In 1976, David Bowie and Iggy Pop co-wrote China Girl while in France just prior to their “Berlin Era”. The song itself originally appeared on Iggy’s 1977 album The Idiot, which was co-written with Bowie.

This version, however, was recorded much later by David for his 1983 Let’s Dance album. Nile Rodgers produced the track and it was released as the record’s second single, which reached #2 in The UK and #10 in The US.

It is believed that Bowie released his own version of the song to aid Iggy Pop’s financial situation. Since the writing credit was shared with Iggy, he received royalties from the success of the album/single. Despite being incredibly influential, Iggy’s record sales were rather poor. With the David Bowie version of “China Girl”, Iggy gained financial stability for the first time in his career.