Which singer recorded the 1985 charity single version of “Dancing in the Street” with David Bowie? The answer is Mick Jagger. The two English rock stars recorded the duet to raise money for the Live Aid famine-relief cause.
Bowie and Jagger originally hoped to perform together live during Live Aid, with Bowie at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium. A satellite-link delay made a convincing simultaneous performance impractical, so they recorded the song and made a music video instead. The track was cut on 29 June 1985 while Bowie was working at Abbey Road Studios.
Their version reworked the 1964 Motown hit first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It was released as a single after Live Aid and topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks, while reaching number seven in the United States. The energetic video was filmed at Spillers Millennium Mills in London’s Docklands. The charity context and the Bowie–Jagger pairing distinguish this version from the many earlier covers.