The first ever David Bowie statue has been unveiled in Aylesbury.
Called ‘Earthly Messenger’ and created by sculptor Andrew Sinclair, the life-size sculpture was unveiled by singer-songwriter Howard Jones on 25 March 2018 and resides under the historic Arches in Aylesbury’s market square.
The bronze sculpture features two main figures; Bowie as Ziggy Stardust circa 1973 and again in his 2002 blue suit period. Behind these two main figures are most of the main characters that David portrayed in his long career including references to Space Oddity, Hunky Dory, Ashes to Ashes, Aladdin Sane, Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Life on Mars, Young Americans, The Next Day and Blackstar. Speakers mounted above the life-size statue play a Bowie song every hour.
Since his untimely death, David Bowie has become synonymous with Aylesbury. He performed the world debut of two of his albums, ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’ at Friars Aylesbury Music Club in 1071. He formed ‘The Spiders from Mars’ with Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Boulder in Friars Aylesbury dressing room and referenced Aylesbury market square in the first line of ‘Five Years’ from the Ziggy album.
Friars Aylesbury, a Music Academy, was founded by David Stopps in 1969. As well as David Bowie, Friars has seen many other artists over the years including Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Lou Reed, Howard Jones and other iconic music figures.
Following Bowie’s untimely death on 10 January 2016, Sue and David Stopps worked tirelessly to raise money to create the statue through grants and a £100,000 crowdfunding appeal.