Gilbert O’Sullivan -

Gilbert O’Sullivan is an Irish singer/songwriter from Waterford who grew up in Swindon, England. He first recorded as Gilbert on the late-1960s singles “Disappear,” “What Can I Do?,” and “Mr. Moody’s Garden,” then emerged under his full name with “Nothing Rhymed.” His 1970s run produced the international hits “Alone Again (Naturally),” “Clair,” and “Get Down” across five albums from Himself through Southpaw. O’Sullivan resumed album activity in the 1980s with Off Centre, Life & Rhymes, and In the Key of G.

Background

Gilbert O’Sullivan was born Raymond Edward O’Sullivan on Dec. 1, 1946, in Waterford, Ireland. His mother, May O’Sullivan, ran a sweet shop in Waterford, and his father worked as a butcher for Clover Meats. The family moved to Battersea, London, when O’Sullivan was seven and settled one year later in Swindon, Wiltshire. His father died when O’Sullivan was thirteen. May O’Sullivan bought her son a drum kit and piano. He took piano lessons for roughly six months and continued by ear.

O’Sullivan attended St Joseph’s Catholic College and studied graphic design at Swindon College of Art. While enrolled, he drummed in the local beat groups The Doodles and The Prefects. In late 1964, he joined Rick’s Blues, an R&B group led by future Supertramp keyboardist Rick Davies. They cut an acetate of two songs, “Don’t Dictate to Me” and “Not This Time Maybe the Next,” in February 1966 at Tony Pike Studios in Putney. The group split in late summer after more than seventy engagements.

Early Singles

O’Sullivan moved to London in 1967 and took a temporary sales job at C&A on Oxford Street. Co-worker Mike Ward passed O’Sullivan demos to CBS. The contact led to a five-year April Music publishing agreement and a CBS recording contract. Under the mononym Gilbert, O’Sullivan debuted with the November 1967 single “Disappear” (b/w “You”), produced by Tremeloes soundman Mike Smith (not the DC5 singer). John Peel aired “Disappear” on Top Gear. Meanwhile, The Tremeloes recorded “You” and “Come On Home,” another song O’Sullivan submitted to CBS.

“You” reappeared on the back of the April 1968 second Gilbert single, “What Can I Do?” In May 1969, O’Sullivan appeared on Major Minor with his third and final Gilbert single: “Mr. Moody’s Garden” (b/w “I Wish I Could Cry”), produced by Tommy Scott and arranged by Nicky Welsh.

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan devised a visual identity built around a pudding-bowl haircut, flat cap, short trousers, and heavy boots, drawing on silent-film figures such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The deliberately old-fashioned appearance accompanied the demos he circulated after the Major Minor single. He sent a demo to Tom Jones manager Gordon Mills, who signed O’Sullivan to MAM Records under a new management arrangement.

MAM issued the October 1970 single “Nothing Rhymed” (b/w “Everybody Knows”), O’Sullivan’s first under his full name. He entered Audio International Studios in London with producer Gordon Mills in November 1970 for sessions that produced Himself.

Discography: