“It Still Crushes Me”: David Bowie’s Final Band on the Tragedy of ‘Blackstar’

David Bowie released his final album, Blackstar, in 2016. Two days later, news broke of his death. Fans had those two days to appreciate Blackstar without context before it was forever associated with Bowie’s death.

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Still, it remains a masterpiece of that time in Bowie’s life. It is simultaneously an acceptance of death and a farewell to life. Earlier in 2025, the band who worked with Bowie on Blackstar spoke with Mojo Magazine about the process of recording while being aware of Bowie’s illness.

The band David Bowie worked with consisted of Danny McCaslin on saxophone, Mark Guiliana on drums, and Ben Monder on guitar. Tim Lefebvre joined on bass and Jason Lindner on keys. They were a group of predominantly jazz musicians, but they knew how to lay it on heavy. This impressed Bowie and producer Tony Visconti.

In March 2015, the group joined Bowie in New York for three weeks of recording. During this time, Bowie was undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer, and the band was notified of the situation. Still, Bowie took it all in stride and was reportedly in good spirits throughout the recording.

David Bowie’s Last Studio Band on the Impact of Recording ‘Blackstar’

All throughout recording, David Bowie was receiving treatment for his cancer. However, the band allegedly wasn’t aware of what Lefebvre called “tinges of imminent death” in the lyrics. Specifically, McCaslin brought up “Lazarus.”

“I’m not a lyric person anyway, I react to feelings,” he said. “As we recorded ‘Lazarus’ and David was singing on the other side of the clear glass from me, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the sax being a pillow around him.”

In November 2015, the band was summoned to hear the finished album. “David was supposed to be there,” said Lefebvre. But Bowie didn’t show up. That summer, his cancer had been in remission, but around that fall he had been told it had returned, and was terminal.

Two days after the record’s release on David Bowie’s birthday, January 8, the news broke that he had passed. He had never said anything about his illness or given any indication that he was sick. The news was, rightfully, a shock.

“It still crushes me,” said Lefebvre. Guiliana added, “but it makes me happy as well as sad, and feeling overwhelming gratitude that Blackstar exists.”

Monder brought up the dichotomies on the album and noted that, once in context, it makes perfect sense. “In retrospect, it all makes sense, even without being aware of the lyrics,” he said. “There is this amazing balance between darkness and hope. It’s simultaneously a celebration of life, and a farewell.”

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