- Music
- 13 Feb 17
Dublin-born producer Kevin Killen has praised David Bowie at the Grammys, where the late star was honoured with five posthumous awards.
The iconic English musician won the Best Rock Song award for 'Blackstar', as well as the awards for Best Alternative Music Album, Best Rock Performance and Best Engineered Non-Classical Album for Blackstar.
Blackstar won another Grammy as Jonathan Barnbrook received the award for Best Recording Package for his album artwork.
According to USA Today, Killen said backstage: "This is his first music Grammy of any of his projects, so it's kind of shocking" for someone who "had such an amazing presence in the business. But these things happen and I'm sure most of us that work in the business don't necessarily think about getting awards. It's just about the joy of making music and I'm sure it was for him, too."
Bowie died of cancer at age 69 on January 10, 2016, days after the release of Blackstar. Killen (who has also worked with U2 and Peter Gabriel) says they were aware of his ailing health as early as January 2015, when they embarked upon making the album.
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"We were aware from Day 1 of the recording of David's condition, but it did not impede," Killen said. "He was incredibly enthusiastic every day and really determined to make this record on his own terms, and hope that obviously, the outcome would be different. But it was an inspiration for all of us to see him do it."