Listen to a newly released demo of David Bowie's 'Let's Dance'

8 January 2018, 10:11 | Updated: 8 January 2018, 12:40

An early demo of David Bowie's classic 'Let's Dance' has been unearthed to celebrate what would have been his 71st birthday.

The track was recorded a year previously after Chic's Nile Rodgers worked with Bowie on new songs that became his 1983 album Let's Dance.

The demo was produced with bassist Erdal Kizilcay and engineer David Richards as a stripped-back version of what would become the iconic pop anthem.

It has been released for the first time in 35 years, after it was mixed by Rodgers.

The demo also features Bowie’s clear delight at perfecting his vocal, saying: "That’s it, that’s it! Got it, got it!" at the end of the track.

Nile Rodgers said: “I’ve been blessed with a wonderful career but my creative partnership with David Bowie ranks very very very high on the list of my most important and rewarding collaborations.

"This demo gives you, the fans, a bird’s eye view of the very start of it! I woke up on my first morning in Montreux with David peering over me. He had an acoustic guitar in his hands and exclaimed, ‘Nile, darling, I think this is a HIT!'

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“This recording was the first indication of what we could do together as I took his ‘folk song’ and arranged it into something that the entire world would soon be dancing to and seemingly has not stopped dancing to for the last 35 years! It became the blueprint not only for Let’s Dance the song but for the entire album as well.”