DAVID BOWIE, the legendary British singer, songwriter and actor, has died just days after his 69th birthday.

    “David Bowie died peacefully 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,” read a statement posted on the artist’s official social media accounts yesterday.

    The influential singer-songwriter and producer dabbled in glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his eclectic 40-plus-year career.

    Bowie’s artistic breakthrough came with 1972’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” an album that fostered the notion of rock star as space alien. Fusing British mod with Japanese kabuki styles and rock with theater, Bowie created the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

    Three years later, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the No. 1 single “Fame” off the Top 10 album “Young Americans,” then followed with the 1976 avant-garde art-rock LP “Station to Station,” which made it to No. 3 on the charts and featured Top 10 hit “Golden Years.”

    Other memorable songs included 1983’s “Let’s Dance” — his only other No. 1 U.S. hit — “Space Oddity,” “Heroes,” “Changes,” “Under Pressure,” “China Girl,” “Modern Love,” “Rebel, Rebel,” “All the Young Dudes,” “Panic in Detroit,” “Fashion,” “Life on Mars” “Suffragette City” and a 1977 Christmas medley with Bing Crosby.

    Bowie, born David Jones, in south London, released his latest album “Blackstar” on Friday as a gift on his own birthday. The album has been warmly received by fans and critics.(SD-Agencies)