David Bowie, the shape-shifting recording artist responsible for such era-defining albums as Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Low, was, it could be argued, a living, breathing work of art. Celebrated in 2013 as a style icon and cultural lightning rod by the V&A in London, whose major retrospective David Bowie Is… became the museum’s fastest-ever selling show, Bowie touched, and was touched by, creativity in all its forms — not simply music but also fashion, photography, video art and graphic design.

His penultimate album, The Next Day, released without warning in 2013, was heralded as a long-awaited return, and a serious return to form, and the critically acclaimed Blackstar, his 25th and final studio album, released just days before his death, now looks set to provide a fitting final act to a career that consistently defied categorisation.

Here, in tribute, we look back at some of the David Bowie Greatest Music mix