It felt very surreal to wake up this morning into a world that no longer has David Bowie in it. I can’t imagine there is any rock or pop musician on earth that hasn’t been influenced by Bowie, either directly or indirectly, and I’m no exception.

One of the first records I was given as a child as a birthday gift was the 1973 reissue of his novelty song “The Laughing Gnome”, and as a 6 year old I loved it, and I probably still would if I heard it again now (even though that single was lost to me decades ago, I can still vividly remember the yellow Deram label and that the B-side was “The Gospel According to Tony Day”). Then a few years later one of the first singles I bought with my own pocket money was “Beauty and the Beast” from his 1977 album “Heroes”, unaware at the time that the song also had the fingerprints of 2 more of my future heroes all over it, Fripp and Eno.

I spent this morning listening to Bowie’s fantastic (and as it turns out final) new album Blackstar, and compiling my own personal playlist of his songs, which I want to play before the shows on my forthcoming tour. So many brilliant ones to chose from, what an extraordinary catalogue. And what an extraordinary artist. Rest in Peace.