Writer: David Bowie
Producers: David Bowie and Nile Rodgers
Recorded: Fall and winter, 1982-83 in New York City
Released: April 1983
| Players: | David Bowie — vocals Stevie Ray Vaughan — guitar Nile Rodgers — guitar Carmine Rojas — bass Rob Sabino — keyboards Tony Thompson — drums Sammy Figueroa — percussion Robert Arron, Steve Elson — saxophones |
| Album: | Let's Dance (EMI America 1984) |
“Let's Dance” was David Bowie's second Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100, following 1975's “Fame.” It spent a week at the top spot, and Bowie hasn't reached that peak since.
Taking Number One on May 21, 1983, “Let's Dance” knocked Michael Jackson's “Beat It” off the top spot after a three-week run.
“Let's Dance” was the first Bowie single to top the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K.
The Let's Dance album was the first in a reported $10 million deal with EMI Records, which Bowie signed to after leaving his longtime home, RCA.
Working with Chic's Nile Rodgers, the chameleon-like Bowie surprised his fans by making Let's Dance a Spartan, commercial, and accessible album that spawned three hit singles.
Bowie called the Let's Dance album “probably the simplest album I've ever done. In fact, it was quite complex to put together, but I hope the overall impression is that it's the most positive, emotional, uplifting album I've made in a long time.”
Let's Dance also introduced audiences to a previously little-known guitarist from Texas named Stevie Ray Vaughan. Though Vaughan was supposed to be in Bowie's band for the “Serious Moonlight” tour that followed Let's Dance, he opted instead to tour with his own group, Double Trouble, to support his 1983 debut album Texas Flood.
The Let's Dance album peaked at Number Four on the Billboard 200 and at Number One on the U.K. album chart.
Let's Dance was his first platinum studio album in the U.S. and his second overall. The Changesonebowie best-of collection from 1976 was also a million-seller.
