David Bowie’s first known studio recording, which was turned down by a record company and later found in a bread basket, is set to be sold at auction.
As The Guardian reports, the 1963 demo tape features a 16-year-old Bowie, then known by his birth name David Jones, in his first band, The Konrads. You can listen to a clip below.
The long-lost recording of the late English icon singing ‘I Never Dreamed’ has been unearthed by The Konrads’ drummer David Hadfield in a bread basket that once belonged to his grandfather along with letters, bills, booking forms, photographs and promo sketches, in the loft of his garage.
“Our agent, Eric Easton, who also managed The Rolling Stones, asked us to do a demo so he could try and get us an auction at Decca. So in early 1963 I booked into R.G.Jones small studio in Morden. In preparation for the demo David and our guitarist Neville Wills wrote 2/3 songs,” explains Hadfield.
“We had decided that we would do a couple of guitar instrumentals and one original song. 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.”
The tape, which is expected to fetch £10,000, will be sold by Omega Auctions in September. According to auctioneer Paul Fairweather, it is “completely unique and of great historical interest, being the earliest studio recording of a fledgling musician who would go on to super stardom”.
See photos of the rare tape below.
