David Bowie will provide an original song for an upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants musical.

The singer is one of many stars who will contribute music to the project, which will run at Chicago's Oriental Theatre from June 7 to July 3.

The surprise news was confirmed by TV station Nickelodeon.

Bowie is joined on the credits list by John Legend and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.

Cyndi Lauper, TI, The Flaming Lips, Panic at the Disco, Plain White T's, Lady Antebellum, Dirty Projectors and Jonathan Coulton are also on board.

Nickelodeon's president of content development and production Russell Hicks told the Chicago Tribune:

"All of those amazing composers are fans of SpongeBob.

"Music has always been an important part of the show and everyone saw this as a real creative challenge... We have a story and a subplot, but it's all spiced with the particular flavourings of the SpongeBob universe."

The show, based on the popular animated TV series, will be directed by Tina Landau.

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Watch David Bowie in action below: