David Bowie’s Son Shares Touching Fan Letter to His Father

Director Duncan Jones shares note from doctor praising “Ziggy Stardust” singer both for his music and the way he approached his imminent death

David Bowie performs with a guitar in 2004
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Tributes for David Bowie, who died on January 10 following an 18-month battle with cancer, continue to pour in, including a letter shared by the musician’s son, “Warcraft” director Duncan Jones, on Sunday.

Jones retweeted a lengthy, heartfelt tribute to Bowie written by Dr. Mark Taubert, a palliative care doctor.

In his letter, Taubert praises the singer not just for his music, but for the way Bowie handled his imminent death.

“I am certain you will have had a lot of ideas, expectations, prior decisions and stipulations. These may have been set out clearly in writing, near your bed at home, so that everyone who met you was clear on what you wanted, regardless of your ability to communicate,” Taubert wrote. “It is an area not just palliative care professionals, but in fact all healthcare workers want to provide and improve, so that it is less likely that any sudden health incidents will automatically result in a blue-light ambulance emergency room admission. Especially when people become unable to speak for themselves.”

Bowie died just days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, “Blackstar.” The videos for the title track and for the single “Lazarus” heavily foreshadow the musician’s death, which Taubert acknowledges in his letter.

“I am a palliative care doctor, and what you have done in the time surrounding your death has had a profound effect on me and many people I work with. Your album is strewn with references, hints and allusions,” Taubert wrote. “For me, the fact that your gentle death at home coincided so closely with the release of your album, with its good-bye message, in my mind is unlikely to be coincidence. All of this was carefully planned, to become a work of death art. The video of Lazarus is very deep and many of the scenes will mean different things to us all; for me it is about dealing with the past when you are faced with inevitable death.”

“Blackstar” debuted in the top spot of the Billboard 200 chart for the week ending Jan. 14, making it the singer’s first No. 1 album in the United States.

Jones, whose directing credits include “Moon” and the Jake Gyllenhaal thriller “Source Code,” is currently finishing up Universal’s video game-adaptation “Warcraft,” slated for release on June 10.

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