News of David Bowie’s death shocked music-lovers around the world last night, including in a small town more than 600 kilometres north-west of Sydney.
The world-famous singer and songwriter catapulted the tiny community of Carinda into the spotlight after the release of his 1983 single Let’s Dance.
The song is considered a rallying cry against entrenched racism, with the film clip shot at the local pub, the Carinda Hotel.
Read more: How meeting celebs like David Bowie changed Janine Allis’s career
While the Carinda Hotel has since changed hands and been renovated, its current owner has attempted to preserve the original look and feel as much as possible.
This is because each year the pub sees a large number of Bowie fans walk through its doors in order to soak up a slice of music history.
Current owner Malcolm George, 55, told SmartCompany his phone has not stopped ringing since news broke that Bowie had died.
George has owned the pub for 12 months now and employs one other staff member.
“The phone’s been ringing all night, four o’clock this morning even,” George says.
“Everybody up here was talking about it last night, nobody knew he was sick.”
George says Bowie definitely put his pub on the map, as seen by how many tourists venture to the tiny community each year.
“People come in and take photos,” he says.
“They’re just travellers coming through and they all know the song was made here. Otherwise, it’s not a very busy place.”
Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, confirmed on Twitter last night his father had passed away.
“Very sorry and sad to say it’s true,” Jones wrote.
“I’ll be offline for a while. Love to all.”
A short statement posted to David Bowie’s Facebook page last night said the musician had died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his family after an “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 statement read.
I was fortunate to work for David Bowie for two years many years ago. A beautiful man who was kind to a young Aussie. He will be missed
— Janine Allis (@Janineboost) January 11, 2016
Broede Carmody is a former senior SmartCompany reporter. Before this, he was a co-editor of RMIT University’s student magazine Catalyst.
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