He was and is a hugely important part of my life. We all write for different reasons, in different ways. David Bowie, like the Beatles, showed me at an early age that it was not only possible to write songs of my own, but that each and every one could be wildly different from the one before it. I don't have to pick a genre and stick with it.

So I didn't. It's the most creatively liberating concept in the world, for me, and it's what keeps me doing what I do. And David Bowie has always been in my head, like a real voice inside of me, urging me to write another one, a different one, a completely different one.

Some of the most respected members of this board have advised me to try to stick to a particular style. But that secret Bowie voice inside of me always rejected that notion. To me it was never about how to monetize this thing...it has always been about being true to each particular idea. I just don't care what other people wish I would write or be or project. The song is the thing. So many writers eventually give up the ghost as they realize their artistic gift will never win them the lottery, and so they quit writing, composing, creating. That will never happen to me. I do it because I'm in love with it. And because he's there, in my head, telling me to get things done.

He lived his life as art. He even turned his death into art.

I'm a blackstar.

http://www.soundclick.com/MarkKaufman