Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

Millions of Bowie fans and tabloid readers were
shaken by Terry Burns’s demise, and some went as
far as publicly blaming David Bowie for being a
negligent brother, while Terry, ill since David’s
childhood, clearly needed the kind of constant
professional care that nobody would have been able
to provide.
Of all people, it’s Angie who provided an
explanation for David’s absence. “David really loved
him,” Angie says. “I think there is also the regret or
the guilt that taking the time and trouble, private care
as opposed to the national health care, could have
cured him. I think David knew exactly what had to be
done and I don’t think he felt he had the time or that
he could take the time off from working as hard as
he worked at his career to be able to support it. So
in the end, Terry was just packed off to a national
health mental institute and that didn’t solve anything.
Sometimes people just throw their hands up.”
Bowie did not attend Terry’s funeral, opting to
send a basket of pink and yellow roses and
chrysanthemums instead. The card was inscribed
with a brief message: “You’ve seen more things than
we could imagine but all these moments will be lost,
like tears washed away by the rain. God bless you—
David.”
“When all the stories in the press appeared about
David not attending Terry’s funeral, I don’t think it
was a case of David didn’t want to go,” Angie later
said. “I don’t think he didn’t want to do something
about it. He just looked at the problem and realized