NYC Concert to Honor David Bowie

A David Bowie memorial concert will be held in New York City's Carnegie Hall on March 31.

A tribute concert dedicated to his musical legacy had been announced for the storied venue, but organizers changed it to a memorial in the wake of his death from cancer Sunday.

Tickets went on sale Monday and quickly sold out as news spread.

​​Bowie producer Tony Visconti's house band will perform, along with artists including Cyndi Lauper, the Roots and the Mountain Goats.

On Friday, the iconic musician turned 69 and released Blackstar, his 25th album. Inventive to the end, Bowie mixed rock and jazz on the album, which critics hailed as his best work in years.

British Rock Icon David Bowie Dies at 69

British rock music legend David Bowie has died.

On Friday, the iconic musician turned 69 and released Blackstar, his 25th album. Inventive to the end, Bowie mixed rock and jazz on the album, which critics hailed as his best work in years.

His Facebook and Twitter accounts say he died peacefully Sunday "surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer."

​Bowie was known for his gender-bending dress and for his refusal to be pigeon-holed in any one musical genre, experimenting with glam rock, hard rock, dance, pop, soul and punk.

He shot to fame with 1969's Space Oddity, the lyrics of which summed up the loneliness of the Cold War space race and coincided with the Apollo landing on the moon: "Ground Control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on ... For here am I sitting in my tin can. Far above the world. Planet Earth is blue. And there's nothing I can do."

​Ziggy Stardust

Three years later, he released The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars, which introduced one of music's most famous personas: the red-headed, androgynous, eyeliner-wearing Stardust, who would become an enduring part of Bowie's legacy.

He was born David Jones in south London two years after the end of World War Two. But, to avoid confusion with the Monkees' Davy Jones, he later changed his name to David Bowie, according to Rolling Stone.

Bowie's Ziggy Stardust gave way to the stuttering rock sound of Changes, to the disco soul of Young Americans, co-written with John Lennon, to a droning collaboration with Brian Eno in Berlin that produced Heroes.

​​Some of his biggest successes occurred in the early 1980s, with the Let's Dance, Under Pressure, which he recorded with Queen, and a massive American tour.

'High points of one's life'

"My entire career, I've only really worked with the same subject matter. 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," he told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview.

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He also co-wrote the musical Lazarus, which is finishing its run on Broadway this month.

He kept a low profile in recent years after reportedly suffering a heart attack in the 2004. However, he was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall in March.

Bowie is survived by his wife, the model Iman, and two children.

Legendary US Songwriter Hal David Dies at 91

American songwriter Hal David, who with composer Burt Bacharach wrote some of the most memorable music of the the 1960s and 1970s, has died from complications of a stroke.

He was 91 years old.

David teamed up with Bacharach in the late 1950s. Working with singer Dionne Warwick, the Bacharach-David songbook became a soundtrack of American life in the late 1960s. Their hits included Walk on By, Alfie, Do You Know the Way to San Jose, and What Do You Get When You Fall in Love.

The team won Oscars and Grammy awards, wrote soundtracks for films and television, and was in demand by other musical icons, such as Frank Sinatra and The Beatles.

President Barack Obama awarded David and Bacharach The U.S. Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at a White House ceremony in May.

Final Exits, 29-31 August 2011

David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Delta blues guitarist, 11 February 2008. Photo: Bengt Nyman.

Obituaries for 29-31 August 2011

29
* Mel Batty, 71, British long distance runner, heart attack.
* David "Honeyboy" Edwards, 96, American blues guitarist and singer, heart failure.
* Ben Gautrey, 18, English motorcycle racer, race crash.
* Wayne Hamilton, 20, Northern Irish motorcycle racer, race crash during 2011 Manx Grand Prix.
* Nicolás Mancera, 80, Argentine television host, cardiac arrest. (Spanish)
* R. B. McDowell, 97, Irish historian.
* Mark Ovendale, 37, English footballer (Luton Town, Bournemouth), cancer.
* David P. Reynolds, 96, American businessman and thoroughbred racehorse breeder.
* Junpei Takiguchi, 80, Japanese voice actor and narrator (Dragon Ball, Yatterman, Mazinger Z), stomach cancer.

30
* Alla Bayanova, 97, Russian singer, People's Artist of Russia, cancer. (Russian)
* Faye Blackstone, 96, American rodeo star, cancer.
* Peggy Lloyd, 98, American stage actress.
* Cactus Pryor, 88, American broadcaster, Alzheimer's disease.

31
* Wade Belak, 35, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators), suicide.
* Denis Collins, 58, Australian rules footballer, heart attack.
* Adam Easton, 71, Scottish motorcycle racer, race crash.
*Abderrahmane Mahjoub, 82, Moroccan-born French footballer.
* Robert Muir, 91, Canadian politician, MP for Cape Breton North and Victoria (1957–1968); Cape Breton—The Sydneys (1968–1979) and Senator (1979–1994).
* Radoslav Stojanović, 81, Serbian law expert and politician, professor at the University of Belgrade, a co-founder of Democratic Party. (Serbian)
* Rosel Zech, 69, German actress. (Veronika Voss, Aimée & Jaguar), cancer.