DAVID BOWIE IS DEAD AT 69

David Bowie, whose incomparable sound and chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself made him a pop music fixture for more than four decades, has died. He was 69.

Bowie died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer, his publicist Steve Martin said.

"David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief," said a statement posted on his official social media accounts.

Paul and David Bowie backstage at the Live Aid charity concert

Neither his publicist nor the statement elaborated on what kind of cancer the singer was fighting.

Bowie's death has been the regular subject of internet hoaxes for the last several years. So the news came as a shock to fans and industry insiders when it was confirmed.

"Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all," his son, Duncan Jones, tweeted.

Ringo and David Bowie

From a mop-topped unknown singer called David Jones, to his space alien alter ego "Ziggy Stardust," to his dapper departure as the Thin White Duke, Bowie married music and fashion in a way few artists have been able to master.

He was theatrical, he was flamboyant, he was without parallel in his showmanship. 

With a voice that soared from a baritone to a falsetto, he spoke of carrying on against the odds. Of the terror in knowing what the world is about. Of turning and facing the strange.His songs were a salve for the alienated and the misfits of the world.

Bowie had just released his latest album, 'Blackstar,' on Friday, his 69th birthday. It shot to no. 1 on the iTunes chart in the U.K. and no. 2 in the U.S., underscoring his appeal even after decades in the music business.

Like his past releases, the work -- generally praised by music critics -- defied genres. The influential music publication NME called it an amalgamation of "warped showtunes, skronking industrial rock, soulful balladeering, airy folk-pop, even hip-hop."

John and David Bowie,Mar.1,1975 at the Grammy Awards

Though he didn't have his first No. 1 single in the United States until "Fame" in 1975 with John Lennon.With the Young Americans sessions mostly concluded by late 1974, the material was delayed while Bowie extricated himself from his contract with manager Tony Defries. During this time, he was staying in New York, where he met John Lennon. The pair jammed together, leading to a one-day session at Electric Lady Studios in January 1975. There, Carlos Alomar had developed a guitar riff for Bowie's cover of "Footstompin'" by The Flairs, which Bowie thought was "a waste" to give to a cover. Lennon, who was in the studio with them, sang "aim" over the riff, which Bowie turned into "Fame" and he thereafter wrote the rest of the lyrics to the song.