A DEMO of David Bowie singing his hit song Starman was sold for more than £50,000 at an auction in Newton-le-Willows after languishing in a loft for nearly 50 years.

The recording went under the hammer at Omega Auctions, based on the Sankey Valley Industrial Estate in Newton-le-Willows.

The 1971 recording is thought to be the first demo of the pop classic.

The sale smashed the £10,000 estimate placed on the demo, which also contains recordings of Bowie songs Moonage Daydream and Hang Onto Yourself.

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.

A telephone bidder took home the piece of music history which sold for £51,000.

Film crews from Channel 5 and ITV were among those in place in the saleroom to record the reaction of seller Kevin.

The sale also saw a Rolling Stones ‘Ricky Tick’ poster achieving £13,000 on the hammer, a 1968 Doors / Jefferson Airplane poster taking £8,000 on the hammer, an 18k Cartier dog tag owned by Elton John selling at £5,500 and a novelty Sex Pistols silver disc hitting £2,800.

On the Omega website, auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: “ A fantastic day for us, our vendors and buyers. We had some incredible items to sell and the prices achieved reflect that.

"It was fantastic to see Kevin’s reaction when the Bowie demo sold.

"We’ve worked hard for the result and it was very gratifying to see him so pleased. Now we look forward to our final sale of this financial year, which is shaping up to be just as exciting.”