David Bowie has retired and will not tour ever again, according to veteran promoter John Giddings.

Giddings is a well-known UK gigs promoter who runs the Isle of Wight festival and has worked with Bowie in the past, and he said at a music conference last week that that the legendary musician - now 68 - is done with touring.

Music Week reports that Giddings said: "David is one of the best artists I’ve ever worked with. But every time I see him now, before I even speak to him, he goes, ‘I’m not touring’ and I say, I’m not asking.

"He has decided to retire and, like Phil Collins, you can’t demand these people go out there again and again and again. I’m really pleased and proud that the last show he ever did in the U.K. was the 2004 Isle Of Wight Festival.”

Bowie's last live gigs were in 2004 when he was promoting 'Reality'. He was scheduled to play the Oxegen festival that year but cancelled the remainder of the tour after it was revealed that he had to undergo heart surgery.

Nonetheless, he has continued to record and release music and recently wrote the theme song for new Sky TV series 'The Last Panthers'.