Brian Eno Shares Candid Tribute to His Late Collaborator David Bowie

Rock star David Bowie's collaborative work with record producer Brian Eno's is without a doubt some of the most venerated art pop of all time. While their best known partnership is most certainly Bowie's 1970s "Berlin Trilogy"—which includes Low (1977), "Heroes" (1977), and Lodger (1979)—they also reunited in 1995 to make Bowie's record Outside and the 1997 hit "I'm Afraid of Americans."

In the wake of his Bowie's passing yesterday, Eno has shared a candid tribute to his friend, sharing background on the last years of their relationship as well as details about their final communication:

"David's death came as a complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him. I feel a huge gap now.

We knew each other for over 40 years, in a friendship that was always tinged by echoes of Pete and Dud. Over the last few years - with him living in New York and me in London - our connection was by email. We signed off with invented names: some of his were mr showbiz, milton keynes, rhoda borrocks and the duke of ear.

About a year ago we started talking about Outside - the last album we worked on together. We both liked that album a lot and felt that it had fallen through the cracks. We talked about revisiting it, taking it somewhere new. I was looking forward to that.

I received an email from him seven days ago. It was as funny as always, and as surreal, looping through word games and allusions and all the usual stuff we did. It ended with this sentence: 'Thank you for our good times, brian. they will never rot'. And it was signed 'Dawn'.

I realise now he was saying goodbye."

The statement was originally shared via the BBC. Be sure to also read our piece remembering Bowie's electronic music legacy.

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