David Bowie , whose death will mark its 10th anniversary in January, was working on a secret project before he died. In his final months, the iconic Chameleon of Rock had secretly written a musical set in the 18th century.
Titled The Spectator , the material was never finished and was unknown even to those closest to him. The notes were locked in the artist's office in New York and are now part of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. [ via NME ]
The notes, shared firsthand with the BBC Bowie 's interest in the city's cultural scene and the satirical journalism of the time. The vocalist had also written stories about criminal gangs and the famous thief "Honest" Jack Sheppard .
Furthermore, the material includes numerous post-it notes with plot ideas, as well as a notebook entirely dedicated to the newspaper – published between 1711 and 1712 – that bears the musical's name. Summaries of articles are also among the discoveries; with them, Bowie assigned scores from 0 to 10 and separated points that could serve as inspiration for musical scenes.
The notes from The Spectator will be available for viewing from September 13th, with the opening of the David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse in London. Around 90,000 David Bowie items will be on display, in addition to, of course, the notes from his secret project.