David Bowie, whose incomparable sound and chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself made him a pop music fixture for more than four decades, has died. He was 69.

Bowie died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer, his publicist Steve Martin told CNN.

- David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief - said a statement posted on his official social media accounts.

Neither his publicist nor the statement elaborated on what kind of cancer the singer was fighting.

Bowie's death has been the regular subject of internet hoaxes for the last several years. So the news came as a shock to fans and industry insiders when it was confirmed.

- Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all - his son, Duncan Jones, tweeted.

From a mop-topped unknown singer called David Jones, to his space alien alter ego "Ziggy Stardust," to his dapper departure as the Thin White Duke, Bowie married music and fashion in a way few artists have been able to master.

He was theatrical, he was flamboyant, he was without parallel in his showmanship.

With a voice that soared from a baritone to a falsetto, he spoke of carrying on against the odds. Of the terror in knowing what the world is about. Of turning and facing the strange.

His songs were a salve for the alienated and the misfits of the world.

Bowie had just released his latest album, "Blackstar" on Friday, his 69th birthday. It shot to no. 1 on the iTunes chart in the U.K. and no. 2 in the U.S., underscoring his appeal even after decades in the music business.

Like his past releases, the work - generally praised by music critics - defied genres. The influential music publication NME called it an amalgamation of "warped showtunes, skronking industrial rock, soulful balladeering, airy folk-pop, even hip-hop."