The iconic David Bowie died after a long battle with cancer.Adam Bielawski / Wikicommons

U2 and Hozier were among those paying tribute to the genius David Bowie, who died on Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer.

Across the world, words of praise and admiration poured in for the 69-year-old “master of reinvention” who released his latest album “Blackstar” on his 69th birthday last Friday January 8.

His son Duncan Jones confirmed the news on Twitter.

Bono shared a picture with Bowie via U2’s Twitter account saying "Planet Earth is blue,” a reference to the icon’s first big hit, “Space Oddity.”

Such was the influence of his six-decade career, Bowie was even credited by the German government for helping in bringing down the Berlin wall.

"Good-bye, David Bowie. You are now among #Heroes. Thank you for helping to bring down the #wall," said the German Foreign Office

The singer lived and worked in West Berlin during the height of the Cold War, releasing albums “Low,” “Heroes” and “Lodger” while living there. He sold a massive total of 140 million albums since his first release in 1967.

Born David Jones in Brixton in south London on January 8, 1947, Bowie changed his name following the success of The Monkees singer Davy Jones. For the past number of years he lived in New York.

Playing with several bands before signing to Mercury Records and releasing “Space Oddity” in 1969, Bowie’s big breakthrough came in 1972 with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

With hits such as “Let's Dance,” “Changes,” “Space Oddity,” “Starman,” “Modern Love,” “Heroes,” “Under Pressure,” “Rebel Rebel” and “Life on Mars,” he was also well known for creating his flamboyant alter ego Ziggy Stardust and for his film roles in “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and “Labyrinth.”

RTÉ radio DJ Dave Fanning added to the tributes, applauding Bowie’s skill in reinventing his music.

"I mean he was everything under the sun with every different album. He completely and absolutely changed [music]. Never brought out two albums the same, always went into different kinds of music,” he said.

"I mean even after, if you take the big breakthrough album for him would have been probably Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars which was about the fourth album by him.

"By the sixth one he was on Soul Train in the States doing soul music as good as the next of them with the Young Americans album, two albums later."

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who sang Bowie’s classic Space Oddity while in space, said, “Ashes to ashes, dust to stardust. Your brilliance inspired us all. Goodbye Starman.”

“Lazarus,” a musical he co-wrote with Irish playwright Enda Walsh, opened in New York last month before his parting gift of “Blackstar” was released last week, bring new music to the world right up until his last day.

READ MORE: Falling to earth: Enda Walsh and David Bowie’s show doesn’t take flight.