THERE’S A STARMAN WAITING IN THE LOFT
RECORDING COULD FETCH £10k AT AUCTION First demo of iconic Bowie track was left languishing in attic for almost 50 years
BY SHERNA NOAH A DEMO of David Bowie singing his hit song Starman could fetch £10,000 at auction after languishing in a loft for nearly 50 years.
The 1971 recording is thought to be the first demo of the pop classic.
Bowie can also be heard telling his guitarist Mick Ronson that he has not finished singing the song when he tries to end the recording.
Ronson, who died in 1993, gave his friend Kevin Hutchinson the demo in 1971.
The Aladdin Sane star was yet to make his name and Hutchinson, then a teenager and aspiring musician, was unimpressed by what he heard.
Hutchinson, who is now selling the demo, said: “I remember listening to it and thinking, ‘This is OK’. I didn’t think, ‘This is fantastic’.
“I think it’s phenomenal now, obviously. Now I’m 65 and I played it, I just couldn’t believe how good it is.
“But at the time, I thought, ‘It’s not bad.’ At 16, nothing impresses you.”
Hutchinson was handed the demo to learn the song in the hope it might help him snap-up his own contract as a singer-songwriter with Bowie’s manager.
And so he labelled it David
Bowie Rehearsal Tape. Hutchinson said: “I had a listen to it at home and then it got packed away into the loft. And that’s where it remained for nearly 50 years.”
The song was released as a single in 1972 and featured on the Ziggy Stardust concept album, which catapulted Bowie into rock and pop stardom.
Hutchinson retrieved the tape from his loft after watching a documentary about the star, who died in 2016.
Speaking of his decision to sell the demo, Hutchinson said: “I’m 65. It’s not used in my life, so I’ve started decluttering.” Dan Hampson, assistant auction manager at Omega Auctions, which is selling the recording, said: “There’s a lot of Bowie mythology around the writing of this timeless classic and the raw and truly beautiful version heard here helps to provide a fascinating insight into the creative process of a bona fide genius.”
KEVIN HUTCHINSON ON FIRST HEARING DEMO