David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’ - WRSR-FM
On-Air Now
On-Air Now
Coming Up Next
Coming Up Next
Listen Live

Flint’s Classic Rock – 103.9 The Fox

David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’

  • Writer: David Bowie
  • Producers: David Bowie and Nile Rodgers
  • Recorded: Fall/winter 1982-1983 in New York City
  • Released: April 1983
  • Players:
    David Bowie — vocals
    Stevie Ray Vaughan — guitar
    Nile Rodgers — guitar
    Carmine Rojas — bass
    Rob Sabino — keyboards
    Tony Thompson — drums
    Sammy Figueroa — percussion
    Robert Arron, Steve Elson — saxophones
  • Album: Let’s Dance (EMI America, 1984)
  • Also On:
    Changesbowie (Rykodisc, 1990)
    The Singles 1969 To 1993 (Rykodisc, 1993)
    Best Of Bowie (Virgin, 2002)
    and other compilations
  • “Let’s Dance” was David Bowie‘s second Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100, following 1975’s “Fame.”
  • “Let’s Dance” knocked Michael Jackson‘s “Beat It” off the top spot after a three-week run.
  • “Let’s Dance” was the first Bowie single to top the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K.
  • Working with guitarist-producer Nile Rodgers from the group Chic, the ever-changing Bowie surprised his fans by making Let’s Dance a commercial and accessible album that spawned three hit singles.
  • Bowie called the Let’s Dance album “probably the simplest album I’ve ever done. In fact, it was quite complex to put together, but I hope the overall impression is that it’s the most positive, emotional, uplifting album I’ve made in a long time.”
  • Let’s Dance also introduced audiences to a previously little-known guitarist from Texas named Stevie Ray Vaughan. Though Vaughan was supposed to be in Bowie’s band for the Serious Moonlight tour that followed Let’s Dance, record label politics intervened, and instead he went on tour with his own group, Double Trouble, to support his 1983 debut album Texas Flood.
  • The Let’s Dance album peaked at Number Four on the Billboard 200 and at Number One in the U.K.
  • Let’s Dance was Bowie’s first platinum studio album in the U.S. His Changesonebowie compilation from 1976 was also a million-seller.

FAST FORWARD:

  • Bowie has continued to record and perform, with occasional forays into acting.
  • He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 but didn’t attend the ceremony.
  • In 1997, Bowie offered “shares” — or “Bowie Bonds,” as they came to be known — backed by his projected future income for past projects. The move, which was the first of its kind in rock, was a huge success.
  • Bowie’s latest album, called Reality, came out in 2003, and he toured the world to support it.

He had to cancel the last couple of shows on the tour after having an emergency angioplasty to repair a blocked artery. However, a source told the U.K. tabloid The Sun that Bowie actually had a heart attack. He has reportedly made a complete recovery.