Gilbert O'Sullivan

Gilbert O'Sullivan

Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish singer-songwriter from Waterford, Ireland, born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan in 1946. His work is associated with pop and singer-songwriter music, and he is best known for early 1970s hits including “Alone Again (Naturally)”, “Clair” and “Get Down”.

Early life and first musical activity

O'Sullivan moves with his family from Waterford to Swindon, England, in 1958. He attends St. Joseph's Comprehensive School in Swindon, where he develops interests in music and amateur boxing. He starts on guitar and later moves to piano. As a boxer, he takes part in nearly 50 bouts. He also wins a place at Swindon Art College, where he begins in September 1963 with the aim of becoming a graphic designer.

At college he plays drums in his first group, The Doodles, before leaving to join The Prefects. He meets Rick Davies there, who later becomes a member of Supertramp. While still a student, he begins writing songs and sending out demo tapes. The first song he recalls writing is “Ready Miss Steady”.

Career beginnings

After college, O'Sullivan moves to London in 1967 to pursue music more seriously. He works part-time as a salesman at the C & A department store in Oxford Street. Through a colleague, Mike Ward, he comes into contact with CBS executives and signs a five-year publishing deal that requires one single a year. He releases the singles “Disappear/You” and “What Can I Do/You”, but neither becomes a success. He later signs to Major Minor and releases “I Wish I Could Cry/Mr. Moody's Garden” in 1969.

John Peel gives him airtime on Top Gear, and around this period he develops his “Bisto Kid” image, wearing a grey flannel suit, flat cap, schoolboy tie, football socks and hobnail boots. He then sends demo tapes to Gordon Mills, who signs him to management and songwriting contracts.

Breakthrough and major chart success

His first Top 10 hit is “Nothing Rhymed”, which establishes his distinctive lyrical style and his approach as a singer-songwriter. He signs to MAM Records, the label launched by Gordon Mills, who also produces his records. During the following four years he has substantial chart success, including a dozen more hit singles and four Top 5 albums: Himself (1971), Back To Front (1972), I’m A Writer Not A Fighter (1973) and A Stranger In My Own Back Yard (1974).

“Clair” and “Get Down” both reach number one in Britain. “Clair” is written about Mills’s infant daughter, for whom O'Sullivan sometimes babysits. Back To Front also tops the UK album chart in 1972. “Alone Again (Naturally)” becomes a two-million-selling single and spends six weeks at number one in the US.

He makes his live debut at The National Stadium in Dublin in October 1972. Around this period he abandons the “Bisto Kid” image and adopts sweaters marked with the letter “G”.

Later 1970s and contract dispute

His commercial momentum slows after 1973, although singles such as “Ooh Baby” and “Happiness Is Me and You” still chart. His overseas popularity largely fades after that period, and his final UK Top 20 hit of the 1970s is “I Don’t Love You But I Think I Like You” in 1975. He issues a Greatest Hits album in 1976 and Southpaw in 1977.

Disagreements with Gordon Mills over future direction lead to a legal dispute that sidelines O'Sullivan as a recording artist for five years. The case eventually gives him control of his recordings and the copyright in his songs.

Return to recording and touring

He returns to CBS in 1980 and releases Off Centre (1980) and Life & Rhymes (1982). Off Centre provides his 13th UK Top 20 single, “What’s In A Kiss?”. During much of the 1980s he keeps a low profile, moves to Jersey, and continues writing songs.

His first release after a five-year gap is Frobisher Drive, first available in Germany. A slightly different version appears in the UK in 1989 as In The Key Of G, which includes “So What”, his first charting single in almost a decade. His activity increases after this return, with five further albums and renewed live work in Europe and Japan in the early 1990s.

Japan, live releases and later albums

In 1992, “Tomorrow Today” reaches number one in Japan for nine weeks and leads to a Japanese tour in early 1993 with a newly formed backing group. During that tour he records and films his first live album, Tomorrow Today. Japanese releases from this period include The Little Album and Rare Tracks.

Sounds Of The Loop follows in 1993 and includes a duet with Peggy Lee on “Can’t Think Straight”, along with a solo Japanese version of the same song. The album is recorded almost entirely at his home in Jersey. By Larry appears in 1994 with cartoons by the English cartoonist Larry, and Every Song Has It’s Play follows, serving as the soundtrack to a semi-autobiographical stage show in which O'Sullivan acts and sings. Singer Sowing Machine is released in 1997, Irlish in 2000, and Piano Foreplay in 2003.

In 2004 he releases the 3-CD anthology Caricature: The Box in the US, spanning recordings from 1967 to 2001. The set includes singles, B-sides, tracks from 16 albums, and five previously unreleased recordings. He also issues the B-side collection The Other Sides of Gilbert O'Sullivan in Japan, followed by concerts in Japan and a European tour of the UK, Ireland, Norway and Denmark. A DVD/CD set of his 2004 Japanese show appears in Japan in 2005. He records A Scruff At Heart at the end of 2005 and beginning of 2006, and the album is released in Japan in 2006.

Other work and legal case

O'Sullivan launches his official website and his own label, ByGum Records, in 2001. He continues touring, including concerts in Ireland in 2001 and in the UK in 2002 to support Irlish.

In 1991 he sues American rapper Biz Markie and wins after the unauthorised sampling of “Alone Again (Naturally)” on Biz Markie’s album I Need a Haircut.

Personal life

He lives in Jersey with his wife and two children.