Gilbert O'Sullivan
Encyclopedia
Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish
-English
singer-songwriter
, best known for his early 1970s hits
"Alone Again (Naturally)
", "Clair
" and "Get Down
". The music magazine
, Record Mirror
, voted him the No. 1 UK
male singer of 1972.
Worldwide he has charted sixteen top forty
discs; including six number one songs, the first of which was 1970's "Nothing Rhymed" (for further information see Gilbert O'Sullivan discography
). Speaking in 2009 he said; "I write pop songs. End of story. That's all I wanted to do. That's all I want to do. And that's all I continue to want to do. I have no interest in just touring, and living in the past."
, Ireland
. In 1960, his family moved to Swindon
, Wiltshire
, England
. He attended St Joseph's and the Swindon College of Art, where he briefly played drums in a band founded by Rick Davies
(who later created the band Supertramp
) and where he developed his lifelong interests in music and art. Later O'Sullivan then played with such semi-professional bands
as The Doodles and The Prefects, and, later, Rick's Blues, while at college.
house publishing company, by the general manager Barbara Hayes. He was paid an advance of £12 with which he bought a piano. He was signed to CBS Records by the A&R
manager Mike Smith (The Tremeloes
and the Love Affair) and renamed 'Gilbert O'Sullivan', a play on words
of Gilbert and Sullivan
.
After two unsuccessful singles with CBS, "What Can I Do?" and "Mr. Moody's Garden", and one with the Irish record label
, Major Minor
, O'Sullivan sent some demo
tapes
to Gordon Mills
, the manager of Tom Jones
and Engelbert Humperdinck
, whereupon O'Sullivan was signed to Mills' label, MAM Records
. O'Sullivan's self-created eye-catching visual image comprised a pudding basin haircut, cloth cap and short trousers. Mills reportedly hated the image, but O'Sullivan insisted on using it initially, until he assumed a more modern 'college-like' look in which he often wore a sweater
bearing a large letter 'G'.
Top 10 hit with "Nothing Rhymed", which also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands
. Subsequent hits including "Underneath The Blanket Go" which also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands
, "We Will" and "No Matter How I Try" followed, and in 1971 O'Sullivan issued his debut album
, Himself.
In 1972, O'Sullivan reached international stardom
with the self-penned ballad
, "Alone Again (Naturally)
", which reached No. 3 in UK; No. 1 in the U.S.
, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart
and selling nearly two million copies; No. 2 in New Zealand (11 weeks on the charts in total); No. 1 in Canada for 2 weeks (13 weeks in the Top 40); and No. 1 in Japan (21 weeks on the chart). The song earned O'Sullivan his first gold disc
.
O'Sullivan followed this success with the songs "Clair
" (1972, from the album Back To Front
), which reached No. 2 in the United States on the Hot 100 and No. 1 in Canada (14 weeks in the Canadian Top 40); "Out of the Question" (also from Back To Front), which reached No. 14 in Canada; and "Get Down" (1973, from the album I'm A Writer Not A Fighter), which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in both the U.S. and Canada. Following "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Clair", "Get Down" was his third million-seller, with the R.I.A.A
gold disc award presented on 18 September 1973. His disc
sales exceeded ten million in 1972, and made him the top star of the year. The success led to him taking part in the BBC
's anniversary programme Fifty Years Of Music
in November 1972.
In 1973, O'Sullivan was nominated for a Grammy Award
for "Alone Again (Naturally)" in the Song of the Year
and Record of the Year
categories.
O'Sullivan's singles like "Ooh Baby" and "Happiness Is Me and You" continued to reach the charts, but sold increasingly fewer copies. After 1973, his overseas popularity essentially ceased altogether. At home, he notched his final Top 20 hit for over five years, with June 1975's "I Don't Love You But I Think I Like You".
Things turned more sour when he discovered his recording contract with MAM Records greatly favoured the label's owner, Gordon Mills. A lawsuit followed, with prolonged argument over how much money his songs had earned and how much of that money he had actually received. Eventually, in May 1982, the court found in O'Sullivan's favour, describing him as a "patently honest and decent man", who had not received a just proportion of the vast income his songs had generated. They awarded him £7 million in damages
(worth £20 million at 2011 prices). He had won, but the court battle had put his recording
career on hold.
. Following this release, and due in part to the then-ongoing MAM court case, O'Sullivan released no new material between 1982 and 1987. Apart from a minor hit single in 1990 and a compilation album
in 1991 Nothing But The Best, O'Sullivan was absent from the charts until another compilation album, The Berry Vest of Gilbert O'Sullivan, returned him to the UK Top 20 in 2004.
O'Sullivan is also noted for bringing about the practice of clearing samples in hip hop music
as a result of the 1991 court
case, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc., in which he sued rapper
Biz Markie
over the rights to use a sample
of O'Sullivan's song "Alone Again (Naturally)".
O'Sullivan has continued to record and perform into the 21st century. He enjoys particular acclaim in Japan
. His album A Scruff At Heart was released in 2007, featuring "Just So You Know". On 14 July 2008, O'Sullivan released "Never Say Di". He appeared at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival
, and played London's Royal Albert Hall
on 26 October 2009. On 26 August 2010 O'Sullivan announced that he had joined Hypertension, a record company that also holds Leo Sayer
, Chris DeBurgh, Fleetwood Mac
and Gerry Rafferty
.
His latest album Gilbertville was released on 31 January 2011, holding the new classic "All They Wanted To Say", which deals with 9/11, and his most recent single "Where Would We Be (Without Tea)?". On 19 July 2011 O'Sullivan played live on the BBC Radio 2
Ken Bruce
Show. On 26 August the Documentary "Out On His Own" was broadcasted by BBC4 (before by Irish RTE).
girlfriend, Aase. Later that year the first of their two daughters was born. That same year, after a five-year hiatus, he returned to his old record label
, CBS.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
-English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, best known for his early 1970s hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"Alone Again (Naturally)
Alone Again (Naturally)
"Alone Again " is a song by Irish singer–songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was released in 1972, and in total spent six weeks, non-consecutively, at #1 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In Casey Kasem's American 'Top 40 of the 1970s', "Alone Again " ranked as the fifth...
", "Clair
Clair (song)
"Clair" is a popular song by Irish singer Gilbert O'Sullivan and is one of his biggest-selling singles. Written by O'Sullivan and produced by Gordon Mills, it was the number one single in the UK for two weeks in November 1972, number one in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles chart the following...
" and "Get Down
Get Down (Gilbert O'Sullivan song)
"Get Down" is a song by Gilbert O'Sullivan, from his album I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter. Released as a single, it spent two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in April 1973, and was also a number-one hit in Ireland and a top-ten hit in the United States and Canada. The song has nothing to do...
". The music magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, Record Mirror
Record Mirror
Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...
, voted him the No. 1 UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
male singer of 1972.
Worldwide he has charted sixteen top forty
Top Forty
The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music songs of the previous week...
discs; including six number one songs, the first of which was 1970's "Nothing Rhymed" (for further information see Gilbert O'Sullivan discography
Gilbert O'Sullivan discography
The following is a discography listing of Gilbert O'Sullivan's officially released works to date.-Singles:† Duet with Peggy Lee-EPs:-Albums:...
). Speaking in 2009 he said; "I write pop songs. End of story. That's all I wanted to do. That's all I want to do. And that's all I continue to want to do. I have no interest in just touring, and living in the past."
Early life
O'Sullivan was born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan in WaterfordWaterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. In 1960, his family moved to Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He attended St Joseph's and the Swindon College of Art, where he briefly played drums in a band founded by Rick Davies
Rick Davies
Rick Davies is an English musician, best known as the founder and keyboardist of progressive rock band Supertramp...
(who later created the band Supertramp
Supertramp
Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
) and where he developed his lifelong interests in music and art. Later O'Sullivan then played with such semi-professional bands
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
as The Doodles and The Prefects, and, later, Rick's Blues, while at college.
Music career
In 1967, O'Sullivan was signed to a five-year contract with April Music, CBS Records'Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
house publishing company, by the general manager Barbara Hayes. He was paid an advance of £12 with which he bought a piano. He was signed to CBS Records by the A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
manager Mike Smith (The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.-Career:They formed as Brian Poole and the Tremoloes influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets...
and the Love Affair) and renamed 'Gilbert O'Sullivan', a play on words
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
of Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
.
After two unsuccessful singles with CBS, "What Can I Do?" and "Mr. Moody's Garden", and one with the Irish record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Major Minor
Major Minor Records
Major Minor Records was a record label started by Phil Solomon in 1966. It had a distribution deal with Decca Records. Artists on the label included The Dubliners and Johnny Nash. Ultimately the label was bought by EMI....
, O'Sullivan sent some demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
tapes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
to Gordon Mills
Gordon Mills
Gordon William Mills , was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter who was born in Madras, India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales...
, the manager of Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
and Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...
, whereupon O'Sullivan was signed to Mills' label, MAM Records
MAM Records
MAM Records was a British record label launched in 1970 by the management company Management Agency & Music Ltd. . It was founded by Gordon Mills and Tom Jones and distributed by London Records...
. O'Sullivan's self-created eye-catching visual image comprised a pudding basin haircut, cloth cap and short trousers. Mills reportedly hated the image, but O'Sullivan insisted on using it initially, until he assumed a more modern 'college-like' look in which he often wore a sweater
Sweater
A sweater, jumper, pullover, sweatshirt, jersey or guernsey is a garment intended to cover the torso and arms. It is often worn over a shirt, blouse, T-shirt, or other top, but may also be worn alone as a top...
bearing a large letter 'G'.
Early success
At the end of 1970, O'Sullivan achieved his first UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Top 10 hit with "Nothing Rhymed", which also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Subsequent hits including "Underneath The Blanket Go" which also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, "We Will" and "No Matter How I Try" followed, and in 1971 O'Sullivan issued his debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Himself.
In 1972, O'Sullivan reached international stardom
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
with the self-penned ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, "Alone Again (Naturally)
Alone Again (Naturally)
"Alone Again " is a song by Irish singer–songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was released in 1972, and in total spent six weeks, non-consecutively, at #1 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In Casey Kasem's American 'Top 40 of the 1970s', "Alone Again " ranked as the fifth...
", which reached No. 3 in UK; No. 1 in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
and selling nearly two million copies; No. 2 in New Zealand (11 weeks on the charts in total); No. 1 in Canada for 2 weeks (13 weeks in the Top 40); and No. 1 in Japan (21 weeks on the chart). The song earned O'Sullivan his first gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
O'Sullivan followed this success with the songs "Clair
Clair (song)
"Clair" is a popular song by Irish singer Gilbert O'Sullivan and is one of his biggest-selling singles. Written by O'Sullivan and produced by Gordon Mills, it was the number one single in the UK for two weeks in November 1972, number one in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles chart the following...
" (1972, from the album Back To Front
Back To Front (Gilbert O'Sullivan album)
Back to Front is a 1972 album by singer/songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan.- Track listing :All songs written by Gilbert O'SullivanSide One# "Intro/I Hope You'll Stay" – 2:47# "In My Hole" – 2:46# "Clair" – 3:02# "That's Love" – 3:02...
), which reached No. 2 in the United States on the Hot 100 and No. 1 in Canada (14 weeks in the Canadian Top 40); "Out of the Question" (also from Back To Front), which reached No. 14 in Canada; and "Get Down" (1973, from the album I'm A Writer Not A Fighter), which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in both the U.S. and Canada. Following "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Clair", "Get Down" was his third million-seller, with the R.I.A.A
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
gold disc award presented on 18 September 1973. His disc
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
sales exceeded ten million in 1972, and made him the top star of the year. The success led to him taking part in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's anniversary programme Fifty Years Of Music
Fifty Years Of Music
Fifty Years Of Music is a one-off BBC Television production, broadcast to coincide with the BBC's Fiftieth Anniversary in 1972. Originally broadcast on BBC2 on 6 November 1972, from 8:50 – 10:05pm, it was later repeated on BBC1 on 27 December 1972, at 5:45pm...
in November 1972.
In 1973, O'Sullivan was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for "Alone Again (Naturally)" in the Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...
and Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
categories.
MAM Records
O'Sullivan enjoyed nearly five years of success with MAM, a run that included seven UK Top 10 singles and four UK Top 10 albums; three U.S. Top 10 singles and one top 10 album; five Dutch Top 10 singles and three Top 10 albums; five New Zealand Top 10 singles; three Canadian Top 10 singles; and seven Japan Top 10 singles.O'Sullivan's singles like "Ooh Baby" and "Happiness Is Me and You" continued to reach the charts, but sold increasingly fewer copies. After 1973, his overseas popularity essentially ceased altogether. At home, he notched his final Top 20 hit for over five years, with June 1975's "I Don't Love You But I Think I Like You".
Things turned more sour when he discovered his recording contract with MAM Records greatly favoured the label's owner, Gordon Mills. A lawsuit followed, with prolonged argument over how much money his songs had earned and how much of that money he had actually received. Eventually, in May 1982, the court found in O'Sullivan's favour, describing him as a "patently honest and decent man", who had not received a just proportion of the vast income his songs had generated. They awarded him £7 million in damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
(worth £20 million at 2011 prices). He had won, but the court battle had put his recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
career on hold.
Recent success
The first single, "What's In A Kiss?", reached No. 19 in the UK and No. 21 in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Following this release, and due in part to the then-ongoing MAM court case, O'Sullivan released no new material between 1982 and 1987. Apart from a minor hit single in 1990 and a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
in 1991 Nothing But The Best, O'Sullivan was absent from the charts until another compilation album, The Berry Vest of Gilbert O'Sullivan, returned him to the UK Top 20 in 2004.
O'Sullivan is also noted for bringing about the practice of clearing samples in hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
as a result of the 1991 court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
case, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc., in which he sued rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
Biz Markie
Biz Markie
Marcel Theo Hall better known by his stage name, Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989...
over the rights to use a sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
of O'Sullivan's song "Alone Again (Naturally)".
O'Sullivan has continued to record and perform into the 21st century. He enjoys particular acclaim in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. His album A Scruff At Heart was released in 2007, featuring "Just So You Know". On 14 July 2008, O'Sullivan released "Never Say Di". He appeared at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival 2008
The 2008 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was held from 25 to 29 June 2008.-New features:* The John Peel stage doubled in size and had a screen outside it to watch bands.* There was a new 'Shangri-La' area that replaced Lost Vagueness...
, and played London's Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
on 26 October 2009. On 26 August 2010 O'Sullivan announced that he had joined Hypertension, a record company that also holds Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
, Chris DeBurgh, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
and Gerry Rafferty
Gerry Rafferty
Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty was a Scottish singer songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working-class family in...
.
His latest album Gilbertville was released on 31 January 2011, holding the new classic "All They Wanted To Say", which deals with 9/11, and his most recent single "Where Would We Be (Without Tea)?". On 19 July 2011 O'Sullivan played live on the BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
Ken Bruce
Ken Bruce
Kenneth Robertson Bruce is a British broadcaster known for his programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30am until 12 noon.-Early life and career:...
Show. On 26 August the Documentary "Out On His Own" was broadcasted by BBC4 (before by Irish RTE).
Personal life
In 1980, O'Sullivan married his NorwegianNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
girlfriend, Aase. Later that year the first of their two daughters was born. That same year, after a five-year hiatus, he returned to his old record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, CBS.
Contemporary usage of his songs
- "Alone Again (Naturally)" was used in the second series of Life on MarsLife on Mars (TV series)Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
, while "Get Down" was also used in the American version of the show. "Alone Again (Naturally)" was used in "The Wettest Stories Ever ToldThe Wettest Stories Ever ToldThe Wettest Stories Ever Told is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons’ seventeenth season.-Plot:When the Simpsons' plans for a nice family outing at the Frying Dutchman turns into a dining disaster , the family try to salvage the night by turning the episode into yet another Simpsons anthology...
" episode of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. "Alone Again (Naturally)" was used in the films Summer Time Machine BluesSummer Time Machine Bluesis a summer 2005 Japanese film directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro. The film stars Eita as a member of a university science-fiction club, and Juri Ueno and Yoko Maki as part of the neighboring photography club.-Plot:...
, Stuck on You, I Could Never Be Your WomanI Could Never Be Your WomanI Could Never Be Your Woman is a 2007 American romantic comedy film directed and written by Amy Heckerling and starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd. The film was released on May 11 in Spain, July 18 in Belgium, September 14 in Brazil, September 20 in Greece and October 19 in Taiwan...
, Stuart Little 2Stuart Little 2Stuart Little 2 is a 2002 American live action and CGI animated film, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki and the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, James Woods and Steve Zahn. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film and includes...
, Ice Age: Dawn of the DinosaursIce Age: Dawn of the DinosaursIce Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, also known as Ice Age 3, is a 2009 3-D computer animated film. It is the third installment of the Ice Age series, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
, Megamind, and The Virgin SuicidesThe Virgin SuicidesThe Virgin Suicides is the 1993 debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides. The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the suicides of five sisters. The Lisbon girls' suicides fascinate their community as their neighbors struggle to find an explanation for...
while "Nothing Rhymed" was featured on the soundtrack of and Anita and MeAnita and MeAnita and Me is Meera Syal's debut novel, and was first published in 1996. It is a semi-autobiographical novel which won the Betty Trask Award....
. - "Nothing Rhymed" was used at the start of the second series finale of ConsolevaniaConsolevaniaConsolevania is a video games TV show filmed in and around Glasgow, Scotland. It is notable as one of very few online TV shows to make the leap onto broadcast TV as the show videoGaiden, which has had three series shown on BBC Scotland....
, played over an archive new reel montage of an alternate history of the 20th century. The same song was a hit in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1971, performed by the local group, I Profeti, with the title translated into "Era bella" ("She was Beautiful"). - The Japanese television version of the animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Maison IkkokuMaison Ikkokuis a Japanese seinen manga written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi and serialized in the manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1980 through 1987. Maison Ikkoku is a bitter-sweet comedic romance involving a group of madcap people who live in a boarding house in 1980s Tokyo...
used "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Get Down" for the opening and ending sequences respectively in episode 24. - A cover of the song "Nothing Rhymed" was performed by Burton CummingsBurton CummingsBurton L. Cummings, OC, OM is a Canadian musician and songwriter.He was the lead singer and frequent keyboardist for the Canadian rock band The Guess Who...
on his 1975 debut solo album. - "Gilbert O'Sullivan" is the title of a song by The Uncle Devil ShowThe Uncle Devil ShowThe Uncle Devil Show are a pop-rock guitar band formed as a side-project for three Scottish musicians, who use pseudonyms as their aliases. The band members are:*"Langton Herring" – singer-songwriter Kevin McDermott...
on their album, A Terrible BeautyA Terrible Beauty (album)A Terrible Beauty is the first, and so far only, release from UK band The Uncle Devil Show. It was released on P3 Music in 2004.-Track listing:# "Leonardo's Bicycle"# "Gilbert O'Sullivan"# "Tambourine"# "Bimbo in the Limo"# "Plus Ca Change"...
. - The Dublin based band, AslanAslan (rock band)Aslan are an Irish rock band from Dublin who formed in 1982. Comprising Christy Dignam, Joe Jewell, Billy McGuinness, Alan Downey and Rodney O'Brien, the band has released five studio albums - Feel No Shame , Goodbye Charlie Moonhead , Here Comes Lucy Jones , Waiting For This Madness To End and...
, covered "Nothing Rhymed" on their 2009 album, Uncased. - A cover of the song "Nothing Rhymed" was performed by MorrisseyMorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
on his 2002 tour. - Alone Again (Naturally) was used as the opening of the Japanese drama "Home Drama".
See also
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
- List of artists who reached number one in the United States
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart
- List of performers on Top of the Pops
- List of stage names
- List of Irish people
External links
- Official Gilbert O'Sullivan page
- [ Biography at Allmusic]