'David, we love you and we thank you'
Andrew Trendell

10:03 25th February 2016

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David Bowie was honoured at last night's BRIT Awards, were he received the Icon Award in the wake of his death before a beautiful performance from Lorde and moving speeches from Gary Oldman and Annie Lennox. Check it out below. 

Before Lorde took to the stage to perform 'Life On Mars' with Bowie's old live band, the Thin White Duke's old friends and collaborators, singer Annie Lennox and actor Gary Oldman, remembered him. 

Oldman, who starred in Bowie's video for 'The Next Day', spoke of Bowie's impact on the world and remembered his final days. 

"We are all coming to terms with the magnitude of David's passing," began Oldman. "The Jones family lost a husband and a father, those closest to David lost a dear friend, and the world lost a man - an artist - of transcendent talent."

He added, "Over his career, David challenged and changed our understanding of the medium. In his very unique way, he also reminded us to never take ourselves too seriously. David was funny. He was funny, hilariously so, and the laughs were many and massive, and I shall miss them."

"A few years ago, we were standing on the street corner and he was approached by this big fella, rocker type, and he offered up this piece of paper for David's autograph. David signed the piece of paper, and as he walked away, he said, 'He's gonna be disappointed. I just signed it Gary Oldman."

Oldman went on: "In recent years, David sparingly spoke about music and his process; but in one of these rare instances, he graciously and elegantly expounded," he said before quoting Bowie: "'Music has given me over 40 years of extraordinary experiences. I can't say that life's pains or more tragic episodes have been diminished because of it, but it has allowed me so many moments of companionship when I have been lonely and sublime means of communications when I have wanted to touch people. It has been my doorway of perception and the house that I live in.

"Over his career, David challenged and changed our understanding of the medium, whether in music or life, he emphasized originality, experimentation, exploration, and in his very unique way, he also reminded us to never take ourselves too seriously." 

Speaking of his final days, Oldman added: "I can share with you that David faced his illness with enormous courage, dignity, grace and customary humour, even in dire circumstances. When he wrote to tell me the bad news that he had cancer, he added, 'The good news is I've got my cheekbones back.' He was the sweetest soul ever, with the best cheekbones, until it was done. David, we love you and we thank you."

"On the 10th January this year, the world was stunned and shaken by the news that David Bowie had suddenly passed away," said Annie Lennox, introducing Bowie's Icon award. "I suspect that everyone is still trying to proess this sadly unexpected event. Even if they didn't know him personally, many people must feel as if things will never be quite the same agian. He had that special kind of significance. For me it's almost impossible to mention Bowie's name in the past tense. Everything he was as an artist is, and always will be, vital and incredibly present."

She added, "David Bowie is deeply embedded in the heart of British culture, a fixture in the heart of our collective psyche... Like the miraculous moon landing that inspired the song, he drew us away from our suburban lives, turning everything on its head into subversive technicolour. There was no-one and nothing else like him. He was truly unique."

She concluded, "The legacy of his extraordinary sound and vision will be loved and revered for as long as the earth still spins."

Since the show, David Bowie's son and acclaimed film director has spoken out in praise of the tribute - a week after he slammed Lady Gaga's Bowie remembrance at the Grammy's as 'mentally confused'.

  • Paul Weller: Credited David Bowie as being a major influence on his album Wake Up The Nation. He told NME: "'Low', which is the first of his Berlin albums, has always been my favourite record, and even more so recently the more I've listened to it. I think that slightly experimental edge of that record is in the music that I'm making currently."

  • Mark Ronson: The DJ will never forget the first time he saw the pop icon. He told NME: "I remember seeing him one time when I was playing bass in a friend's band who opened for The Strokes. He stood and watched from the side of the stage. He was anointing the new coolest kids."

  • Arctic Monkeys: Frontman Alex Turner said Bowie inspired the band's Suck It And See record. He said: "I wanted a good song foundation on this one, so that meant listening to Nick Cave, Lou Reed, [David] Bowie, Leonard Cohen. And then as it went in and we put it through the mill of the band, other influences came into it, but I started with that to try and craft songs better."

  • Lady Gaga: The pop singer cited Bowie's fashion and style as her sole reason for dressing so outrageously. She said: "David Bowie is my influence." We've contacted him for comment on the meat dress.

  • Marilyn Manson: "Today there seems to be a lack of icons and rock stars in general," said Manson. "When I grew up, there was David Bowie and Iggy Pop — people who had something to say and had quite an impact on music and society."

  • The Killers: Speaking to NME, frontman Brandon Flowers said Bowie's music "changed my life" and it's easy to spot his grubby fingerprints all over his solo records.

  • Motley Crue: Bassist Nikki Sixx recently congratulated Bowie on reaching 66. The rocker tweeted: "Happy 66th birthday to one of my all time musical hero's David Bowie." What do you buy Bowie for his birthday?

  • Boy George: The singer seems to always have been influenced by Bowie's other persona, Ziggy Stardust. Boy George was thrilled to see him return. He tweeted: "Bowie's new song has made me cry! Happy tears of course!"

