Direct Cremation – If It’s Good Enough For Bowie, What About You?

Our natural response to death is often spontaneously amazing. When there is a focus – a place, an activity – we can experience the same kind of transformation that came so naturally to Bowie himself.

People got creative, there were impromptu drawings, inspired tattoos, atmospheric memorial gigs and club nights, countless gathering of friends playing their favourite tunes. We learned from David’s life and work how to respond to his death, and we can also learn from how he managed his own death how we might prepare for it personally.

In the days following his death, details emerged of the practical arrangements concerning his body. David’s wish was to have his ashes scattered in Bali, “in accordance with Buddhist ritual” and chose the option of a direct cremation in New York to enable this.

The cremation was prompt, two days after his death; it was inexpensive, just $700; and it was simple. His body was disposed of with no immediate funeral ceremony, thus separating what happened to his vessel from how he was to be remembered.

This cost effective and timely process is available to all.

A direct cremation is a flexible way to go. The body is placed in a simple coffin and taken straight to be cremated. Choosing this option seriously keeps costs down – you don’t have to pay for a hearse, or the limousines for family members, or flowers or orders of service. Some crematoria even offer reduced fees for early morning cremations.

If you opt for a direct cremation there is still plenty of scope to come together for a meaningful ritual with the ashes in your own time. There’s no disrespect in working out the practical approach that suits you and this can even reduce the stress upon those left behind. The financial burden can also be reduced.

The average inclusive cost of a funeral in the UK is around £3500; direct cremations including all paperwork, transport and care for the body, start from £1000.

David Bowie too good care to plan for the end of his life, practically and creatively. He kept the news of his final illness private while he quietly completed his final album, Black Star, in which he confronts his mortality.

The timing, the birthday, the album release – publicly and privately all aspects seemed meticulously planned. Surrounded by his family in his New York apartment it seems that David had a good death. At the very least he met death on his own terms, as he did everything else.

With a personalised, far-flung ceremony and a straightforward local cremation, David Bowir typically transcended the conventional processes. His resources and fame could have meant something equivalent to a state funeral – grand, intricate and public.

Instead he thoughtfully chose a simple method which separated the practical concerns of his body from the symbolic marking of his death. His decision created private space and time for his loved ones, enabled them to sidestep a potential circus and say a private goodbye in a Buddhist ceremony in Bali. Simultaneously his funeral could happen in a spontaneous global way.

Now David Bowie wasn’t adverse to a little appropriation here and there and we should note that he wasn’t the first of his peers to opt for direct cremation with little or no funeral ceremony. On the day following John Lennon’s death, Yoko Ono issued a statement announcing no funeral, but urging love and prayer. People responded with vigils, radio stations by going silent for ten minutes. His memory was and still is honoured further, everywhere, such as in Iceland at the Imagine Peace Tower which projects every year a beam of light into the winter sky.

People with big lives and many admirers leave unique challenges for their mourners. Bowie, Lennon, Lemmy, and now Prince, couldn’t have everyone at their funerals so had to find a different way. But even for those of us without public relations duties, millions of fans, or the ability to create beautiful music to help people handle our deaths can free them to mourn and celebrate in the most meaningful way they choose.

If you choose a direct cremation, your funeral need not be confined to any particular place, or even indoors. Plenty of things can be done with your ashes – incorporate them as jewellery, pop them into fireworks, scatter them at sea, in the garden, whatever suits you. Funerals can happen anywhere!

David might have done us one last serious favour by characteristically challenging convention and leaving us with a poetic lesson or two about death. Following David Bowie’s lead we can contemplate our own wishes and gift some all-important guidance for those we leave behind.

Tora Colville

The Modern Funeral Company

This article was orginally published in More to Death, the official magazine to The Natural Death Centre.