First-known Bowie recording sold

LONDON: The fi rst-known recording by David Bowie, when he was the 16-year- old singer of a band called The Konrads, sold at auction in Britain on Tuesday for nearly £ 40,000 ( RM216,300).

Music specialists Omega Auctions, in northwestern England, said “a bidding frenzy” around its memorabilia sale led to the demo tape fetching around four times the expected price of £ 10,000 when it went under the hammer. It sold for £ 39,360 ( RM212,800), Omega said in a statement posted online.

The tape was discovered earlier this year in a loft, Omega had previously revealed.

The song — “I Never Dreamed” — was recorded in a studio in 1963 when The Konrads asked Bowie, then known by his given name David Jones, to sing lead vocals.

The tape was discovered earlier this year in a loft.

Promotional sketches by the then largely unknown Bowie, along with photographs and band documents, also sold for £ 17,130, while an early The Konrads poster from 1963 went for £ 6,600, Omega said.

Bowie left The Konrads shortly afterwards and did not achieve stardom until six years later when, already a solo artiste, he released “Space Oddity” about the fictional astronaut Major Tom.

Other items auctioned Tuesday included a fully signed album of rock band Led Zeppelin, which sold for £14,000, and handwritten lyrics by Jimi Hendrix from around 1970, which fetched £10,800. — AFP