David Bowie: Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea gets tattoo in honour of late singer

Flea said Bowie was 'the best'

Flea said Bowie was his 'favourite rock musician of all time' ( Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

As tributes continue to flood Facebook and Twitter from devastated musicians and fans, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea chose to pay tribute to David Bowie like a true rockstar.

On Monday he unveiled a tattoo in the late singer’s honour hours after declaring Bowie his “favourite rock musician of all time”.

Flea, whose real name is Michael Peter Balzary, posted a video on Instagram to show the fresh inking of the Bowie logo featuring the iconic lightning strike so often associated with the glam rock singer.

The post, which has so far amassed over 18,500 likes, shows a grinning Flea at the end as Bowie’s track "Fill Your Heart" from the 1971 album Hunky Dory is heard playing in the background.

Bowie died on Sunday after a “courageous” 18-month battle with cancer. The veil of privacy which he shrouded his illness in meant the news came as a tremendous shock to many fans and on Monday an outpouring of grief occurred on social media, television and radio and even impromptu street parties celebrating his life.

Flea was one of the many artists who paid tribute to his influencer. Calling Bowie the best and “most beautiful”, he even declared “rock music is over” with his passing.

In a series of other tweets to his 1.1million followers, he explained that he had been listening to Bowie a lot recently and when he met him he was “kind", “warm and generous” and “a great intellectual, a great artist”.

He also shared an image on Instagram of himself with Bowie along with fellow Chili Peppers member Anthony Kiedis from 2004.

Past and present musicians from an array of genres, such as Madonna, Kanye West and Sir Paul McCartney, paid tribute to Bowie on Monday for being hugely influential to their work.