A very early demo of David Bowie's "Starman" is up for auction

The BBC report that the demo, found by Kevin Hutchinson in his own loft, could be Bowie's first version of the hit single, and also contains demo versions of "Moonage Daydream" and "Hang Onto Yourself".

Hutchinson received the demo through Bowie's guitarist Mick Ronson, who passed the demo over to Hutchinson, who was an aspiring musician, so he could learn the track.

Hutchinson recalls, "I remember listening to it and thinking, "This is OK". I didn't think, "This is fantastic". At 16, you're not totally impressed. Nothing impresses you."

He kept the tape regardless, and only listened to it again after his wife reminded him of the memory after watching a documentary on Bowie following his passing in 2016. "I think she thought I didn't have the tape because when you say to someone, "I once did some stuff with Mick Ronson and with David Bowie", people think, "Yeah tell me another one"."

In the recording, Ronson tries to end the recording before Bowie is finished. Hutchinson says, "You can tell that Mick has never heard the song before because at the end he is just about to turn the tape recorder off and Bowie says, "Hang on. There's a little bit more"."