David Bowie’s First Demo Found in a Bread Basket
“There is no other recording of the demo featuring David as lead in existence.”
At 16, David Bowie, who was originally a saxophonist, recorded his first demo with his first band, the Konrads, in 1963. Bowie asked to do the lead vocals for “I Never Dreamed” demo, which was later turned down by Decca Records and Rolling Stones manager Eric Easton. Later that year, Bowie left the band.
The only surviving copy of that demo was found decades later by David Hadfield, a former bandmate of the Konrads, in an old bread bin, reports The Guardian. The “I Never Dreamed” demo goes up for auction in September and is expected to sell for £10,000 ($13,000 USD).
“We had decided that we would do a couple of guitar instrumentals and one original song,” Hadfield said in a statement. “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.
Listen to the demo above. In 2016, David Bowie passed away at the age of 69.
