David Bowie - Let's Dance (14 March 1983 - UK). Personnel & Studio Composition (1982 Recording) Recorded in December 1982 at the legendary Power Station studio in New York, this track brought together a groundbreaking team initiated by co-producer Nile Rodgers (the mastermind of the band Chic): — David Bowie (David Robert Jones): 8 January 1947 (Brixton, London, United Kingdom) - 10 January 2016 - Lead vocals, vocal arrangement, songwriter, and producer. — Stevie Ray Vaughan: 3 October 1954 (Dallas, Texas, USA) - 27 August 1990 - Lead guitar (guitar solo). — Nile Rodgers: 19 September 1952 (The Bronx, New York, USA) - Rhythm guitar, rhythm arrangement, and producer. — Carmine Rojas: 14 February 1953 (Brooklyn, New York, USA) - Bass guitar. — Omar Hakim: 12 February 1959 (New York City, New York, USA) - Drums. — Robert Sabino: (New York City, New York, USA) - Keyboards. — Sammy Figueroa: (The Bronx, New York, USA) - Percussion. — Stan Harrison: (USA) - Tenor saxophone. — Steve Elson: (USA) - Baritone saxophone. — Mac Gollehon: (USA) - Trumpet. — Frank Simms: (USA) - Backing vocals. — George Simms: (USA) - Backing vocals. — Bob Clearmountain: (Los Angeles, California, USA) - Mixing engineer. Did you know? • The Guitarist from the Shadows: Before recording this album, David Bowie attended the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982 and was completely blown away by an unknown, unsigned blues guitar player. It was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bowie immediately hired him to play on "Let's Dance". The blistering, bluesy guitar solo Vaughan records at the end of this ultra-commercial pop-funk track launched his own legendary solo career. • The Folk-to-Funk Transformation: When Bowie first showed the song to Nile Rodgers in Switzerland, he played it on an acoustic folk guitar, and it sounded like a slow country song. Rodgers looked at him and said, "David, you can't call a song 'Let's Dance' if people can't dance to it!" Rodgers rearranged the chords, added his signature "chucking" disco guitar style, and completely rebuilt the track into a massive club groove. • The Beatles "Twist and Shout" Homage: The famous vocal intro where Bowie's backing vocals slowly build up in pitch ("Ahaaaaaa!") before the drums drop is a direct, deliberate tribute to the vocal buildup used by The Beatles in their iconic 1963 version of "Twist and Shout". • The Anti-Racism Video Statement: Bowie used the massive budget provided by EMI to film a highly political music video in the Australian Outback (at the Carinda Hotel and near the Warrumbungle National Park). Instead of making a standard glamorous pop video, he chose to cast two local Aboriginal students to star in it, explicitly using his global platform to make a visual statement against the historical oppression and racism faced by Indigenous Australians. #davidbowie #letsdance #music #1983 - @ultreia_88