Handwritten David Bowie ‘Jean Genie’ lyrics have been sold at auction

Bowie’s handwritten lyrics to his classic hit, ‘The Jean Genie’ have sold for £57,000 (€64,375) at auction.

The lyrics, which are titled, dated and autographed by the late singer, were originally given to Neal Peters when he was President of the New York-based David Bowie Fan Club in 1973.

Omega Auctions’ in Merseyside, Dan Hampson spoke of how the previous owner came to the conclusion to sell the musical artefact after seeing Bowie’s ‘Starman’ lyrics fetch a staggering £203,500 at auction last year.

Having predicted a pre-sale estimate of between £50,000 and £70,000, auctioneer Paul Fairweather expressed his delight at having achieved the estimate, “We’re well pleased with the price achieved for this historic set of lyrics.”

2009 letters on Neal Peters Collection stationery detailing how Bowie gifted the lyrics to Peters were also included in the auction lot, along with multiple photocopied documents about the former fan club.

Bidding is currently at £46k ahead of next Tuesday's sale of the #DavidBowie handwritten Jean Genie lyrics. Previous set of handwritten lyrics for 'Starman' fetched £200k (inc premiums)..https://t.co/UszngrZvCY pic.twitter.com/odeK2Vhb2q

— Omega Auctions (@OmegaAuctions) February 3, 2023

Originally released in 1972, the single went on to become one of Bowie’s best-known hits, reaching Number Two in the UK Singles Chart, having served as the lead single to Bowie’s sixth studio album Aladdin Sane.

A 50th anniversary issue of Aladdin Sane is set to drop in April to commemorate the album’s anniversary. Marking the announcement, a 4K remastered version of the hit’s music video was released last month.

David Bowie died on January 10th 2016, after hiding a terminal cancer for 18 months prior. His 26th and final studio album Blackstar was released on his 69th birthday, just two day before his death.

Stream Blackstar below.