David Bowie: Yoko Ono pays tribute to singer and calls him a 'father figure' to son Sean following John Lennon's death

Ono said Bowie would take Sean to museums and let him 'hang out at his recording studio'

Among the many tributes being paid to David Bowie, few have been able to touch on the man behind the iconic personas.

Yoko Ono was one of those who knew the singer well and took to Instagram to share an image of herself alongside Bowie and her husband John Lennon. She said the couple had “very few friends” so, to them, Bowie was “as close as family”.

Bowie died aged 69 on Sunday following an 18-month battle with cancer. His illness was kept private and it is thought even some of his close friends were unaware.

Ono explained how Bowie supported her and her son with Lennon, Sean, who was five-years-old when his father died.

“After John died, David was always there for Sean and me. When Sean was at boarding school in Switzerland, David would pick him up and take him on trips to museums and let Sean hang out at his recording studio in Geneva.”

Ono reflects that Sean has now “lost another father figure” but they cherish “some sweet memories which will stay with us forever”.

According to Ono, Bowie and Lennon respected each other and “were matched in intellect and talent”. An insight into their friendship was revealed in a 2002 interview with GQ magazine.

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Bowie described an eventful holiday the pair took to Hong Kong in the late seventies along with Sean, who he said was with Lennon a lot, “except we used to go out at night and get raving drunk”.

Along with getting thrown out of strip clubs and eating a “thousand-day-old egg cooked in horse p**s”, Bowie remembered Lennon dressing up in Beatles memorabilia.

“We went to a street market and they were selling Beatle jackets, and I got him to put one on. I took a little Polaroid; I’ve still got it, it’s so lovely.”

Brian Eno was another friend who has paid tribute to Bowie, revealing how the singer sent him what he now knows to be a “goodbye” message one week before his death.

In October, 2015 Eno shared images from Bowie’s 1992 wedding to the supermodel Iman Abdulmajid, where the couple are seen posing alongside Eno, Bono and Ono.