  • The Charlatans: Frontman Tim Burgess also took to Twitter to show his appreciation for the return of an icon. He wrote: "Happy Birthday David Bowie. One of the most out there groovy inspirational people ever to have graced our world."

  • U2: Lead singer Bono believes U2 wouldn't even be around if it wasn't for the Thin White Duke. He told Rolling stone: "It's not exaggerating to say what Elvis meant to America, David Bowie meant to the UK and Ireland. It was that radical a shift in consciousness."

  • The Smiths: Guitarist Johnny Marr once wrote a guest article about the influence of the singer. He write: "David Bowie is easily the most influential and important artist to come out of the UK, for so many reasons - there are musicians who are influenced by him who don't even realise it."

  • Adam Lambert: The American singer revealed he is inspired by a lot of British artists. He told the Daily Star: "A lot of my male vocal influences are British - people like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant. Those are the people I really gravitate towards."

  • Nine Inch Nails: In 1995, Trent Reznor and his band, Nine Inch Nails hit the road with his lifelong hero, David Bowie. Reznor decided to bring Bowie on stage towards the end of the group's set for a few duets that led into Bowie's headlining set.

  • Madonna: Madge once accepted an award for David Bowie and her speech was a complete homage to the star. She said: "Before I saw David Bowie live, I was just your normal, dysfunctional, rebellious teenager from the Midwest, and he has truly changed my life. I’ve always had a sentimental attachment to David Bowie."

  • Depeche Mode: The trio can be likened to Bowie for their fashion sense and there is clearly a mutual respect as Depeche Mode have covered Bowie's tracks on a number of occasions.

  • Queen: Queen were lucky enough to be David Bowie's first collaboration with another artist. They released 'Under Pressure' which went to No.1 in the UK Singles Chart.

  • Moby: When Moby's voice was once compared loosely to Bowie's, he said: "I just laugh at that because I don’t think I have a very good voice and I think David Bowie has one of the best, most interesting voices ever."

  • Placebo: The band's Battle For The Sun album was widely considered as a 'David Bowie inspired album.' Placebo opened several concerts for David Bowie in Italy, France, and Switzerland as part of his Outside Tour after he had only heard one of their demos. Bowie also invited the trio to play at his 50th birthday at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1997.

  • The Cure: Frontman, Robert Smith and David Bowie became good friends. Smith once described Bowie's Low as the best record ever made. He gushed: "Low was the album that had a huge impact on me, just how I saw sound. No other album has done that to me."

  • Pixies: Bowie has said that the music Pixies' produced was "the most compelling music in the entire 80s." Pixies frontman, Frank Black returned the favour, saying: "So many Bowie tracks have become an international and permanent part of the pop culture. This is a testament to not only great songwriting but beautiful recordings." Isn't it sweet when our favourite artists respect each other?

  • Suede: Lead singer, Brett Anderson told Uncut: "Bowie gave me a strong sense of ambition for the band. There's a sense of him wanting to create something rather than just making a muddy-brown sound. The stuff Eno did with Bowie - Low, 'Heroes' and Lodger - is probably my favourite. I love that period when they're making something together that's out there, but still has a pop sensibility."

  • Klaxons: Guitarist Jamie Reynolds lauded Bowie's ability to not be pinned down into one genre. He told NME: "You couldn't call him indie or rock or dance. He's had so many different periods of experimentation and yet still he's a real pop star with it - that's something special." We couldn't have put it better ourselves.

  • Lou Reed: Best known for being the guitarist for The Velvet Underground, Reed was very close to Bowie. Although they fell-out a few times, like all good friends do from time to time, Bowie's ideas and talent would have undoubtedly rubbed off on Reed.

  • Pulp: Bowie influenced so many different types of sound and Britpop was certainly one of them. For every path that Bowie made for Pulp and Blur, he also enabled the likes of Shed 7 and Dodgy to exist. Remember that.

  • Joy Division + New Order: Members have often spoken of Bowie cultural and sonic impact on both bands. Bowie has a huge influence on Ian Curtis in his teens, and Joy Division were first known as 'Warsaw' - inspired by 'Warsawa' from Bowie's from the incredible Low, which set the template for much of the post-punk movement.

  • Nirvana: Their cover of Bowie's 'Man Who Sold The World' became almost as influential as the original, with raw honesty of Bowie's 60s and 70s work having an incredible impact on a young Cobain. Bowie would later add that he was 'blown away' by Nirvana's cover, and that he would 'have loved to have worked with him'.

  • LCD Soundsystem: James Murphy has been very open about Bowie's influence on his sound - and you can hear it especially on tracks like 'All My Friends' and 'All I Want', both sonically referencing Bowie's Berlin period. Murphy would later be invited to remix Bowie's 'Love is Lost', and he also plays percussion on final album, Blackstar.

  • Arcade Fire: Close friends for much of the last decade, the band owe a great debt to Bowie in terms of the sound and the huge ambition of the world they create through their music. Bowie leant vocals to the title track of 2013's Reflektor, and you need to Youtube them performing 'Five Years' and 'Wake Up' together. Breathtaking.

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