£57,000 for handwritten lyrics to a David Bowie song

In 1973, the singer gave this sample of handwriting to Neil Peters, the head of the “David Bowie Fan Club”, which was created from scratch. The song itself is included in the album “Aladdin Sane” released by the musician in 1972. As the single from this album, it reached number 2 in the UK pop chart.

A representative of St Helena auction house Omega Auctions said the previous owner of the manuscript decided to put it up for auction after another Bowie song, namely the lyrics to the radio hit Starman, sold in manuscript for £203,500 last year. The original valuation of the document fluctuated between £50,000 and £70,000, and although the ‘sum ceiling’ was not reached, the auctioneers were satisfied with the musician’s fan’s bid of £57,000.

The lyric sheet contains 18 lines of text on A4 paper, signed and dated by Bowie.

David Bowie passed away in 2016. Although news of the musician’s health condition had circulated regularly in the public space, the singer’s death was a shocking and sudden event for both the musician’s closest friends and colleagues in the industry and, of course, for the fans.

The musician is the laureate of six “Grammy” and four “Brit Awards” and a knight of the French order “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”. In 2003, Bowie refused the knighthood, commenting: “I have never shown any desire to receive such an honour. I honestly don’t know what it’s for. It’s certainly not what I’ve worked for all my life.”