Paris honours David Bowie with his own street

Paris has honoured music legend David Bowie by naming a street after him on what would have been his 77th birthday.

The Rue David Bowie – first announced in 2020 by the mayor of the city’s 13 arrondissement – was unveiled and features his year of birth (1947) and death.

Bowie died after a long battle with cancer in 2016, days after his 69th birthday when he released his 25th album, called Blackstar.

The tribute celebrates Bowie’s first Paris performance in 1965 – his first outside the United Kingdom – and his lasting impact on music, fashion choices, theatrical aura, and popular culture.

Bowie’s influence on music, with hits like Space Oddity and Let’s Dance, and on fashion, are now permanently recognised in the Paris city landscape.

His album Pin Ups was recorded near the French capital in 1973 at Chateau d’Herouville after completing the Ziggy Stardust Tour.

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The new street is situated between two modern office buildings, including the headquarters of news publications Le Monde and L’Obs.

It opens onto Avenue Pierre-Mendes-France and will connect to the future bridge linking the avenue to Boulevard de l’Hopital, near Austerlitz train station and Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital.

Fanclub Bowie France, which has 9,500 followers said the naming was “well deserved” for a “unique, timeless artist”.

Brixton, his birthplace, does not have a street named after him but celebrates his legacy with an iconic mural.