Elvis Presley: Spine-chilling song inspired dying David Bowie's final album
ELVIS PRESLEY inspired a number of artists over the years including David Bowie who was a self-confessed Elvis fanatic. The late star went on to dedicate his final album's title and last single to the King of Rock and Roll during his final months alive.
David Bowie releases album ''Blackstar''
David Bowie was an enormous Elvis Presley fan, once calling the legendary star "a major hero of mine". The stars were both born on January 8, prompting Bowie to say: "I was probably stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something." The King died young on August 16, 1977 due to cardiac arrest, Bowie was 69 when he died on January 10, 2016, from liver cancer.
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SCROLL DOWN TO LISTEN TO DAVID BOWIE'S BLACKSTAR
Two days before his untimely death, his 69th birthday, Bowie released his 25th and final studio album, Blackstar.
The record is a haunting display of the emotion and dread the singer was going through at the time.
Suffering from a terminal illness, Blackstar and its singles show just how he was eagerly expressing himself creatively one final time.
Blackstar, as a title, has a number of connotations, first and foremost with Presley.
READ MORE: Elvis Presley gave Priscilla 'tooth caps and improved her posture'
In 1960 Presley recorded the song Black Star for an upcoming film of the same name.
The movie's title was later changed to Flaming Star, prompting Presley to scrap Black Star and record another version of the song.
Presley's Black Star is a sombre song about death, something Bowie no doubt recognised
The lyrics go: "Every man has a black star / A black star over his shoulder / And when a man sees his black star / He knows his time, his time has come."
SCROLL DOWN TO LISTEN TO ELVIS PRESLEY'S BLACK STAR
This isn't the only meaning behind Bowie's Blackstar.
A black star is also a term used in medicine to describe a cancer lesion - an ailment he was suffering from at the time.
Black star is also an astronomic term to describe a "hidden planet" or a collapsed star.
In a way, this was the final tribute Bowie gave to his hero.
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Bowie once recalled getting on a plane at short notice to go and witness an Elvis concert in New York City.
He said: "I came over for a long weekend. I remember coming straight from the airport and walking into Madison Square Garden very late. I was wearing all my clobber from the Ziggy period and had great seats near the front.
"The whole place just turned to look at me and I felt like a right idiot. I had brilliant red hair, some huge padded space suits and those red boots with big black soles.
"I wished I’d gone for something quiet because I must have registered with him. He was well into his set."
Bowie also almost produced Elvis final album in 1977, according to country star Dwight Yoakam. Unfortunately, six months after the idea was floated by Elvis, he died.
Yoakam explained: "That was based on Elvis having heard Bowie’s Golden Years, and I thought: 'Oh my God, it’s a tragedy that he was never able to make that.'
"I couldn’t even imagine 1977 David Bowie producing Elvis. It would have been fantastic. It has to be one of the greatest tragedies in pop music history that it didn’t happen, one of the biggest missed opportunities."
