David Bowie’s first known studio recording, which was rejected by a record company and found in a bread basket, has sold at auction for nearly £40,000 ($73,000).

The 1963 demo tape features a 16-year-old Bowie, then David Jones, in his first band The Konrads.

The group was turned down by Decca and the tape of Bowie singing I Never Dreamed was never released.

Bowie quit the band in the following months, but his career took off six years later with Space Oddity.

On Tuesday, at an auction in Newton-le-Willows, the tape fetched £39360 from an overseas collector.

It had been estimated to sell for £10,000.

Director of Omega Auctions, Karen Fairweather, said there had been a “bidding frenzy”.

Bowie died in January 2016, two days after his 69th birthday.