British rock icon David Bowie revives his love affair with Berlin in his first new album in a decade, out this month, and the city is returning his affections with fervent tributes to its adopted son.

Bowie lived in the still war-ravaged, divided city for three years in the 1970s, when he was wearied by fame and trying to kick the drug and drink addictions that threatened to make him just another rock'n'roll casualty.

It was a fruitful time creatively, producing three albums including Heroes, whose cover art inspired the sleeve of the new record, The Next Day, which shows a theatrically posed black-and-white photo of Bowie obscured by a white square.

The singer eventually moved away, settling in New York with Somali-American supermodel Iman and their daughter.

But Berlin never quite forgot Bowie and his glamorous ghost still haunts the dreams of the hordes of British expatriates who have flocked to the city since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

"Bowie affected the history of Berlin, just as much as Berlin affected Bowie," said Mike West, 29, who leads tours to sites around town including Bowie's former flat, the neighboring gay bar where he had breakfast nearly every morning, and the Hansa Studios where he recorded.

Nowhere was the shock of Bowie's new single, released out of the blue on his 66th birthday on January 8, greater than in Berlin, which has responded with massive media coverage, themed club nights and a spike in interest in tours like West's.

The moody new track entitled "Where Are We Now?" namechecks iconic sites throughout the city and came complete with a wistful video directed by American artist Tony Oursler.

"I couldn't have made the music I did then if I hadn't been completely taken with Berlin, with its special structures and its tensions... the Wall and its impact on the city," Bowie said.