David Bowie fans from around the world found their own means of mourning the death of the rocker, who succumbed to cancer at the age of 69 over the weekend, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers decided to honor the late musician in the most permanent of ways – with a new David Bowie tattoo. On January 12, two days after Bowie’s death, Flea posted a video on Instagram revealing his new tattoo, which is inked in black on the inside of his left arm and features the name “Bowie” above the musician’s signature lightning bolt symbol. The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist captioned the photo with lyrics from Bowie’s “Changes”: “And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds.”
Following David Bowie’s death, Flea, whose real name is Michael Peter Balzary, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the iconic rocker’s life, writing “oh no. my hero. Bowie. The most beautiful. I love him with everything I am. Rock music is over, done. He was the best. None came close. Rip,” and “David Bowie is my favorite rock musician of all time.” In a series of other tweets to his 1.1 million followers, Flea reminisced about the influence David Bowie had on his own life, writing, “Bowie was kind to me. He was a great intellectual, a great artist.” Prior to getting his new tattoo, Flea also shared a throwback photo on Instagram of himself with Bowie and fellow RHCP member Anthony Kiedis, from 2004.
David Bowie’s death came after an 18-month battle with cancer, and, being that the musician was so private about his deteriorating condition, his death came as a shock to many of his fans, who took to social media on Monday to remember the rock legend. From Madonna to Sir Paul McCartney and Kanye West, musicians past and present paid tribute to David Bowie after hearing of his death, and shared touching stories about how influential the late rocker was in their own music careers. As far as David Bowie tribute tattoos go, we’ve seen quite a few, including the one model Ireland Baldwin got back in September, prior to Bowie’s death, commemorating the musician’s famous 1970s persona, Ziggy Stardust.
