Rare Bowie recording to go under the hammer in Cheshire

A demo of David Bowie singing his hit song Starman is going under the hammer in Cheshire 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, told the Press Association: "I remember listening to it and thinking, This is OK. I didn't think, this is fantastic..."

Hutchinson was handed the demo to help him 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.

"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," he said.

The song, about a Starman who'd "like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds" was released as a single in 1972 and featured in the Ziggy Stardust concept album, which catapulted Bowie into rock and pop stardom.

The demo, with a £10,000 estimate, also contains recordings of Bowie songs Moonage Daydream and Hang Onto Yourself and is up for auction on Tuesday March 12 at Omega Auctions in Newton-le-Willows.