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"David Bowie&amp;#039;s producer Tony Visconti has denied rumours that the rock icon is in ill health. The &amp;#039;Starman&amp;#039; musician surprised the music world last week when he suddenly released a brand new single and announced a new album on his 66th birthday.  Bowie has not performed live since 2006 and has rarely appeared in public since, causing many to believe he may be suffering from an illness. However, Visconti has denied the rumours, explaining that he has been working with Bowie on his new album The Next Day over the past couple of years. &amp;quot;People thought he was dying. He&amp;#039;s not dying any time soon, let me tell you,&amp;quot; he told The Sunday Telegraph. &amp;quot;He couldn&amp;#039;t have done two years&amp;#039; work if he was a sick man. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s very healthy, he&amp;#039;s very fit. He had the heart operation [in 2004] and that&amp;#039;s it. He&amp;#039;s long since recovered from that.&amp;quot; Bowie underwent emergency heart surgery in 2004 after collapsing on stage at a festival in Germany.      Rumours have also circulated that Bowie may be suffering from a form of Alzheimer&amp;#039;s disease, but Visconti denied those reports as well. &amp;gt; David Bowie&amp;#039;s new album: Why now? He said: &amp;quot;He is as sharp as a tack. He is sharper than ever. This boy has not lost a single brain cell.&amp;quot; Visconti also explained his recent comments in which he stated that Bowie may never play live again.  Explaining that the musician is not necessarily against the idea of one-off shows in the near future, he said: &amp;quot;He doesn&amp;#039;t want to tour any more. He&amp;#039;s had enough of it. But he hasn&amp;#039;t ruled out that he might do a show. It was a relief to me to hear that he was open to that.&amp;quot;  The music producer also revealed that Bowie may release a follow-up album to The Next Day, which is released in March. &amp;quot;We recorded 29 titles. We have at least four finished songs that could start the next album. If all goes well, we will be back in the studio by the end of the year. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s back. Bowie has found out what he wants to do: he wants to make records. Nothing else.&amp;quot; Photo gallery - David Bowie through the years:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a450632/david-bowie-is-not-in-ill-health-hes-very-fit-says-tony-visconti/>