David Bowie: Brian Eno tells of 'goodbye' message sent by singer a week before his death

'Thanks for our good times, Brian. They will never rot'

Bowie exuded not just charisma but genuine charm and humanity (Getty Images)

Brian Eno said he believes the last email sent to him by his friend David Bowie was a “goodbye”.

Bowie died on Sunday after a “courageous” 18-month secret battle with cancer, aged 69. A statement through his official social media account said he died “peacefully” and “surrounded by family”.

His long-time collaborator and friend Eno was one of many to pay tribute to the iconic glam rock singer, speaking with the BBC upon hearing the news.

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

Eno explained that their most frequent communication was through email given that Eno resides in London and Bowie in New York with his supermodel wife Iman Abdulmajid and their daughter Lexi.

“We knew each other for 40 years, in a friendship that was always tinged by echoes of Pete and Dud… 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.”

The duo worked on Bowie’s 'Berlin Trilogy' of albums from 1977 to 1979, including the iconic Heroes.

Their friendship spanned many years and in October, 2015 Eno shared pictures of Bowie’s wedding to Iman in Florence in 1992.

The pair later collaborated on Bowie’s 1995 album Outside, which Eno says they were recently reminiscing over through email.

“About a year ago we started talking about Outside… 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.”

Eno last heard from Bowie a week before his death in a haunting email he now believes to be a poignant “goodbye” from his close friend.

“I received an email from him seven days ago. It was 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.”