London, Dec 23 (IANS): Late legendary singer David Bowie was afraid of being assassinated by a sniper at a concert in Ireland.

The star passed away in 2016 after a secret battle with cancer. He was 69.

Irish musician Christy Dignam of rock band Aslan has revealed that Bowie was terrified about an assassination attempt when he took to stage at Slane castle in Ireland in 1987, reported femalefirst.co.uk.

On Virgin Media One's "Six O'Clock" show, Christy - whose band supported Bowie said: "At the time Bowie didn't want to meet us, because he was over here as an Englishman in Ireland during the Troubles, and (John) Lennon was after being shot a couple of years before that. He was real paranoid, because when he was going on stage, we were backstage and he went on in a military formation.

"There was about 12 or 16 of them in the band, and they were all dressed in grey boiler suits, so if there was a sniper there they could not have picked out which one was Bowie."