Son pens emotional tribute on David Bowie's 71st birth anniversary

David Bowie's son Duncan Jones has paid an emotional tribute to his father on what would have been the late star's 71st birthday.

The legendary singer known as Ziggy Stardust died from cancer just days after he turned 69 in 2016.

Jones, 46, commemorated the birthy anniversary by resharing an old sketch he posted to mark the birth of his son, Stenton David Jones.

He wrote on Twitter, "8th of Jan again. A strange feeling for me. I know how excited dad was to have a grandson on the way, & I made this card for his birthday having told him a month earlier he was going to be a grandad. Makes me smile at our shared goofy sense of humour. Happy birthday dad."

Stenton was born six months after the 'Space Oddity' hit-maker passed away, and 46-year-old Duncan shared the same photo of the birthday card on his social media.

Meanwhile, Jones - director of the films 'Moon' and 'Source Code' - recently launched a 'David Bowie Book Club' in honour of his father.

Born on January 8, 1947, Bowie is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of popular music.

Born David Jones, he changed his name to Bowie in the 1960s, to avoid confusion with the then well-known Davy Jones.

He achieved his commercial breakthrough in 1969 with the song 'Space Oddity,' which was released at the time of the moon landing. Despite the fact that the literal meaning of the lyrics relates to an astronaut who is lost in space, this song was used by some media outlets in their coverage of the moon landing.

But the albums which followed 'Space Oddity' failed to produce that magic. However, he made the first of many successful "comebacks" in 1972 with 'Ziggy Stardust,' a concept album about a space-age rock star.

Bowie influenced the course of popular music several times and had an effect on several generations of musicians. His promotional videos in the 1970s and 80s are regarded as ground-breaking, and as a live concert act, he was regarded as the most theatrical of them all.