Christine and I were best friends our freshman year in high school, and one day she played a David Bowie record for me. Of course I knew who David Bowie was, who hadn’t heard his music in 1982? But I had never actually listened to his music until that day when I was 15, lying on the floor of my friend’s bedroom. Her room was decorated with Bowie posters and she explained why she loved him so much. After then, I did too.

Here is one song I fell in love with. His voice is brilliant.

Before then, I knew David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, a bewitching gender-bending artist I listened to as a kid in the 1970’s.

David Bowie’s artistry, voice, creativity and innovation earned my respect. He stood by his work and continued to push the boundaries of art, gender, and music. Never one to just settle on his laurels and make cash, as some musicians do when they reach a certain level of “legend,” David Bowie continued to create art. He was one of the greatest artists of the 20th and early 21st Centuries.

Thank you Mr. Bowie for sharing your genius. And thank you Christine for sharing his music with me.

I wish you had more time, David Bowie. Imagine what you could have created.

I hate cancer.