A David Bowie album cover might become the most expensive album artwork ever made when it goes up for sale this month.
Music lovers will be familiar with the original cover of Aladdin Sane, Bowie's 1973 album under his alter ego Ziggy Stardust.
It's one of the most iconic snaps in the history of pop culture, showing the legendary British artist with an array of colours making up a painted lightning bolt going diagonally down his face.
Snapped by fashion photographer Brian Duffy, his son Chris has now spoken about where the idea of the cover came from and how much it could generate in an auction.
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The album cover is poised to break the record set by Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album, which went to a buyer for a staggering £240,000 in 2020.
Chris Duffy said that Bowie got the idea from none other than Elvis Presley, and apparently, a 1970s kitchen cooking pot.
He claimed in an interview with The Mirror: "Bowie always liked the Taking Care of Business (TCB) flash by Elvis and that evolved into his own lightening flash and became his motto.
"Elvis had the TCB flash on the back of his private jet and he had signet rings with the flash on which he had given his band. David was obsessed with it, he loved that flash."
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He remembered a National Panasonic pot that his dad Brian had, which Bowie thought was 'fantastic' due to its blue and red flash.
Regardless of its inspiration, the Aladdin Sane image is one of many items being sold among the Chris Duffy archive, which will be up for grabs in a global online auction held by Bonhams on 22 October.
The original album cover is the most lucrative item being sold, estimated at around £300,000 for any interested buyers.
There are going to be 35 items up for grabs for music collectors, including the inside sleeve artwork, worth around £150,000 to £200,000.
The wooden stool the artist sat on for the album shoot is also available for purchase, as well as the original Hasselblad 500C camera used and even a photo contact sheet from the 1973 shoot - one of just two in existence.
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Chris recalled that the album got its exact name from a mix-up between his dad and the late artist, saying: "I remember when dad was doing the shoot, he asked David what the album was to be called, and David replied 'A Lad Insane'. My dad interpreted this as 'Aladdin Sane'.
"I guess a genie vision and thoughts of rubbing an Aladdin's lamp must have appeared to him. All David gave him was a flash idea for the album so that was a quite difficult ask," he claimed.
Brian Duffy and David Bowie worked together for eight years from 1973, creating the images for albums such as Bowie's Lodger in 1979, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980, and even a photoshoot on the set of Bowie's debut movie, The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976.
Topics: David Bowie, Music, Art, Celebrity
Joshua Nair