An Elusive David Bowie Resurfaces on Facebook

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The reclusive David Bowie has spoken -- and on Facebook of all places.

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As rock stars go, few could match the musical and theatrical virtuosity of Bowie, nor could they approach the recognizability of the glam rock pioneer, despite his many reincarnations over the decades.

But Bowie, who turned 65 in January, has become something of a specter in recent years. He currently lives in his luxury apartment in New York's SoHo district with wife Iman, somehow eluding cameras and reporters even as questions about his failing health persist. The singer was airlifted to a hospital after collapsing at a 2004 live performance in Germany, where he was operated on for what turned out to be a massive heart attack.

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Bowie has performed exactly twice since that concert. He appeared onstage with Arcade Fire at a Fashion Rocks event in 2005, then the following year shocked a crowd at London's Royal Albert Hall by appearing onstage to accompany Pink Floyd's David Gilmour on two songs.

Bowie turned down an invitation to perform at the London Olympics Closing Ceremony -- but his music was celebrated there, anyway, most notably in a strange sequence set to his song "Fashion" involving moving billboards and supermodels.

But it was an upcoming retrospective of his life and career at London's Victoria and Albert Museum that got Bowie to break his silence, in a statement posted Tuesday to his official Facebook account -- his first in over two years.

"Contrary to recently published reports relating to the announcement by the V&A of an upcoming David Bowie Exhibition," the message reads, "I am not a co-curator and did not participate in any decisions relating to the exhibition."

"The David Bowie Archive gave unprecedented access to the V&A and museum's curators have made all curatorial and design choices," Bowie continues.

The London Mirror hints at a rift between the museum curators and Bowie, with Bowie fearing the exhibition will come off as a "vanity project."

But, perhaps anticipating such rumors, the man behind Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke closes his remarks with a joke, writing, "A close friend of mine tells me that I am neither 'devastated', 'heartbroken' nor 'uncontrollably furious' by this news item."