BBC Radio 6 Music programmes to mark tenth anniversary of Bowie death

BBC Radio 6 Music is marking ten years since David Bowie’s death with a week of special programmes.

David Bowie Forever will run from Sunday 4 January to Sunday 11 January.

The season remembers Bowie’s passing on 10 January 2016 and celebrates his life and legacy, with archive recordings, themed music shows and new extended documentaries featuring rare audio and fresh reflections from major figures in music and culture.

Listeners who were tuned in on the morning after Bowie’s death will remember how former 6 Music Breakfast Show host Shaun Keaveny and co-presenter Matt Everitt broke the news live on air on Monday 11 January 2016, a moment that remains one of the station’s most emotional broadcasts.

On Sunday 4 January, the station airs an hour-long special, David Bowie: Memo for Radio Show 12-1am, built around Bowie’s own handwritten list of favourite records from the David Bowie archive at V&A East Storehouse.

The songs on the list include music by Little Richard, Legendary Stardust Cowboy, The Walker Brothers and Ronnie Spector. Each track is introduced by archive audio of Bowie explaining what those artists meant to him, offering a personal insight into his influences.

From Monday 5 January to Thursday 8 January, 6 Music presents extended hour-long editions of David Bowie: Changeling from 11pm until midnight, hosted by Kate Moss and expanding on the original eight-part podcast first released in September this year.

The documentary series explores how Bowie reinvented himself across the first half of the 1970s to become one of the most transformative and era-defining figures in modern music, with the extended versions featuring unheard audio and full-length tracks.

The programmes also include memories from Bowie’s school friend Geoff MacCormack, who recalls watching a then unknown Bruce Springsteen play to a small audience in New York in February 1973, alongside new contributions from designer Rick Owens and musician St Vincent.

Kate says: “I was pleased that so many people enjoyed the David Bowie: Changeling podcast, so it’s great to hear 6 Music has scheduled an extended four hour version for January, we can now enjoy even more of David’s brilliance.”

On Friday 9 January, the day before the tenth anniversary of Bowie’s death, 6 Music dedicates its entire daytime schedule to Bowie through Nick Grimshaw, Lauren Laverne, Craig Charles and Huw Stephens, each joined by guests paying tribute to different sides of his career.

Lauren is joined by Henry Rollins to discuss Bowie’s collaborations, Craig Charles welcomes Brett Anderson for a focus on Hunky Dory and Bowie’s seventies output, while Neil Tennant joins Huw Stephens to reflect on Bowie’s reinvention and influence on queer culture.

Across the day, the music playlist features only Bowie, his contemporaries, the artists who inspired him and those he inspired, alongside recorded reflections from Tilda Swinton, Lady Gaga, Christine and the Queens and Charli XCX.