David Bowie's Berlin trilogy house gets memorial plaque
August 22, 2016
In Berlin, a plaque commemorating the deceased British musician David Bowie has been unveiled.
The white porcelain panel on Bowie's former residence in the Hauptstrasse 155 in Schöneberg is also reminiscent of the three albums "Heroes," "Low" and "Lodger," which the musician recorded in the West Berlin Hansa Studios in the 1970s. The albums are known as Bowie's Berlin trilogy.
A citizen of divided Berlin
David Bowie was "a symbol of the cosmopolitan and tolerant atmosphere of the city," Berlin's mayor Michael Müller said at the unveiling of the plaque on Monday. He added that the musician brought the divided cultural metropolis and West Berlin closer to countless people around the world.
Müller emphasized that, with the song "Heroes," Bowie had written the unofficial anthem of the city.
The event was attended by numerous fans and press representatives, and the band Chuckamuck played Bowie cover songs during the unveiling. Culture Secretary Tim Renner, former Hansa Studios sound engineer Eduard Meyer, and Bowie biographer Tobias Ruether were also present.
The plaque itself was manufactured in the Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin (KPM). Besides listing Bowie's Berlin albums, it contains a line from "Heroes": "We can be heroes, just for one day."
When rock stars share a flat
Bowie lived in the house in Hauptstrasse 155 from 1976 to 1978. The rock musician from the London district of Brixton had moved to the divided city of Germany to escape his drug addiction.
US musician Iggy Pop, regarded as "Godfather of Punk," moved into the apartment with Bowie. But the flat-sharing of the two rock musicians did not always go smoothly, Bowie once said in an interview. He complained that he would always do the grocery shopping, while Iggy Pop ate everything.
The house, which has drawn many visitors over the years, is a simple apartment building between a tattoo parlor and a physiotherapy practice. Since his death on January 10, 2016, it has become a place of pilgrimage for his German fans - and the plaque on the wall now makes that "official" now.
rb/kbm (epd/dpa)