SPIRAL

[contribution & images generously shared by a passionate Bowie fan from Denmark]

I first discovered Bowie in Labyrinth when I was 14. I didn't really know who he was and hadn't taken any notice that he was in the film. But the second he appeared on screen for the first time, my life changed. I was completely overwhelmed and went back to the cinema the next 5 Saturdays in a row to just sit and stare and take in his beauty.

In 1987 when I became a fan, he embarked on his Glass Spider Tour. I didn't go see him on that tour, but seeing pictures from the tour I thought his costumes were completely outlandish. I'd never seen anything like it and I was shaken to my core. Little did I know ... 

For the next many many years, he was the centre of my life as I struggled to find myself amidst the usual teenage angst. There was no better travel companion. He broadened my horizon, opened my mind and brought amazing people into my life. 

I shied away from becoming part of a larger Bowie community. I wanted to keep him to myself and I don't do very well with big groups of people in general. Instead I would send ecstatic ravings to music magazines which in those days used to have pages of readers' comments. A few people wrote to me and I met some of my closest friends in my teenage years that way. 

I was lucky enough to see him live several times, and in 1999 a dream came true when I met him briefly after a Copenhagen concert. There are no photos, but I have a small piece of paper with his autograph. I treasure it.

When he died, I was on my way to work. The news broke between me leaving the house that morning and me arriving at work. And all my colleagues sat there, staring at me. They realised that I didn't know yet and that they would have to tell me. I crumbled. I called my husband, then tried to work but ended up going home after lunch and just wept through the rest of the day  - and basically the rest of that week. I remember waking up the next morning, already crying before I was fully awake. I know he was only a pop star but he is in my core, my dna, and his death was just devastating. 

I firmly believe that discovering him and being exposed to all his wonderful outlandishness changed me and made me the person I am today. More tolerant, more open minded than I might otherwise have been.