buckley said Bowie’s reinventions of his style and personas “challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day” and “created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture.”

Regardless of his many makeovers, Bowie said in a 2002 interview his lyrical themes remained consistent: “The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I’ve always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety—all of the high points of one’s life.”

Bowie’s talent wasn’t limited to the music world. He was also a painter and actor. He appeared in the Jim Henson film Labyrinth in 1986 and starred in The Elephant Man on Broadway.

In what is considered one of the oddest pairings in pop music, Bowie joined Bing Crosby onstage in a televised Christmas special to record “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” in 1977. The song has since become a staple for music services during the holidays.

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2002, he ranked 29th in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. (William Wilberforce was ranked 28th.) Rolling Stone placed him 39th in its 2004 list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”

Bowie died two days after the release of a new album, Blackstar, which earned positive reviews from critics. The collection marked another stylistic shift, as he gathered jazz players to join him. On the same day, he released a music video for the new song “Lazarus,” which shows a frail Bowie lying in bed, singing the track’s lyrics. The song begins with the line: “Look up here, I’m in heaven.”

Bowie is survived by his wife, Somali-American model Iman, and their daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones. He also has a son from a previous marriage, Zowie Bowie, who now goes by Duncan Jones.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.