Bowie passed away just three days after releasing his 25th studio album, keeping his 18-month battle with cancer so private that even close friends weren't aware of his struggle.

Speaking about the sad news of Bowie's, Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, said: "David Bowie had immeasurable talent and demonstrated unparalleled levels of freedom".

"Before we begin I'd like to say, 'rest in peace, David Bowie, '" Jimmy started his show on January 11.

The director of his broadway musical Lazarus has claimed that the singer told him over a year ago that he was suffering from liver cancer. After Bowie's death on Sunday, CBS News finally released the clips.

"He made "Blackstar" for us - his parting gift", Bowie's friend and longtime producer Tony Visconti said Monday.

Rick Wakeman had "some regrets" about not joining David Bowie's Spiders from Mars.

But Visconti added: 'I don't know exactly, but he must've taken ill very quickly after that phone call'.

"The cast didn't know all that time, and I suspect that the musicians with whom he recorded Blackstar didn't know either", he said.

David Bowie Vevo The haunting "Blackstar", released Friday, is rife with morbid, mortality-obsessed imagery in both its lyrics and its music videos.

"The unexpected death of David Bowie has turned this tribute, which we have worked on for the past 7 months, into a memorial concert", musicof.org said.

As an actor, Bowie appeared in a range of films, including "Labyrinth", "The Hunger", "The Man Who Fell to Earth", "A View to a Kill", "The Last Temptation of Christ", "Zoolander" and "The Prestige". "I've got scars that can't be seen".