Though his career spanned 6 decades, Muppet fans will most remember him from Jim Henson's 1986 film Labyrinth.
From The Muppet Wiki:
The character of Jareth was originally meant to be another puppet creature in the same vein as his goblin subjects, but Jim Henson eventually decided he wanted a big, charismatic star to the play the Goblin King, and decided to pursue a musician for the role. Sting, Prince, Mick Jagger, and Michael Jackson were considered for the part; however, it was ultimately decided that David Bowie would be the most suitable choice.
"I wanted to put two characters of flesh and bone in the middle of all these artificial creatures," Henson explained, "and David Bowie embodies a certain maturity, with his sexuality, his disturbing aspect, all sorts of things that characterize the adult world." Henson met David Bowie in the summer of 1983 to seek his involvement, and continued to pursue Bowie for the role of Jareth, and sent him each revised draft of the film's script for his comments. During a meeting that took place on June 18, 1984, Henson showed Bowie The Dark Crystal and a selection of Brian Froud's concept drawings to pique his interest in the project. Bowie formally agreed to take part on February 15, 1985, several months before filming began.
Discussing why he chose to be involved in the film, Bowie explained that "I'd always wanted to be involved in the music-writing aspect of a movie that would appeal to children of all ages, as well as everyone else, and I must say that Jim gave me a completely free hand with it. The script itself was terribly amusing without being vicious or spiteful or bloody, and it had a lot more heart in it than many other special effects movies. So I was pretty hooked from the beginning."
In May, Jennifer Connelly talked about working with on David Bowie on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Bowie would write five songs for the film: "Underground", "Magic Dance", "Chilly Down", "As the World Falls Down", and "Within You".
"Underground" was released in various territories as a single, and in certain markets was also released in an instrumental version and an extended dance mix.
His 25th album was just released on Friday and leaves behind a legacy of hits which I recommend you listen to today as we remember David Bowie, "The Goblin King".
It's only forever... RIP.
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