David Bowie died on Sunday (10/01/2016) following a secret battle with cancer.

The 69-year-old star's representative has confirmed the news, posting a message on the late star's Facebook account early on Monday (11/01/2016) morning.

January 10 2016 - David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle...

t read: "January 10 2016 - David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief."
The legendary star's son Duncan Jones, known as Zowie Bowie, took to Twitter to state the news is true.

He wrote: "Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all."

Duncan included a black and white image of a baby, presumably himself, on his father's shoulders.

David's cancer diagnosis was previously unknown, and at the moment there are no further details on the kind of illness he was battling.

The star celebrated his 69th birthday on Friday (08/01/2016), the same day his final album Blackstar was released. Although he had still been making music, the singer had not been out in public much of late.

He is survived by his wife Iman, son Duncan and daughter Alexandria 'Lexi' Zahra Jones.

Bowie's son Duncan Jones, also known as Zowie Bowie, confirmed the news, with the Twitter post: 'Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all.'

Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all.

David Bowie released his first album ‘David Bowie’ in 1967 but it was the song 'Space Oddity' that first made him a global name. The song was written, recorded and released days after the world discovered 'planet Earth was blue'.

Bowie's 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars' and the song 'Starman' introduced the Ziggy Stardust character, the first of Bowie's musical personas.

Bowie, a protégé of avant-garde mime artist Lindsay Kemp, also became an accomplished actor. His movie’s included ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’, ‘The Elephant Man’, ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’, ‘Labyrinth’, ‘Christiane F’ and ‘The Hunger’.

Bowie suffered a heart attack in Germany during the 'Reality' tour of 2003 and retired from live performance and recording for the next 10 years. On January 8, 2013 he returned with his first album in a decade 'The Next Day'. Last Friday he released another album 'Blackstar' on his 69th birthday.