The city of Paris on Monday named a street after rock music icon David Bowie, a first in honor of the singer eight years after his death. “Rue David Bowie” was officially inaugurated in the capital’s 13th district on the left bank of the city. “Long live rock, long live pop, long live David Bowie and long live Paris,” said Jerome Coumet, mayor of the 13th district, as he unveiled the street sign.

Coumet, a Bowie fan, launched the idea for the street in early 2020, and won Paris city approval later that year. The thoroughfare, around 50 meters (165 feet) long, was previously known to city planners as “VoieDZ/13”. There is no record of a street named after the musician anywhere else. Bowie, who died on January 10, 2016, of liver cancer, would have been 77 on Monday.

French fashion designer Agnes Trouble known for her fashion brand "Agnes B." arrives to deliver a speech.

A photo shows a plaque during the inauguration of a street, named after British rock music and pop icon David Bowie.

He was one of the most influential, as well as best-selling, musicians of the 20th century. His landmark songs and albums include “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” and “Aladdin Sane”, and the commercial smash hits “Let’s Dance” and “China Girl” as well as gloomily experimental works such as “Low”.

Paris played less of a prominent role in Bowie’s life than London, Berlin and Los Angeles, but French avant-garde theatrical culture was an influence on his visual style. Jerome Soligny, who wrote a biography about the singer, said it was in the French capital that Bowie declared his love to top model Iman on a boat on the river Seine. The couple wed in 1992. — AFP