David Bowie - Saxophone Session, London 1973. © Mick Rock
The first-known David Bowie recording has gone under auction and sold for just under £40,000. The 18 minute recording from 1963 features a 16-year-old Bowie singing “I Never Dreamed” which he performed with his first band The Konrads. Back then he was still David Jones.
The demo was found earlier in the year by the Konrad's drummer David Hadfield in an old bread basket in his loft. The teenage Bowie song was rejected by record label Decca, but now has gone to sell for four times the estimated price of £10,000. Omega Auctions said it caused a “bidding frenzy” between two overseas bidders, and went for £39,360.
According to the BBC, auctioneer Paul Fairweather called the tape a "significant recording, completely unique" as it’s thought to be the only known recording of this song in existence. At the time Bowie played saxophone for The Konrads, but they got him to sing for this demo. Bowie left the band not long after the recording was made, the band remaining unsigned, with his hugely influential career eventually taking off a few years later with the release of “Space Oddity” in 1969.
David Bowie drawing, left handed, in his flat in Foxgrove Road, Beckenham in 1969. © Ray Stevenson
Amazingly Hadfield said that Bowie had never intended to be a singer back then, “David had no inclination to become a singer at this point, his heart and mind were focused on becoming a world-class saxophone player.” he noted. “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. 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."
In other Bowie news, a themed bar centred around the musician’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust is due to open in London. Significantly it’s opening at Regent Street’s Hotel Royal Cafe which, in 1973, was where Bowie threw a send-off party, called The Last Supper, to say goodbye to his stage persona Ziggy, inviting celebrities such as Lou Reed, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger to help bid adieu.
David Bowie applying make-up in Scotland in 1973. © Mick Rock
The bar, called Ziggy’s, will feature photos on the wall taken by Rockarchive photographer Mick Rock (Bowie’s official photographer back in that period) and will serve cocktails inspired by the musician’s music and lyrics from the album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. Ziggy’s opens on 20 September.
Along with this, Bowie fans can also look forward to a new box set that’s coming out in October. Called Loving The Alien (1983 - 1988) it’s the fourth in a series covering the musician’s career, and will feature eight albums from that time period, which include live and remix albums, and also unreleased material. It will be released on 21 October.
![David Bowie and Mick Ronson eating lunch on a train to Aberdeen in 1973. Photographer Mick Rock recalls: "Taken on the train up to Aberdeen for the first gig of David’s final Ziggy tour, 15 May 1973. Another image that got lost in the archive until it finally surfaced in 'Moonage Daydream'. I have a slew of photos on the train and in the stations of David in that amazing jacket. But the favourite one for fans is this one. Of all my limited edition fine art prints, this may be the one that has sold the most. Maybe it’s got something to do with the ridiculously ‘glam’ look of the magic duo and the obviously mundane nature of their British Rail lunch – lamb chops, boiled potatoes, peas with the bread rolls and pats of butter. But also perhaps something to do with the warm conspiratorial way they are looking at each other. They had the rock scene by the horns and they were savouring it!" © Mick Rock](/media/2237/david-bowie-news-06.jpg?width=1200&height=0&upscale=false&slimmage=true¢er=0.5,0.5&mode=crop "David Bowie and Mick Ronson eating lunch on a train to Aberdeen in 1973. Photographer Mick Rock recalls: "Taken on the train up to Aberdeen for the first gig of David’s final Ziggy tour, 15 May 1973. Another image that got lost in the archive until it finally surfaced in 'Moonage Daydream'. I have a slew of photos on the train and in the stations of David in that amazing jacket. But the favourite one for fans is this one. Of all my limited edition fine art prints, this may be the one that has sold the most. Maybe it’s got something to do with the ridiculously ‘glam’ look of the magic duo and the obviously mundane nature of their British Rail lunch – lamb chops, boiled potatoes, peas with the bread rolls and pats of butter. But also perhaps something to do with the warm conspiratorial way they are looking at each other. They had the rock scene by the horns and they were savouring it!" © Mick Rock")
David Bowie and Mick Ronson eating lunch on a train to Aberdeen in 1973. Photographer Mick Rock recalls: "Taken on the train up to Aberdeen for the first gig of David’s final Ziggy tour, 15 May 1973. Another image that got lost in the archive until it finally surfaced in 'Moonage Daydream'. I have a slew of photos on the train and in the stations of David in that amazing jacket. But the favourite one for fans is this one. Of all my limited edition fine art prints, this may be the one that has sold the most. Maybe it’s got something to do with the ridiculously ‘glam’ look of the magic duo and the obviously mundane nature of their British Rail lunch – lamb chops, boiled potatoes, peas with the bread rolls and pats of butter. But also perhaps something to do with the warm conspiratorial way they are looking at each other. They had the rock scene by the horns and they were savouring it!" © Mick Rock
Rockarchive is delighted to be able to offer many iconic David Bowie images as limited edition photographic prints which you can buy here.
David Bowie was a leading figure in popular music for over five decades & regarded by critics & musicians as a true innovator.
This print is based on a photograph from the Hunky Dory photo session shot in 1971.
David Bowie wearing a black scarf on a photo shoot by Mick Rock in New York in 2002
Aladdin Sane is the one image that has defined David Bowie and is nicknamed the 'Mona Lisa of Pop' - Shot by Duffy in his London studio.
Taken from the Scary Monsters album cover shoot by Duffy in 1980, 'the most beautiful clown in the circus' - David Bowie
Alternative shot taken from the Aladdin Sane 'photo shoot in 1973, known as 'Eyes Open' - this image was rediscovered in the archive in 2011
David Bowie wearing a two piece quilted suit designed by Freddie Burretti for the 1972 Ziggy Stardust tour.
