David Bowie Was Working on a Secret Final Project Before His Death

It turns out Blackstar wasn’t David Bowie’s final project. Days before the music icon died in 2016, he released his 26th LP into the world. However, the album wasn’t the last thing he was working on before he died.

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After Bowie’s death, notes were uncovered in his New York office that revealed he had another project in the works. Those notes, along with the rest of Bowie’s 90,000-piece archive, have now been donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The London museum shared the newly uncovered notes with the BBC, revealing that the project in question, titled The Spectator, was an “18th century musical.” The name was taken from a daily periodical in the 1700s that commented on London society.

Per the outlet, the notes show Bowie’s “fascination with the development of art and satire in 18th Century London.” In his notes, Bowie summarized essays that appeared in the periodical. He scored them out of 10 in terms of what would make a good storyline in his musical.

Among the topics Bowie showed interest in were morality, crime, and art, including the development of musicals.

“It’s interesting to think that Bowie was working on this in the US in 2015, with the political situation that was taking place there,” lead curator Madeleine Haddon told the outlet. “Was he thinking about that: The power of art forms to create change within our own political moment?”

David Bowie’s Love for Theater

Musicals fascinated Bowie, who starred in Broadway’s The Elephant Man in 1981. Additionally, his last public appearance was at the off-Broadway opening of Lazarus, which featured his songs. 

He never did write an original musical, though he spoke about doing just that before his death.

“Right at the very beginning, I really wanted to write for theatre,” he told the outlet in 2002. “And I guess I could have just written for theatre in my living room – but I think the intent was [always] to have a pretty big audience.”

The notes, which were pinned to the wall in Bowie’s study, will go on display at the David Bowie Centre on Sept. 13.

“I’m so excited to see the impact this will have [on] the next generation of musicians, artists, designers and creators of all kinds,” Haddon said. “… I hope people take away the breadth of impact he’s had on popular culture—but I also hope people will be prompted to think about the tools and processes Bowie used that they can apply to their own creativity.”

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns