Michael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield (born 15 May 1953,
ReadingReading is a large town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London...
,
BerkshireBerkshire is a county in the South East of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1958, and Letters...
) is an
EnglishEngland 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 and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
multi-instrumentalistA multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:The European Piffari,...
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
, working a style that blends
progressive rockProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
,
folkThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
, ethnic or
world musicWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
, classical music,
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
,
New AgeNew Age music is music of various styles, which is intended to create inspiration, relaxation, and positive feelings, often used by listeners for yoga, massage, inspiration, relaxation, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or...
and more recently
danceThis article is about dance music in general. You may also be looking for electronic dance music or dance-pop.Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album
Tubular BellsTubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement...
, which broke new ground as an instrumental album and launched
Virgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI, and then, in the US, merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group....
, and for his 1983 hit single "
Moonlight Shadow"Moonlight Shadow" is a pop song written by English multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield and released as a single in May 1983 and included on the album Crises in the same year. The vocals were performed by the Scottish vocalist Maggie Reilly, who had joined Mike Oldfield in 1980...
". He is also well known for his hit rendition of the
ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
piece, "
In Dulci Jubilo"In Dulci Jubilo" / "On Horseback" is a double A-side single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1975 .- Details :...
".
History
Oldfield's parents are Maureen and Raymond Oldfield, a nurse and
general practitionerA general practitioner or GP is a medical practitioner who provides primary care and specializes in family medicine. A general practitioner treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes...
, respectively. His sister
SallySally Oldfield is a folk singer and the sister of composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.- Early life :Oldfield and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, Maureen...
and brother
TerryTerence "Terry" Oldfield is an English composer. He is brother to well-known music composers and performers Sally and Mike Oldfield.- Early life :...
are successful musicians in their own right and have appeared on several of his albums. Mike Oldfield was born in the
Battle HospitalBattle Hospital was a National Health Service hospital in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The hospital was located on a large site between Oxford Road and Portman Road, in West Reading....
,
Reading, BerkshireReading is a large town in England, located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London...
and he attended
St Joseph's Convent SchoolSt Joseph's Convent School is an independent mainly girl's school in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is a Catholic day school for girls aged 3 to 18 and boys aged 3 to 7....
, Highlands Junior School in
TilehurstTilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is also, with different boundaries as described below, a civil parish.-Location:...
, St Edward's
Preparatory SchoolIn English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
and Presentation College in Reading. When Oldfield was 13 he moved with his parents to
Harold WoodHarold Wood is a place in the London Borough of Havering, East London, England.It is a suburban development situated east north-east of Charing Cross...
where he attended
HornchurchHornchurch is a suburban town in northeast London, England and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential...
Grammar School. He only stayed there long enough to take one
GCEThe General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...
examination in English as he had already begun his music career.
Early career
Oldfield's career began fairly early in his life, playing
acoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
in local folk clubs. At this time, he already had two fifteen-minute instrumental pieces in which he would "go through all sorts of moods", a precursor to his landmark 1970s compositions. In his early teens, Oldfield was involved in a 'beat group' playing
The ShadowsThe Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a grand total of 69 UK hit singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s...
style music (he has often cited
Hank MarvinHank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
as a major influence, and would later cover The Shadows' song "
Wonderful Land"Wonderful Land" is UK #1 single by The Shadows. The song was released on the Atlantic Records label in the U.S., but did not reach the Billboard Top 100. This single stayed more weeks at #1 in the UK than any other single during the 60's - including those by The Beatles.- Mike Oldfield version...
"). In 1967 he and his sister
SallySally Oldfield is a folk singer and the sister of composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.- Early life :Oldfield and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, Maureen...
formed the folk duo
The SallyangieThe Sallyangie were a 1960s folk duo consisting of siblings Mike and Sally Oldfield. In 1969 they released their first and only album Children of the Sun. The duo split in the fall of 1969 after limited success and a national tour...
and were signed to
Transatlantic RecordsTransatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961 and developed a reputation as a pioneer in various musical genres. It started primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British...
after exposure in the local folk scene. An album,
Children of the SunChildren of the Sun is the 1969 album by British folk duo The Sallyangie. The album was reissued in 2002, with bonus tracks and a second disc.- Original release :# "Strangers" – 1:32# "Lady Mary" – 3:41# "Children of the Sun" – 4:56...
was issued in 1968. After Sallyangie disbanded, he formed another duo with his brother
TerryTerence "Terry" Oldfield is an English composer. He is brother to well-known music composers and performers Sally and Mike Oldfield.- Early life :...
, called Barefoot, which took him back to
rock musicRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
.
In 1970 he joined ex-
Soft MachineSoft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the so-called "Canterbury scene," and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre....
vocalist
Kevin AyersKevin Ayers is an English songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...
' backing group The Whole World playing
bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
. The band also included
keyboardAn electronic keyboard or digital keyboard is a sample-based keyboard instrument. Its sound is generated or amplified by one or more electronic devices....
ist and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
David BedfordDavid Vickerman Bedford , is a British composer and musician. He has written and played popular as well as classical music.-Studies and early work:...
, who quickly befriended Oldfield and encouraged him in his composition of an early version of
Tubular Bells. Bedford would later arrange and conduct an orchestral version of that album. With Ayers, Oldfield recorded two albums,
WhatevershebringswesingWhatevershebringswesing is the third solo album by Kevin Ayers.In 1971, Kevin Ayers started recording what would become his most acclaimed album, Whatevershebringswesing accompanied by members of Gong and his previous backing band The Whole World...
and
Shooting at the MoonShooting at the Moon is the second solo album of Kevin Ayers.In early 1970, Ayers assembled a band he called The Whole World to tour his debut LP Joy of a Toy that included, a young Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, Lol Coxhill, Mick Fincher, the folk singer Bridget St. John and Robert Wyatt...
. Both albums featured early versions of what would become his trademark sound.
Having recorded a demo version of
Tubular Bells, Oldfield attempted to convince someone in the music industry to take the project on, but was told the project was unmarketable. However, in 1972 he met the young
Richard BransonSir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English industrialist, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies. Branson's first successful business venture was at age 16, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up an audio record mail-order business in 1970...
who was setting up his own record label,
Virgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI, and then, in the US, merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group....
, and after playing the demo to engineers
Tom NewmanNot to be confused with Thomas Newman.Tom Newman is an English record producer and musician...
and Simon Heyworth, he began recording the 1973 version of the album.
1973 – 1991: Virgin years
Tubular BellsTubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement...
became Oldfield's most famous work. The instrumental composition was recorded in 1972 and launched on 25 May 1973 as the inaugural album of
Richard BransonSir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English industrialist, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies. Branson's first successful business venture was at age 16, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up an audio record mail-order business in 1970...
's
Virgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI, and then, in the US, merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group....
label. The album was groundbreaking, as Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in the
multi-layered recordingOverdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....
made in Branson's
Manor studiosThe Manor Studio was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. It was the first residential recording studio in the UK...
, and its style progressed continuously, covering many diverse musical genres. The album quickly reached the Top 10 of the UK album chart and has spent 279 weeks on the chart to date, a figure bettered by only ten other albums. Its 2,630,000 UK sales put it at No.34 on the list of the best selling albums in the UK. In the U.S., it received attention chiefly by appearing in the soundtrack to
The ExorcistThe Exorcist is a 1973 U.S. horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl, and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her daughter through an exorcism conducted by two priests....
. The title track subsequently became a Top 10 hit single in the US as well and is today considered to be a forerunner of the New Age movement. In the autumn of 1974, the follow-up LP,
Hergest RidgeHergest Ridge is a record album, written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield released in 1974 by Virgin Records. It was his second album and like its predecessor, Tubular Bells, was number 1 in the UK album charts, but unlike its predecessor, it went straight in at the top spot.Oldfield was not...
, was No.1 in the UK for three weeks before being dethroned by
Tubular Bells. Although
Hergest Ridge was released over a year after
Tubular Bells, it reached No.1 first.
Tubular Bells spent 11 weeks (10 of them consecutive) at No.2 before its one week at the top. In 1979,
Tubular Bells was used as the main musical score for
The Space MovieThe Space Movie is a documentary film produced in 1979 by Tony Palmer at the request of NASA, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 moon landing....
, a Virgin movie that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the
Apollo 11The Apollo 11 mission was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr...
mission. The
Exorcist track is the score used for the landing sequence of the Apollo flights.
Like
Tubular Bells,
Hergest Ridge is a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield's
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. It also forms a unitary district known as the County of Herefordshire. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the southeast, and...
country retreat. This was followed in 1975 with the pioneering
world musicWorld music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians that is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.-Terminology:...
piece
OmmadawnOmmadawn is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It is his third album, released in 1975 . The cover photograph was by David Bailey. It peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart.- Album history :...
, and 1978's
IncantationsIncantations is a double album written and produced by Mike Oldfield. Released in late 1978 , it was his fourth studio album, and the first to feature a piece divided into more than two movements....
which introduced more diverse choral performances from
Sally OldfieldSally Oldfield is a folk singer and the sister of composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.- Early life :Oldfield and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, Maureen...
,
Maddy PriorMaddy Prior is an English folk singer.-Early life:Born in Blackpool, Prior moved in her teens to St Albans, where she befriended the young Donovan Leitch and Mac MacLeod. She later formed a duo with MacLeod called Mac & Maddy. She became a roadie for visiting American musicians, including Reverend...
and the
Queen's CollegeQueen's College is an all-girls English independent school located in Harley Street, London. It was founded in 1848 by F. D. Maurice, Professor of English Literature and History at King's College London. Originally it was at number 66, later renumbered to 45. Later still it expanded into number 49...
Girls Choir. Oldfield's 1976 rendition of "
Portsmouth"Portsmouth" is a single released by musician Mike Oldfield in 1976 .- Details :In an attempt to repeat the success of his previous year's Christmas hit, "In Dulci Jubilo", Mike recorded another traditional folk melody dating from 1701 , again using Leslie Penning on recorders...
" remains his highest charting single on the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
, reaching number three.
In 1976 Oldfield and
Sally OldfieldSally Oldfield is a folk singer and the sister of composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.- Early life :Oldfield and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, Maureen...
joined his friend and band member
Pekka PohjolaJussi Pekka Pohjola was a Finnish multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. Best known as a bass player, Pohjola was also a classically trained pianist and violinist...
to play on his album
Mathematician's Air Display which was released in 1977. The album was recorded and edited at Oldfield's Througham Slad Manor in
GloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
by Oldfield and Paul Lindsay.
Around the time of
Incantations, Oldfield underwent a controversial self-assertiveness therapy course known as
ExegesisExegesis, an alternative therapy programme, operated in the UK in the later 1970s and early 1980s. Robert D'Aubigny, the founder of Exegesis, had had involvment in Werner Erhard's controversial Californian est workshops before introducing the concept in Great Britain.The Exegesis programme...
. Possibly as a result, the formerly reclusive musician staged a major
European tourTour of Europe 1979 was a concert tour by the British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield.- Background :It was his first tour, 6 years after his debut album, Tubular Bells. It was used as promotion for the Incantations album. The tour spawned a record release, Exposed, and later a concert video,...
to promote the album, chronicled in his live album
Exposed, much of which was recorded at the
National Exhibition CentreThe National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres...
near Birmingham, the first-ever concert there.
In 1975, Oldfield received a
Grammy awardThe 17th Grammy Awards were presented March 1, 1975, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1974.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
for
Best Instrumental CompositionThe Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of the music.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...
in "Tubular Bells – Theme from
The Exorcist". In 1979, he recorded a version of the
signature tune"Blue Peter" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1979 . It is a rendition of the theme tune for the British children's television show Blue Peter and was used by the show between 1979 until 1989.- Blue Peter :...
of the popular British Children's Television programme,
Blue PeterBlue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel.It is named after the blue-and-white flag hoisted by a ship in port when it is ready to sail...
, which was used by the show for 10 years.
The early 1980s saw Oldfield make a transition to "mainstream" popular music, beginning with the inclusion of shorter instrumental tracks and contemporary cover versions on
Platinum and
QE2QE2 is a record album mostly written and performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1980.It was his sixth album and featured both original Oldfield compositions and two short songs from bands ABBA and The Shadows...
(the latter named after the
cruise shipRMS Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as the 'QE2', is a retired Cunard ocean liner, now owned by Nakheel, a division of Dubai World. She was named after the earlier Cunard liner , and served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by in 2004...
). Soon afterwards he turned to songwriting, with a string of collaborations featuring various lead vocalists alongside his characteristic searing guitar solos. The best known of these is "
Moonlight Shadow"Moonlight Shadow" is a pop song written by English multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield and released as a single in May 1983 and included on the album Crises in the same year. The vocals were performed by the Scottish vocalist Maggie Reilly, who had joined Mike Oldfield in 1980...
", his 1983 hit with
Maggie ReillyMaggie Reilly is a Scottish vocalist best known for her collaborations with the composer and instrumentalist Mike Oldfield...
. This song has been covered by various other artists, including
Aselin DebisonAselin Debison is a Canadian pop and Celtic music singer, sometimes known affectionately as Azi, either by herself or her fanbase.-Career:...
(
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
folkThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
singer), German duo
Groove CoverageGroove Coverage is a German Euro-trance band. The Groove Coverage project consists of Axel Konrad, DJ Novus, Melanie Munch, better known as Mell , and Verena Rehm . The band has had hits around the world, especially in Germany, and have had radio play in North America, notably with the song, "Poison"...
(
electronicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
/techno) and DJ Mystic (
electronicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
/techno). In 2002 it was a number one hit in central Europe for the German dance act
Groove CoverageGroove Coverage is a German Euro-trance band. The Groove Coverage project consists of Axel Konrad, DJ Novus, Melanie Munch, better known as Mell , and Verena Rehm . The band has had hits around the world, especially in Germany, and have had radio play in North America, notably with the song, "Poison"...
. The most successful Oldfield composition on the US pop charts during this period was actually a cover version —
Hall & OatesHall & Oates is a pop music duo made up of Daryl Hall and John Oates. The act achieved its greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul." Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine & J...
's remake of Oldfield's "
Family Man"Family Man" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1982 . It was released from the album Five Miles Out, with vocals performed by Maggie Reilly....
" for their 1982 album
H2OH2O is the 1982 hit album from the duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. It featured three Top 10 U.S. singles, including "Maneater" which was the biggest hit of their career, spending four weeks at the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts...
. Released as the album's third single, it hit the Top 10 during the spring of 1983 and was a hugely popular
MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
music video.
Oldfield later turned to film and video, writing the
scoreThe Killing Fields is the 10th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1984. It was the soundtrack album for the film of the same name.- History :...
for
Roland JofféRoland Joffé is a film director who began his career in television. His early television credits included episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for...
's acclaimed film
The Killing Fields and producing substantial video footage for his album
IslandsIslands is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1987. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland and Jim Price. A different track list and cover was used for the American edition....
.
Islands continued what Oldfield had been doing on the past couple of albums, with an instrumental piece on one side and rock/pop singles on the other. Of these, "
Islands"Islands" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1987 . It is from the album of the same name, Islands. "Islands" features Bonnie Tyler on vocals.- Track listing :# "Islands" – 5:35...
", sung by
Bonnie TylerBonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer. She is recognisable by her distinctive, husky voice.- Early life :...
and "
Magic TouchMagic Touch may refer to:* Magic Touch , the debut album by jazz musician Stanley Jordan* The Magic Touch, a manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Tsubaki* "Magic Touch" , a single by musician Mike Oldfield...
", with vocals by
Max BaconMax Bacon is the former lead singer for 1980s arena rock supergroup GTR as well as the frontman for lesser known bands like Moby Dick, Nightwing, Phenomena, and Bronz....
(US version) and Southside Jimmy, a vocalist from
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
(under his real name - Jim Price), (UK/rest of the World) were the major hits. In the USA, Virgin America promoted the song "Magic Touch" to a large extent, making it a success, reaching the top 10 on the
Billboard album rock chartsThe Billboard charts are music sales, airplay and digital ranking reports distributed to the general public by Billboard magazine. Billboard is considered the foremost authority worldwide in these song sales, airplay, digital reports, or music charts.On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published...
. During the 1980s Oldfield's then partner, Norwegian singer
Anita HegerlandAnita Hegerland , is a Norwegian singer famous for her childhood career in the Scandinavian and German markets and subsequent vocal contributions to amongst others Mike Oldfield's work.- Biography :...
, appeared his album and contributed vocals to many songs including "
Pictures in the Dark"Pictures in the Dark" is a song by Mike Oldfield released as a single mainly in Europe in 1985 . Singers on this single includes his girlfriend at the time, Anita Hegerland, Barry Palmer and well-known Welsh choirboy Aled Jones....
".
Earth MovingEarth Moving is the 12th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1989.- Album analysis :The songs are sung by various singers that Oldfield hired, including his then-wife, Anita Hegerland. The album is made mostly with synthesizers...
was released in July 1989, and was a moderate success. The album was the first to feature rock/pop songs on both sides. Several were released as singles: "Innocent" and "
Holy" Holy" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1989 . It is from the album Earth Moving. Lead vocals are by Adrian Belew of King Crimson...
" in Europe, and "Hostage" in the USA for album rock stations. This was, however, a time of much friction with his record label.
Virgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI, and then, in the US, merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group....
reportedly insisted that any future instrumental album should be billed as
Tubular Bells 2. Oldfield's rebellious response was
AmarokAmarok is the 13th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1990. It is considered by fans to be his most distinctive work: a single sixty-minute track of continuous, uninterrupted but constantly-changing music....
, an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes (supposedly devised to make cutting a single from the album impossible), unpredictable bursts of noise, and a very cleverly hidden
Morse codeMorse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a given message...
insult directed at Richard Branson. Although regarded by many fans as his greatest work, it was not a commercial success. His parting shot from the Virgin label was
Heaven's OpenHeaven's Open is the 14th record album performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1991. It was his last album on Virgin, and also the only album he released under the name Michael Oldfield, instead of Mike Oldfield.- History :...
, which continued the veiled attacks on Branson but was notable for being the first time Oldfield had contributed all the lead vocals himself, it was the only album that Oldfield released as Michael Oldfield, not Mike Oldfield.
1992 – 2003: Warner years
The very first thing Oldfield did when arriving at this new label,
Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label that operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. It is also affectionately known as Warners or the Bunny, based on the Bugs Bunny cartoons released by Warner Bros. Pictures.-History:...
, and as his final insult to his former label, was to write and release
Tubular Bells IITubular Bells II is the 15th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1992. The album - the first for his new record label, Warner Bros. Records, following an acrimonious departure from Virgin Records after twenty years - was conceived as a sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells.- Album...
(the sequel to the first record released by Virgin), which was premiered at a
live concertTubular Bells II, The Performance Live at Edinburgh Castle is a live concert video by Mike Oldfield released in 1992.The video is a full faithful performance from the premiere concert of the Tubular Bells II album at Edinburgh Castle. John Gordon Sinclair performed the part of the Master of...
at
Edinburgh CastleEdinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the sky-line of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
. He then continued to embrace new musical styles, with
The Songs of Distant EarthThe Songs of Distant Earth is the 16th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1994. It is based on Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel Songs of Distant Earth.- Release details :...
(based on
Arthur C. ClarkeSri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, a collaboration which also produced the film of the same name; and as a...
's
novel of the same nameThe Songs of Distant Earth is the common title of several science fiction works by Arthur C. Clarke, including a science fiction short story, a short movie synopsis, and a 1986 science fiction novel that all bear the same title. This article deals with the novel.-Plot Summary:The story is set...
) exhibiting a softer "
New AgeNew Age music is music of various styles, which is intended to create inspiration, relaxation, and positive feelings, often used by listeners for yoga, massage, inspiration, relaxation, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or...
" sound. In 1994 he also had an
asteroidthumb|260px|right|[[253 Mathilde]], a [[C-type asteroid]] measuring about across. Photograph taken in 1997 by the [[NEAR Shoemaker]] probe.Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar System; they are...
named after him,
5656 Oldfield5656 Oldfield is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on October 08, 1920 by W. Baade at Bergedorf. It has been named after the British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, creator of the famed Tubular Bells albums.- External links :*...
.
In 1995 Oldfield further continued to embrace new musical styles by producing a
CelticCeltic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic peoples of Western Europe...
themed album,
Voyager. In 1992 Oldfield met
Luar na LubreLuar na Lubre is a celtic music ensemble from Galicia.*Luar is Galician for moonlight; lubre was a kind of magic forest in Celtic culture.-About the band:...
, a galician Celtic-folk band (from
A CoruñaA Coruña is the second largest city in Galicia in northwestern Spain, second only in size to the port of Vigo in Pontevedra Province. The city is the capital of A Coruña Province...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
). The bands popularity grew after Oldfield heard their song "O son do ar" ("The sound of the air"), which he covered on his
Voyager album.
In 1998 he produced the third
Tubular Bells album,
Tubular Bells IIITubular Bells III is the 18th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1998. A sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells and his 1992 Tubular Bells II albums, it was released on the 25th anniversary of the first Tubular Bells album....
(also premiered at a
concertTubular Bells III, The Premiere Performance is a live concert video by Mike Oldfield released in 1998.It was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1998, and later packaged with Tubular Bells II Live on DVD.- The Concert :...
, this time in
Horse Guards ParadeHorse Guards Parade is a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London, at grid reference . It was formerly the site of the Palace of Whitehall's tiltyard, where tournaments were held in the time of Henry VIII...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
), drawing from the
dance musicThis article is about dance music in general. You may also be looking for electronic dance music or dance-pop.Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
scene at his then new home on the island of
IbizaIbiza is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Iberian Peninsula Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses...
. This album was still inspired by themes from
Tubular Bells, but differed in lacking a clear two part layout.
During 1999 Oldfield released two albums. The first,
GuitarsGuitars is a record album written and performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1999 .- Background :Oldfield plays all the music on the album, using only guitars of various types. The most remarkable usage is that of his Roland MIDI-equipped guitars, which he uses to trigger drum samples and produce...
, used guitars as the source for all the sounds on the album, including percussion. The second,
The Millennium BellThe Millennium Bell is the 20th record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1999 . The theme of the album is a reflection of different periods of Human history...
, consisted of pastiches of a number of styles of music that represented various historical stages over the past millennium. The work was
performed liveThe Art in Heaven Concert is a Mike Oldfield concert video taken from 2000 New Year's night concert at Berlin, Germany, which is currently available on DVD....
in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
for the city's millennium celebrations in 1999–2000.
He added to his repertoire the
MusicVRMusicVR is a virtual reality project created and developed by the musician Mike Oldfield. To date it has produced two standalone simulation games and inspired content for some of Oldfield's albums.- History :...
project, combining his music with a
virtual realityVirtual reality is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world...
-based computer game. His first work on this project is
Tr3s LunasTr3s Lunas is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It was released in 2002 with a bonus CD containing a demo program for a PC game, Tres Lunas.- Title :...
launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a world full of new music. This project appeared as a double CD, one with the music, and the other with the game.
In 2003 he released
Tubular Bells 2003Tubular Bells 2003 is an album by Mike Oldfield, released in 2003. It is a complete re-recording of Oldfield's 1973 album Tubular Bells.- Background :...
, a re-recording of the original
Tubular Bells, on CD, and
DVD-AudioDVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos. The first discs entered the marketplace in 2000...
. This was done to "fix" many "imperfections" in the original due to the recording technologies of the early 1970s and limitations in time that he could spend in the recording studio. It celebrated the 30th anniversary of
Tubular Bells, Oldfield's 50th birthday and his marriage to Fanny in the same year. The DVD-Audio version has the same content as the CD version in surround, and some demos of the original
Tubular BellsTubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement...
. At around the same time Virgin released an
SACDSuper Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical audio disc format developed by Sony and Philips Electronics, the same companies that created the Compact Disc. SACD is designed to provide high-resolution audio in both stereo and surround sound modes...
version containing both the original stereo album and the 1975
quadraphonicQuadraphonic sound – the most-widely-used early term for what is now called 4.0 stereo – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another. Quadraphonic audio was one of the earliest...
mix by Phil Newell. In the 2003 version, the original voice of the '
Master of CeremoniesA master of ceremonies, microphone controller or MC , sometimes called a compère or an MJ for "microphone jockey," is the host of an official public or private staged event or other performance. The MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving...
' (Viv Stanshall) was replaced by the voice of
John CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an Academy Award-nominated English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer who is known for being a member of the group of comedians responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different,...
, Stanshall having died in the interim.
2004 – present: Mercury years
On 12 April 2004 Oldfield launched his next
virtual realityVirtual reality is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world...
project,
MaestroMusicVR is a virtual reality project created and developed by the musician Mike Oldfield. To date it has produced two standalone simulation games and inspired content for some of Oldfield's albums.- History :...
, which contains music from the
Tubular Bells 2003 album and also some new chillout melodies. The games have since been made available free of charge on Oldfield's website. A double album,
Light + Shade, was released on
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, and are both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music...
, with whom Mike had recently signed a three album deal. The two discs contain music of contrasting moods, one relaxed (
Light) and the other more edgy and moody (
Shade). The album was released on 26 September 2005.
Light includes a selection of tracks from the album in
U-MYXU-MYX is a music format launched in 2004 which allows a user to arrange and create their own mix of songs by known music artists. The U-MYX Software is available on CDs and as digital downloads from U-MYX's own digital store. Digital U-MYX Sales are UK Chart eligible and count towards the...
format, which allows listeners to create their own remixes. Oldfield headlined the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
Night of the PromsNight of the Proms is a series of concerts held yearly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Regularly there are also shows in France, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Scandinavian countries...
tour, consisting of 18 concerts in December 2006.
His autobiography
ChangelingChangeling is a 2007 autobiography by Mike Oldfield. It was published in May 2007 by Virgin Books. In May 2008 Changeling was re-released in a paperback edition.- Profits :...
was published in May 2007 by
Virgin BooksVirgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
. In March 2008 Oldfield released his first classical album,
Music of the SpheresMusic of the Spheres is the first classical album by English musician Mike Oldfield released in the UK on 17 March 2008. New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra is featured vocalist on "On My Heart" and the album also features Chinese pianist Lang Lang on piano and six tracks.The album is based on the...
;
Karl JenkinsKarl William Jenkins OBE D.Mus. is a Welsh musician and composer. Jenkins was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours list of 2005.-Background:...
assisted with the orchestration. In the first week of release the album topped the
UK Classical chartThe UK classical chart is a commercial monitoring and marketing device used by the UK music industry to measure its effectiveness in promoting and selling albums, nominally in the field of classical music. The chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company...
and reached number 9 on the main UK Album Chart. A single, "
Spheres"Spheres" is a classical digital-only single by Mike Oldfield from his album Music of the Spheres released on 3 March 2008 .- Demo version :...
", featuring a demo version of pieces from the album was released digitally. The album was nominated for a Classical Brit Award, the NS&I Best Album of 2009.
In mid-2008 to accompany the BBC2 television series
AmazonAmazon is a BBC documentary television series co-produced by the Endeavour Productions and Indus Films, and hosted by Bruce Parry.- Show content :...
, an album was released in support of the
Survival InternationalSurvival International is a human rights organization formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples, seeking to help them to determine their own future. Their campaigns generally focus on tribal peoples' fight to keep their ancestral lands,...
charity, called
Songs for SurvivalBruce Parry Presents Amazon - Tribe - Songs for Survival is a double album released by Kensaltown Records in support of Survival International, the human rights organisation for tribal peoples. The themes of the album are life around the Amazon River and other remote tribal areas. These topics...
, on which Oldfield recorded an exclusive song. Oldfield's daughter, Molly, played a large part in the project and Oldfield's track "Song for Survival" features the
AnutaAnuta is a small high island in the southeastern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu, "the smallest permanently inhabited isolatedPolynesian island."-Description:...
tribe.
In 2008 when Oldfield's original 35 year deal with Virgin Records ended, the rights to
Tubular Bells and his other Virgin releases were returned to him, and then they were transferred to
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Music Group in the US, and are both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal Music...
. Mercury issued a press release on 15 April 2009, noting that Oldfield's Virgin albums would be re-released, starting 8 June 2009. These releases include special features from the archives. In April 2009 a new official website was unveiled, and on 6 June 2009, an International Bell Ringing day took place, to promote the reissue of his first album,
Tubular Bells.
Personal life
Oldfield and his siblings were raised Roman Catholic, the faith of their
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
mother. In the late 1970s, Oldfield briefly married Diana D'Aubigny (the sister of the
ExegesisExegesis, an alternative therapy programme, operated in the UK in the later 1970s and early 1980s. Robert D'Aubigny, the founder of Exegesis, had had involvment in Werner Erhard's controversial Californian est workshops before introducing the concept in Great Britain.The Exegesis programme...
group leader), but this lasted just a few weeks.
Mike Oldfield has seven children. In the early 1980s, he had three children with Sally Cooper (Molly, Dougal and Luke). In the late 1980s, he had two children (Greta and Noah) with
NorwegianNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
singer
Anita HegerlandAnita Hegerland , is a Norwegian singer famous for her childhood career in the Scandinavian and German markets and subsequent vocal contributions to amongst others Mike Oldfield's work.- Biography :...
. In the 2000s, he married Fanny Oldfield (née Vandekerckhove, born 1977), whom he met during his time in Ibiza; they have two sons together (Jake and Eugene).
Oldfield is a motorcycle fan, and has five bikes. These include a
BMW R1200GSThe BMW R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure are motorcycles manufactured in Berlin, Germany by BMW Motorrad, part of the BMW group. It is one of the BMW GS family of dual sport motorcycles. Both motorcycles feature a 1,170 cc, 2-cylinder boxer engine with 4-valves per cylinder...
, a
Suzuki GSX-R750The GSX-R750 is a sport bike from Suzuki's GSX-R series of motorcycles. It was introduced in 1985 and can be considered to be the first of the modern racer-replicas with many race-derived technologies and the looks of a Suzuki Endurance racer at an affordable price.-Air and oil-cooled:The oil...
, a
Suzuki GSX-R1000The GSX-R1000 is a super bike from Suzuki's GSX-R series of motorcycles. It was introduced in 2001 to replace the GSX-R1100 and is powered by a liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder 4-stroke engine.-2001:...
and a Yamaha R1. He also says that some of his inspiration for composing comes from riding them. Throughout his life Oldfield has also had a passion for aircraft and building model aircraft. He is also a licensed pilot and has flown fixed wing aircraft, the first of which was a
Beechcraft SierraThe Beechcraft Musketeer line is a family of single-engine, low-wing, light aircraft that includes the Model 19 Musketeer Sport, the Model 23 Musketeer, Custom and Sundowner, the Model 23-24 Musketeer Super III the retractable gear Model 24-R Sierra and the military model CT-134 Musketeer.The...
and helicopters including the
Agusta Bell 47GThe Bell 47 is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the third Model 30 prototype, Bell's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young, the Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use on 8 March 1946...
which featured on the sleeve of his cover-version of the
ABBAABBA was a pop music group formed in Sweden in November 1970. The band consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad , Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog. They topped the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982...
song
"Arrival""Arrival", which had working titles of "Fiol", "Ode to Dalecarlia" & "Arrival in Dalecarlia", was the instrumental title track from Swedish pop group ABBA's album of the same name.- Background :...
as a parody of their
album artworkArrival is the fourth album by Swedish pop group ABBA, first released in Sweden on October 11, 1976 . Recording sessions began in August 1975 and continued until September 1976. The album was recorded at Metronome and Glen studios in Stockholm, Sweden. "Arrival" was first released on CD in 1984...
. He is also interested in cars and has owned a
FerrariFerrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1928 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari S.p.A....
and a
BentleyBentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley . Mr. Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later versions of the Sopwith Camel...
which was a gift from Richard Branson as an incentive for him to give his first live performance of
Tubular Bells. He has endorsed the
Mercedes-Benz S-ClassThe Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a series of the largest sedans produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The S-Class, a product of nine lines of Mercedes-Benz models dating since the mid-1950s, has ranked as the world's best-selling luxury flagship sedan...
in the Mercedes UK magazine. Oldfield also considers himself to be a
TrekkieA Trekkie is a fan of all or part of the Star Trek fictional universe.-Origins:In 1967, science fiction editor Arthur W. Saha applied the term "trekkies" when he saw a few fans of the first season of Star Trek wearing pointy ears at the 25th World Science Fiction Convention, on the day Gene...
(fan of the popular science fiction television series
Star TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series.The original Star Trek was an American television series, created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation...
). He also noted in an interview in 2008 that he had two boats.
In November 2006, fellow musician
Noel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician, best known as the former principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and occasional vocalist of British rock band Oasis...
won a
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
court case against Oldfield. Gallagher had bought an
IbizaIbiza is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Iberian Peninsula Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses...
villa for £2.5 million from Oldfield in 1999, but quickly discovered that part of the cliff-top property was falling into the sea. The resulting court case awarded Gallagher a six-figure sum in compensation. Suspicion abounds in the music industry that the law-suit was initiated because of embarrassment that Gallagher brought on himself by not having a proper survey done on the property before buying it. This included making an immediate and noisy complaint about someone's yacht tied up at the villa's jetty before it was pointed out that the yacht came with the villa and was, in fact, his.
In 2007 Oldfield caused a minor stir in the British press by criticizing Britain for being too controlling and over protective, specifically, concentrating on the smoking ban, which England and Wales introduced that year. Oldfield then moved from his
GloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
home to
Palma de MallorcaPalma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. Oldfield has lived outside the UK in the past, including living in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
and
IbizaIbiza is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Iberian Peninsula Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses...
in the 1990s and
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
in the mid-1980s, for tax reasons. Oldfield also currently has a home in
MonacoMonaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a small sovereign city-state located in South Western Europe on the northern central coast of the Mediterranean Sea, having a land border on three sides only with France, and being about away from Italy. Its size is just under 2 km² with an...
. In 2009 Oldfield decided to move to
the BahamasThe Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an English-speaking country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 rocks. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, Hispaniola and the Caribbean Sea, northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United...
, and put his home in Mallorca up for sale; the asking price is around €3.5 million.
Discography
Oldfield has had more than 30 charting albums and 25 charting singles on the British charts, and many more around the world.
Main albums
| Year | Title | UK Album Chart
position |
|---|
| 1973 -January–April:*January 9 - Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug bust, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour of Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand....
|
Tubular BellsTubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement...
|
1 |
| 1974 -Events:*January - The Ramones form.*January - Joni Mitchell releases her monumental album Court and Spark, supported by the single "Help Me" reaching the highest moment of commercial success....
|
Hergest Ridge Hergest Ridge is a record album, written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield released in 1974 by Virgin Records. It was his second album and like its predecessor, Tubular Bells, was number 1 in the UK album charts, but unlike its predecessor, it went straight in at the top spot.Oldfield was not...
|
1 |
| 1975 -Events:*January 2 - New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former Beatle John Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case....
|
The Orchestral Tubular Bells The Orchestral Tubular Bells is an orchestral version of Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells, arranged by David Bedford and recorded in 1974 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Oldfield himself playing the guitar....
|
17 |
| 1975 -Events:*January 2 - New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former Beatle John Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case....
|
Ommadawn Ommadawn is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It is his third album, released in 1975 . The cover photograph was by David Bailey. It peaked at #4 on the UK Albums Chart.- Album history :...
|
4 |
| 1978 -Events:*January to May - The Bee Gees dominate the singles and album charts as Saturday Night Fever becomes a cultural phenomenon. At one point, the album was selling 1 million copies per week....
|
Incantations Incantations is a double album written and produced by Mike Oldfield. Released in late 1978 , it was his fourth studio album, and the first to feature a piece divided into more than two movements....
|
14 |
| 1979 See also:Musical groups established in 1979Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music -Events:*Stevie Wonder uses digital audio recording technology in recording his album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants....
|
Exposed |
16 |
| 1979 See also:Musical groups established in 1979Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music -Events:*Stevie Wonder uses digital audio recording technology in recording his album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants....
|
Platinum |
24 |
| 1980 -Events:*January 1 - Cliff Richard is appointed an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II.*January 7 - At the age of 44, songwriter Larry Williams is found dead in his Los Angeles, California home of a gunshot wound to the head...
|
QE2 QE2 is a record album mostly written and performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1980.It was his sixth album and featured both original Oldfield compositions and two short songs from bands ABBA and The Shadows...
|
27 |
| 1982 See also:* 1982 in music Record labels established in 1982* list of 'years in music'-Events:*January 15 – K.C. and the Sunshine Band's Harry Wayne Casey is seriously injured in an automobile accident in Miami, Florida....
|
Five Miles Out Five Miles Out is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It was his seventh album of original material, and was released in 1982 , at a time when his music was moving away from large-scale symphonic pieces towards a more accessible pop style...
|
7 |
| 1983 -Events:*Publication of A Generative Theory of Tonal Music by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff.*February 6 - Madonna releases her first ever album after signing to Warner Bros.....
|
Crises Crises is the 8th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1983. Oldfield's well known "Moonlight Shadow" appears on the album.- Album analysis :...
|
6 |
| 1984 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Events:*January 21 - "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40....
|
Discovery Discovery is the 9th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1984. It was recorded at Oldfield's then-home in Villars-sur-Ollon in the Swiss Alps where he was living for tax reasons.- Album analysis :...
|
15 |
| 1984 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Events:*January 21 - "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40....
|
The Killing Fields The Killing Fields is the 10th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1984. It was the soundtrack album for the film of the same name.- History :...
|
97 |
| 1987 See also:Record labels established in 1987-Events:*January - Steve "Silk" Hurley's innovative "Jack Your Body" becomes the first house music record to top the UK singles chart....
|
Islands Islands is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1987. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland and Jim Price. A different track list and cover was used for the American edition....
|
29 |
| 1989
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989.-Events:
*January 14 - Paul McCartney releases Снова в СССР exclusively in the USSR...
|
Earth Moving Earth Moving is the 12th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1989.- Album analysis :The songs are sung by various singers that Oldfield hired, including his then-wife, Anita Hegerland. The album is made mostly with synthesizers...
|
30 |
| 1990 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1990.-Events:
*January 21 - MTV's Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical pie, Squeeze...
|
AmarokAmarok is the 13th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1990. It is considered by fans to be his most distinctive work: a single sixty-minute track of continuous, uninterrupted but constantly-changing music....
|
49 |
| 1991 See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year...
|
Heaven's Open Heaven's Open is the 14th record album performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1991. It was his last album on Virgin, and also the only album he released under the name Michael Oldfield, instead of Mike Oldfield.- History :...
|
|
| 1992
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January-February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s.**Paul Simon is the first major artist to...
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Tubular Bells II Tubular Bells II is the 15th music album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1992. The album - the first for his new record label, Warner Bros. Records, following an acrimonious departure from Virgin Records after twenty years - was conceived as a sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells.- Album...
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| 1994
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 29 - The Supremes' Mary Wilson is injured when her Jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside of Los Angeles, California, USA...
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The Songs of Distant Earth The Songs of Distant Earth is the 16th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1994. It is based on Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel Songs of Distant Earth.- Release details :...
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| 1996
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January - At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the...
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| 1998
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:
*January 28 - "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...
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Tubular Bells III Tubular Bells III is the 18th album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1998. A sequel to Oldfield's 1973 Tubular Bells and his 1992 Tubular Bells II albums, it was released on the 25th anniversary of the first Tubular Bells album....
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| 1999 See also:* 1999 in music Record labels established in 1999-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation....
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Guitars Guitars is a record album written and performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1999 .- Background :Oldfield plays all the music on the album, using only guitars of various types. The most remarkable usage is that of his Roland MIDI-equipped guitars, which he uses to trigger drum samples and produce...
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| 1999 See also:* 1999 in music Record labels established in 1999-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation....
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The Millennium Bell The Millennium Bell is the 20th record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1999 . The theme of the album is a reflection of different periods of Human history...
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| 2002 This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2002.-Events:*January 9 - Max Lilja leaves Apocalyptica.*January 18 - Rayna Foss leaves Coal Chamber...
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Tr3s Lunas Tr3s Lunas is a record album written and mostly performed by Mike Oldfield. It was released in 2002 with a bonus CD containing a demo program for a PC game, Tres Lunas.- Title :...
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| 2003 See also:* 2003 in music Record labels established in 2003-Events:* January - following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during...
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Tubular Bells 2003 Tubular Bells 2003 is an album by Mike Oldfield, released in 2003. It is a complete re-recording of Oldfield's 1973 album Tubular Bells.- Background :...
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| 2005 -Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996....
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| 2008 -January:*29 January**Face to Face announce that they will reunite for select shows in the US and internationally.**Rage Against the Machine headline the Big Day Out festivals in Australia and New Zealand, their first shows outside the United States since reforming, and their first Australian shows...
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Music of the Spheres Music of the Spheres is the first classical album by English musician Mike Oldfield released in the UK on 17 March 2008. New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra is featured vocalist on "On My Heart" and the album also features Chinese pianist Lang Lang on piano and six tracks.The album is based on the...
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Instruments
Oldfield is a
multi-instrumentalistA multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:The European Piffari,...
; however he considers himself to be predominantly a guitarist. For a large list of Oldfield's instruments, past and present, see
the Instruments section at Tubular.net.
Guitars
Over the years Oldfield has used a various selection of guitars, some of the most noted being:
- A 1963 (also quoted as 1961 and 1962) salmon pink (fiesta red) Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing...
serial no.L08044 – Used by Oldfield from 1984 (Discovery album) until 2006 (Night of the Proms, rehearsals in Antwerp) – Sold for £30,000 at Chandler Guitars.
- A 1989 amber PRS
PRS Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith in 1985. Paul Reed Smith Guitars is a leading manufacturer of high-end electric guitars...
Artist Custom 24 – Used by Oldfield from the late 1980s to the present day.
- A 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
serial no. 180728 – The only electric guitar used on Tubular Bells and also previously owned by Marc BolanMarc Bolan , was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T...
– Went up for auction at BonhamsBonhams is a privately owned British auction house founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year. It has 700 employees....
in June 2007, with the money going to the SANESANE is a mental illness charity in the UK established in 1986. SANE was founded in response to a series of articles featured in 'The Times' entitled The Forgotten Illness. Written by Marjorie Wallace, now SANE's Chief Executive, the articles underscored the neglect of people suffering from...
charity.
- Various Gibson
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer, Valley Arts, Tobias, Steinberger, and Kalamazoo. In addition to guitars, the company makes pianos through its...
Les PaulThe Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar originally developed in the early 1950s. The Les Paul was designed by Ted McCarty in collaboration with popular guitarist Les Paul, whom Gibson enlisted to endorse the new model.- Origins :...
and SGThe Gibson SG is a popular model of solid-bodied electric guitar that was introduced in the early 1960s.-Origins:In 1960, Gibson Les Paul sales were significantly lower than they had been in previous years, so in 1961 the model was given a completely new body style that was thinner and had two...
s – Used by Oldfield extensively in the 1970s and 80s.
Oldfield used a modified
Rolandis a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in...
GP8 effects processor in conjunction with his PRS Artist to get many of his heavily overdriven guitar sounds from the
Earth MovingEarth Moving is the 12th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1989.- Album analysis :The songs are sung by various singers that Oldfield hired, including his then-wife, Anita Hegerland. The album is made mostly with synthesizers...
album onwards.Oldfield has also been using Guitar synthesizers since the mid-1980s, using a 1980s Roland GR-300/G-808 type system, then a 1990s Roland GK2 equipped red PRS Custom 24 (sold in 2006) with a Roland VG8, and most recently a
Line 6Line 6 is a manufacturer of digital modeling guitars, amplifiers and related electronic equipment. Their product lines include electric and acoustic guitars, basses, guitar and bass amplifiers, effects processors, USB audio interfaces and guitar/bass wireless systems...
VariaxVariax is a line of modeling guitars marketed and developed by Line 6.It claims to be the first guitar able to emulate the tones of 25 other guitars, including notable models by Fender, Gibson and many others...
.
Oldfield has an unusual playing style, using both fingers and fingernails and several ways of creating vibrato: a "very fast side-to-side vibrato" or "violinist's vibrato". Oldfield has also stated that his playing style originates from his musical roots playing folk music and the bass guitar.
Recording
Oldfield has self-recorded and produced many of his albums, and played the majority of the instruments that appear on them, largely at his home
studiosA recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties...
. In the 1990s and 2000s Oldfield has been mainly using
DAWsA digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed to record, edit and play back digital audio. A key feature of DAWs is the ability to freely manipulate recorded sounds...
such as Apple
LogicLogic Pro is a digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software application for the Mac OS X platform. Originally created by German software developer Emagic, Logic Pro became an Apple product when Apple bought Emagic in 2002...
,
DigidesignDigidesign is an American digital audio technology company. It was founded in 1984 by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks. The company began as a project to raise money for the founders' band, selling EPROM chips for drum machines...
Pro ToolsPro Tools is a Digital Audio Workstation platform for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems, developed and manufactured by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film...
and
SteinbergSteinberg is a German musical software and equipment company based in Hamburg. It mainly produces MIDI music sequencer software, software synthesizers and digital audio editing tools.- History :...
Nuendo as recording suites. For composing classical music Oldfield has been quoted as using the software notation program, Sibelius, combined with Apple
MacintoshThe Macintosh, or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced on January 24 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than a...
es. He also used the
FL StudioFL Studio, formerly known as FruityLoops, is a digital audio workstation developed by Belgian company Image-Line Software. FL Studio was originally the creation of Didier Dambrin, who is now the lead programmer at Image-Line responsible for its core development.FL Studio features a fully...
DAW on his 2005 double album
Light + Shade. Among the mixing consoles Oldfield has owned are an
AMS NeveAMS Neve Ltd was the result of the amalgamation in 1992 of AMS with Neve Electronics.-Background:Neve were originally a legendary British mixing console manufacturer that originated in the work of Rupert Neve in the 1960s...
Capricorn 33238 and a
EuphonixEuphonix is a pioneering professional audio company located in Mountain View, California, United States. Euphonix produced the first successful line of large digitally-controlled analog audio mixing consoles in the late 1980s and has since moved on to all-digital systems.- Founding through IPO ...
System 5-MC.
Keyboards
Over the years Oldfield has owned and used a vast number of synthesizers and other keyboard instruments. In the 1980s Oldfield composed the score for the film
The Killing FieldsThe Killing Fields is a 1984 British film drama about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.It is based on the experiences of three journalists: Dith Pran, a Cambodian, Sydney Schanberg, an American, and Jon Swain, a journalist from the UK. The film, which won three Academy Awards, was directed by...
on a
FairlightFairlight is a digital audio company based in Sydney, Australia. In 1979 they created the Fairlight CMI, the first digital audio sampler, quickly used by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Jean Michel Jarre. They are now a manufacturer of media solutions tools such as digital audio...
CMIThe Fairlight CMI was the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
. Some examples of keyboard and synthesized instruments which Oldfield has made use of includes
Sequential CircuitsSequential Circuits Inc. was a California-based synthesizer company that was founded in the early 1970s by Dave Smith and sold to Yamaha Corporation in 1987. The company, throughout its lifespan, pioneered many groundbreaking technologies and design principles that are often taken for granted in...
Prophets (notably on
Platinum) , Roland 1080/2080 units (in the 1990s), a
Korgis a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments and electronic tuners. The company is one of the most widely used and respected names in professional music worldwide.-Company history:...
M1The Korg M1 was the world's first widely-known music workstation. Its onboard MIDI sequencer and palette of sounds allowed musicians to produce complete professional arrangements. Outselling the Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50, the M1 became the best-selling digital keyboard of all time, which it...
(as seen in the "
Innocent"Innocent" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1989 . It is from the album Earth Moving. "Innocent" features vocals from Anita Hegerland.- Inspiration :...
" video), a
ClaviaClavia Digital Musical Instruments is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson.-The Company:...
Nord Lead and
SteinwaySteinway & Sons, also known as Steinway, is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded in 1853 in New York City, by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg . The company's growth led to the opening of a factory and employee village in what is now Astoria, Queens, followed...
pianos among an almost endless list of others. In recent years Oldfield has also made use of software synthesis, such as
Native InstrumentsNative Instruments is a software instrument company that develops musical hardware and software for professional musicians, producers, DJs, and sound designers...
products, notably on his
Light + Shade album.
See also
- Sally Oldfield
Sally Oldfield is a folk singer and the sister of composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.- Early life :Oldfield and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, Maureen...
- Terry Oldfield
Terence "Terry" Oldfield is an English composer. He is brother to well-known music composers and performers Sally and Mike Oldfield.- Early life :...
- Kevin Ayers
Kevin Ayers is an English songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...
- Maggie Reilly
Maggie Reilly is a Scottish vocalist best known for her collaborations with the composer and instrumentalist Mike Oldfield...
- Rick Fenn
Richard 'Rick' Fenn is an English rock guitarist. He is best known for being a member of the band 10cc since 1976. He has also collaborated with Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Hollies singer Peter Howarth and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason....
- Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer.-Early life:Born in Blackpool, Prior moved in her teens to St Albans, where she befriended the young Donovan Leitch and Mac MacLeod. She later formed a duo with MacLeod called Mac & Maddy. She became a roadie for visiting American musicians, including Reverend...
- Anita Hegerland
Anita Hegerland , is a Norwegian singer famous for her childhood career in the Scandinavian and German markets and subsequent vocal contributions to amongst others Mike Oldfield's work.- Biography :...
- New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles, which is intended to create inspiration, relaxation, and positive feelings, often used by listeners for yoga, massage, inspiration, relaxation, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or...
- Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
- Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI, and then, in the US, merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group....
External links
Official sites
Fan-based sites
- tubular.net – Tubular.net, the largest and most well-established Mike Oldfield website, for news and information.
- mike-oldfield.es – Mike-Oldfield.es, the biggest Spanish fan community. Nine different languages are available.
Other sites