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F1 Driver Lewis Hamilton reveals David Bowie sent him two guitars as a gift with no note or explanation

He also posted some clips of him playing one of the guitars.

Lewis Hamilton and David Bowie

Images: Joe Portlock / Dave Hogan / Getty

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Lewis Hamilton has revealed that David Bowie sent him, anonymously, a gift of two electric guitars, and that he didn’t know that the rockstar had sent him the gifts until well after receiving them.

Speaking in a video shared to Instagram, the F1 driver explained that “A couple of years ago, I got home to this beautiful gift of these two guitars, and I had no idea where they were from, who they came from and why they were in my apartment.

“It wasn’t until about a year later that David Bowie had sent me these guitars.”

“I never even knew, there was no message with it – later on we found out from someone. They said that he was a fan, which – I find it so hard to believe. My dad would always tell me a story about him – he had met him [Bowie] on the street in London… And said that he was one of the nicest people ever.”

Hamilton also posted a separate video of him playing one of the guitars, captioning it: “ Excuse all the mistakes, I’m far from good. But this is the first take playing this guitar that David Bowie sent to me some years ago. I love this guitar and will cherish it forever. I never got to say thank you to him or his family so if they see this, thank you so much for this.”

David Bowie died in 2016. The news came as a shock to the world of music, as Bowie had not made his cancer diagnosis from 18 months prior public. His death came two days after the release of his last album Blackstar.

Earlier this week, a guitar owned and signed by David Bowie went up for auction, fetching a final price of £20,000. The Takamine acoustic was a prize in a 2002 online charity auction, and has been put up for auction by the original winner. It’s also the second guitar received by the winner from this charity auction – the first was damaged in transit, and so the winner contacted Bowie’s management who supplied a new one.

While it’s not confirmed that this guitar was used on any records by Bowie, extensive scratches in its pickguard do suggest it was heavily played. The guitar is a 12-string, and also features a pickup and preamp system.

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