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Gilbert O'Sullivan (born Raymond Edward
O'Sullivan, on 1 December 1946, in Waterford,
Ireland) is a singer-songwriter, best known
for his early-1970s hits "Alone Again
(Naturally)", "Clair" and "Get Down".
Biography
Early in his life, his family moved to
Swindon, England, where he attended St.
Joseph's Comprehensive school. Here he began
to develop an interest in music and art. At
Swindon Art College in 1963, he met Rick
Davies who would later become a member of the
progressive rock band Supertramp. During
these years, O'Sullivan experimented with
songwriting, writing his first song, "Ready
Miss Steady."
O'Sullivan signed a five-year contract with
CBS in 1967. However, after two unsuccessful
singles with CBS, and one with the Irish
label Major Minor, he sent some demo tapes to
Gordon Mills, the manager of Tom Jones and
Engelbert Humperdinck, whereupon he signed
with Mills' label, MAM Records. It was Mills
who redesignated him Gilbert O'Sullivan, a
pun on Gilbert and Sullivan, but the
eye-catching visual image comprising
pudding-basin haircut, cloth cap and short
trousers, was O'Sullivan's own idea,
reportedly hated by Mills but O'Sullivan
insisted on going with it, at least for a
couple of years, after which a more modern
look took over in which he often wore a
sweater bearing a large letter 'G'. At the
end of 1970, O'Sullivan achieved his first UK
Top 10 hit with "Nothing Rhymed", which
reached No. 8 (No. 1 in The Netherlands), and
enjoyed nearly five years of major success.
This run incorporated thirteen more hit
singles, six of which reached the UK Top 10,
plus four Top 10 albums, including Himself
(1971), Back To Front (1972), I'm A Writer
Not A Fighter (1973) and A Stranger In My Own
Back Yard (1974). In 1972 his international
star raised, after his self-penned ballad,
"Alone Again (Naturally)," a No. 3 hit in
Britain, became a chart-topper in the U.S.,
spending six weeks at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart and selling nearly
two million copies there.
He also landed two consecutive UK chart
toppers, with the songs "Clair" (1972); and
"Get Down" (1973), which reached No. 2 and
No. 7 respectively in America. However,
things later turned sour, as O'Sullivan
discovered his recording contract with MAM
Records greatly favoured the label's owner. A
litigation followed, with prolonged argument
over how much money his songs had earned and
how much of that money he had actually
received. Widely reported in the media, this
may have been the first high-profile case of
its kind.[citation needed] Eventually the
court found in O'Sullivan's favour, the judge
describing him as "a patently honest and
sincere man," who had been treated shabbily.
He had won, but the court battle had put his
recording career on hold.
Sometime before the case had come to court,
he had returned after a five year chart
absence in 1980, with a new contract with his
old label, CBS. The first single of the new
contract - "What's In A Kiss" - reached No.
19 in the UK. But then the hits completely
dried up, and due in part to the 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,
O'Sullivan was absent from the charts until
another compilation album returned him to the
Top 20 in 2004. For years O'Sullivan spoke in
a bad light about his fall from fame, once
saying that "no-one cares" what he has to say
anymore, until the internet came along and he
got in contact with some fans on his website.
However, O'Sullivan continues to record and
perform to the present day, and enjoys some
success in Japan.
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