2003: A Space Oddity - record producer sues Bowie from the grave

David Bowie is being sued for £6m by the estate of the late record producer Gus Dudgeon, which claims royalties owed for the chart-topping Space Oddity have not been paid for over 30 years. Lawyers have been instructed to serve a High Court writ after failing to settle the matter amicably.

Executors appointed after Dudgeon and his wife Sheila died in a car crash last year have also demanded his credit as producer is taken off any future releases until the case is resolved.

Last night, solicitor Nigel Angel, of London firm Angel & Co, confirmed that proceedings were imminent. "We are being instructed by the estate of Gus Dudgeon to pursue his claim to royalties with the utmost vigour," he said. "It's our aim to file the writ against Mr Bowie and all other interested parties within the next few weeks."

Space Oddity, which was recorded in one day at Trident Studios in London in 1969, is credited with launching Bowie's career, reaching number five in the charts after the BBC used it during the coverage of the first moon landing. A re-released version made it to number one in 1975.

Lawyers for the estate allege Dudgeon was only paid a £250 advance for producing the record, but claim he was promised 2 per cent of future royalties. With interest and damages, they now estimate he would be entitled to some £6m.

Dudgeon, who also produced " Your Song" which catapulted Elton John to fame as well as his classic Seventies output such as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, was considering legal action in the weeks before his death. He said: "When I started producing in the Sixties I was very green. It was only when I started seeing decent royalties rolling in from my Elton records that I realised the true value of that track."

But his cause has since been taken up by royalties investigator David Morgan.

"There's a lot of money involved and they are still using his name. David Bowie owns all his own recordings and it's our understanding that producer liabilities stay with the owner of the copyright," Mr Morgan said.

This is disputed by RZO Companies, Bowie's New York-based business managers. In a letter to Mr Morgan, RZO's Henry Wrenn-Meleck states: "We see no basis on which David Bowie is liable to Gus Dudgeon or any other party for producer royalties."

Bowie became the first music star to raise money on the financial markets when he "securitised" his future royalty stream: his "Bowie Bonds" brought an advance of $55m (£37m) against earnings from his back catalogue.