Waking up yesterday to the tragic news of David Bowie's untimely passing was akin to hearing about John Lennon's assassination, or Princess Diana's car crash -- it took a few minutes to sink in and comprehend.
I am still a little shocked today, but wanted to put a few thoughts down on Bowie's impact to the arts, culture and technology.
Consider this: 1998. David Bowie, ISP provider of BowieNet. From The Guardian, "At a time when plenty of major corporations were still struggling to even comprehend the significance and impact of the web, Bowie was there staking his claim. 'If I was 19 again, I'd bypass music and go right to the Internet,' he said at the time. He understood that a revolution was coming."
Not only a leader in musical genres, he was also a technological visionary. Back in 2000, Forbes reported that Bowie started his own online bank, BowieBanc.
In addition to that, he co-founded an Internet start-up called Ultrastar in 1998 with four colleagues from the music industry, that aimed to build subscription-based websites for celebrities. Early clients were the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.
Amazing, entrepreneurial and ahead of his time.
It goes without saying that he was also pretty successful on the music front too, and I grew up with his ever-changing characters, styles, shifts in direction and classic songs through various stages of my life.
This one below particularly resonates with me as I was feeling a little homesick back in 2000 when I moved from England to Canada.
Thank you David Bowie.
John.