Terry Pastor shot & hand coloured the photo for the album artwork on David Bowie's iconic album.
Terry Pastor photographed & hand coloured the album artwork for Bowie's Spiders from Mars album.
Terry Pastor's photograph of David Bowie from the 'Hunky Dory' album cover photo session.
Photographer Terry Pastor's 'pink' variation of Bowie from the Hunky Dory album cover photo session.
Photographer Terry Pastor shot & hand coloured the photo artwork for Bowie's Hunky Dory album.
This hand coloured print is based on a photograph by Terry Pastor from the Hunky Dory photo session.
in 1997 prior to his first ever gig in Mexico City David Bowie explores the local cultural sites including the 'Pyramids of Teotihuacan'
David Bowie onstage at his first and only ever concert in Mexico in July 1997
Taken at Freida Kahlo’s Museum known as the ‘Blue House’, in Mexico City a few days before David Bowie's first ever concert in Mexico, 1997
This was a really special performance in October 1973 as it was Bowie's first since announcing his retirement a couple of months before.
David Bowie at press conference for his single 'Lets Dance' at the Savoy Hotel in London. It was the fifteenth studio album by Bowie.
Iconic Mick Rock photograph of David Bowie during the 'Saxophone' Session in London 1973
David Bowie and Mick Ronson eating lunch on a train to Aberdeen in 1973 heading to the first gig of David Bowie's final Ziggy Stardust Tour
David Bowie captured by Mick Rock whilst applying make-up in Scotland in 1973
David Bowie looking into a mirror at Haddon Hall, Beckenham in March 1972 during an interview for Club International magazine.
David Bowie, Lou Reed & Iggy Pop during a press conference at the Dorchester Hotel, London in July 1972
David Bowie photographed by Mick Rock at Haddon Hall Beckenham in March 1972,
Contact sheet of David Bowie images taken during an interview in London, 1972. One of the images was used on the cover of Melody Maker
Newcastle City Hall, 1973, Ian Dickson eludes security to take this photograph of David Bowie performing as the legendary Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie performing at Newcastle City Hall, UK on the Ziggy Stardust Tour in June 1973
David Bowie performing to an audience of twenty at the Beckenham Arts Lab, UK at the start of his career in 1969
Performing as part of The Hype, David Bowie onstage at the Roundhouse in July 1970
Although originally taken in black and white, this image has the feel of an early 1940s movie star, hence the sepia finish I settled upon.
We drank cheap Riesling and beer (Peeva) with a bunch of soldiers we'd met the night before. They were friendly and inquisitive.
David Bowie in Ziggy makeup in 1973. This shot was taken at the Hammersmith Odeon before the last show of the tour.
I took advantage of the free time and the sublime New Mexico light and picked up my Nikon. This image of David is one of my favourites.
David Bowie photographed whilst filming the 1976 sci-fi film The Man Who Fell To Earth.
David Bowie photographed looking out over the May Day Parade on Red Square, Moscow, 1973
David Bowie and photographer Geoff MacCormack backstage on the set of The Man Who Fell to earth.
He's playing up to my camera to keep himself amused in-between takes. It's as if he is saying: "And you are?"
David Bowie listening to a playback of 'Station to Station’ at Cherokee Studio, Los Angeles.
David chose this image from The Man Who Fell To Earth (1975) for publicity posters in the late seventies.
This was the site of the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945, an eerie and desolate place.
David Bowie performing live at Wembley Arena, London on the A Reality Tour in November 2003
David Bowie at home, smoking in bed in his apartment on Foxgrove Road, Beckenham in July 1969, the morning after the first moon landing.
Limited edition print of Morgan Howell's original painting of the cover of David Bowie's 'Rebel Rebel' vinyl single
Official Duffy photograph of David Bowie sitting with a Scottie Dog during a pre-production meeting for the Scary Monsters photo shoot
Contact sheet from the Scary Monsters photo shoot taken during the last of Duffy's 'Five Sessions' with David Bowie
Official contact sheet print from the acclaimed Duffy archive of David Bowie in his Scary Monsters Pierrot costume in 1980.
David Bowie performing onstage at the Falkoner Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark in April 1976 on his Isolar-1976 Tour.
David Bowie on the video shoot for 'Loving the Alien' at Meantime Studios, London in March 1985.
David Bowie at his flat in Beckenham in 1969. This photograph was used as the cover to 'Lover To The Dawn', a 10-song acoustic demo tape.
The Thin White Duke onstage during his Isolar-1976 Tour in Copenhagen in 1976
In 1990 David Bowie poses at a photocall for his 'Sound & Vision' Tour at the Rainbow Theatre not Heddon Street as the K.West sign suggests
The Aladdin Sane image was digitally remastered to a black and white negative format by Chris Duffy in 2012
On the video shoot for 'Loving the Alien', the opening track from Bowie's 'Tonight' album
David Bowie photographed with a mask at Frida Kahlo's house and museum in Mexico City in October 1997
David Bowie in front of a Diego Rivera mural whilst visiting the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in October 1997
Music photographer Mick Rock may be best known as 'The Man Who Shot the Seventies', instrumental in creating many key rock ’n’ roll images.
Ray Stevenson began working as a music photographer in the 1960's, photographing prolific rock stars such as Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.
We are all still reeling from the tragic loss of David Bowie. Here is a wonderful tribute from one of our photographers, Mark Mawston.
David Bowie was recently honoured with three new blue plaques that went up in went up in Maidstone, Hull, and Trident Studios in Soho.
A David Bowie statue was recently unveiled in Aylesbury, England, which is the place where Bowie debuted his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.
