Paris inaugurates David Bowie street in honor of legendary musician
A Parisian road has been named after David Bowie, with the official inauguration taking place on Monday on what would have been the musician’s 77th birthday.
Rue David Bowie is located next to Austerlitz Station in the 13th arrondissement in the southeast of the French capital, according to a statement from Paris city council.
The musician died in 2016 at the age of 69 following an 18-month battle with cancer.
CNN affiliate BFMTV spoke to fans of Bowie who had gathered at Monday’s inauguration.
“I had tears in my eyes just now… for me who has been a fan for over 30 years it’s really moving,” said Karine.
“Now the only thing that I think is a shame is that there is no housing, that we can’t live on David Bowie street… I want a house on David Bowie street.”
Jean, a journalist who said he knew Bowie well, told BFMTV that the artist felt a connection to Paris.
“It’s a city he really liked, it’s a city with museums, it’s a city with nightclubs, it’s everything he loved,” said Jean.
“He was someone who loved to work on himself, who knew all of the French writers, the philosophers and all of that. So he felt very at home in Paris.”
The 13th arrondissement town hall is also hosting an art exhibition dedicated to Bowie from January 4-13, which is “imagined and designed by photographer Geoff MacCormack and painter George Underwood, childhood friends of the artist,” according to the statement.
Bowie was known for his incomparable sound and chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself over the course of a career spanning more than four decades.
From a mop-topped unknown named David Jones, to his space-alien alter ego “Ziggy Stardust,” to his dapper departure as the soul-influenced Thin White Duke, Bowie married music and fashion in a way few artists have been able to master.
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