Paris names street after David Bowie

A fan on the new ‘Rue David Bowie’ in the French capital’s 13th district – Copyright AFP Sergio LIMA

The city of Paris on Monday named a street after rock music icon David Bowie, a first in honour of the singer eight years after his death.

“Rue David Bowie” was officially inaugurated in the capital’s 13th district on the left bank of the city.

“Long live rock, long live pop, long live David Bowie and long live Paris,” said Jerome Coumet, mayor of the 13th district, as he unveiled the street sign.

Coumet, a Bowie fan, launched the idea for the street in early 2020, and won Paris city approval later that year.

The thoroughfare, around 50 metres (165 feet) long, was previously known to city planners as “VoieDZ/13”.

There is no record of a street named after the musician anywhere else.

Bowie, who died on January 10, 2016, of liver cancer, would have been 77 on Monday.

He was one of the most influential, as well as best-selling, musicians of the 20th century.

His landmark songs and albums include “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” and “Aladdin Sane”, and the commercial smash hits “Let’s Dance” and “China Girl” as well as gloomily experimental works such as “Low”.

Paris played less of a prominent role in Bowie’s life than London, Berlin and Los Angeles, but French avant-garde theatrical culture was an influence on his visual style.

Jerome Soligny, who wrote a biography about the singer, said it was in the French capital that Bowie declared his love to top model Iman on a boat on the river Seine. The couple wed in 1992.