The very first known recording by musical icon David Bowie has gone under the hammer, fetching close to four times what it was expected to.
Back in July, it was revealed that the very first demo made by David Bowie had been rediscovered, spending most of its time in a bread basket, of all places.
Prior to the release of Bowie’s debut solo album back in 1967, the musical icon had been spending the last half-decade putting in the hard yards and trying to kick off his musical career.
Having performed with a number of acts including The Riot Squad, the Manish Boys, and the King Bees, only a handful of recordings from this era of Bowie’s career are known to exist, but it was the earliest of these – which saw Bowie performing ‘I Never Dreamed’ with his first band, The Konrads – that resurfaced after more than half a century.
The tape was reportedly rediscovered by David Hadfield, who served as both the group’s drummer and manager, while moving home. Found in the loft of the garage, the tape was apparently located amongst other memorabilia in an old bread basket that belonged to Hadfield’s grandfather.
“David had no inclination to become a singer at this point, his heart and mind were focused on becoming a world class saxophone player,” Hadfield said of Bowie, who went by his birth name of David Jones at the time.
“Our agent, Eric Easton, who also managed the Rolling Stones, asked us to do a demo so he could try and get us an audition at Decca.”
“We had decided that we would do a couple of guitar instrumentals and one original song,” he continued. “I chose ‘I Never Dreamed’ as it was the strongest, the other two were a bit weak.”
“I also decided that David was the best person to sing it and give the right interpretation. So this became the very first recording of David Jones singing 55 years ago.”
“There is no other recording of the demo featuring David as lead in existence. Decca initially turned us down, but when they eventually gave us an audition later that year, vocalist Roger Ferris was the lead voice and David sang backing harmonies.”
Now, as The Telegraph reports, this demo has fetched quite a pretty penny at auction.
Going under the hammer on Tuesday at an auction in North West England, David Bowie’s first demo was expected to sell for roughly £10,000 ($18,328 AUD). However, following “a bidding frenzy”, the price skyrocketed before eventually being sold to “an overseas collector” for £39,360 ($72,139 AUD).
Also up for grabs at the recent auction was a number of documents and photographs during Bowie’s time in the band. Most notable in the batch was a series of promotional sketches drawn by the musical icon, which seemed to serve as rough drafts for promotional material.
The documents, photos, and sketches ended up selling for £17,130 ($31,397 AUD), meaning that former drummer of The Konrads, David Hadfield, is undoubtedly a little bit flush with cash right now.
There’s no word on if we’ll ever be able to hear this long-lost demo, since that’s up to the discretion of the lucky buyer who purchased it. However, considering how many David Bowie rarities have surfaced on career-spanning compilations in the past, we can only hope that ‘I Never Dreamed’ might one day end on one of these albums.
Check out David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’:
