David Bowie Bassist Matthew Seligman dies of COVID-19 complications

Publish Date
Monday, 20 April 2020, 8:43AM
Getty Images

Getty Images

Matthew Seligman died on Friday (April 17) due to a hemorrhagic stroke caused by complications from COVID-19. The musician spent two weeks on a ventilator at St George’s hospital in Tooting, south London before succumbing to the illness. He was 64 years old.

Aside from playing bass for The Soft Boys, Thompson Twins and in Thomas Dolby’s band, Seligman also famously performed with David Bowie at the Live Aid concert in 1985 and is featured on his "Absolute Beginners" single. “Matthew would want us to remember the good times and have a party,” Dolby said, vowing to hold a candle-lit vigil on YouTube.

The New-Wave bassist eventually became a lauded studio musician, recording with the likes of Morrissey and Sinead O'Connor. After ending his musical career, Seligman became a lawyer. His colleague Rod Campbell-Taylor remembered him as “unfailingly generous and inspiring” and a man who “was very far from anyone’s idea of a rock star lawyer” despite his success in the '80s.

“Although he had stories about David and Mick and others, Matthew was very far from anyone’s idea of a rock star lawyer," Campbell-Taylor recalled, "boyishly enthusiastic, humble, capable of showing vulnerability as he was incapable of telling a lie and utterly intolerant of any form of bullying or cruelty."

Seligman leaves behind a son, Deji, a daughter, Lily, and his partner, Mami Kanai.

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission

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