David Bowie and Kenneth Pitt meet Robert Stigwood

Although David Bowie’s debut album was almost finished by the end of 1966, his manager Kenneth Pitt still saw a future for him as a songwriter for other artists.

On 3 January 1967 they paid a visit to music manager Robert Stigwood’s office at 6 Chesterfield Gardens in London. There they played him a demo of Bowie’s recent composition ‘Over The Wall We Go’.

Pitt hoped the song might be recorded by Mike Sarne, but Stigwood felt it more suited to Oscar, the stage name of Oscar Beuselinck Jr.

Beuselinck later found fame as Paul Nicholas, and starred in the film Tommy and in the musical Cats. His version of ‘Over The Wall We Go’ was recorded and released quickly, and featured Bowie on backing vocals and spoken word. It was the first time one of Bowie’s songs was recorded by another artist.