Gilbert O'Sullivan

Gilbert O’Sullivan is an Irish male singer-songwriter, born on the 1st of December 1946 in Waterford, Ireland. In 1958 at the age of 11 he moved with his family to Swindon in England. Than he started to play guitar, piano and drums. He played drums in his first band The Doodles, and left them to join The Prefects, but also this was not for a long time. After finishing Swindon Art College, Gilbert moved to London in 1967 to try and further his musical career. From 1967 he start releasing singles. His success came slowly.

After beginning his musical career during the late sixties, playing in various local bands, he had two of his songs recorded by 'The Tremeloes' in 1967 under the credit of 'R O'Sullivan'. He has received three 'Ivor Novello Awards', including 'Songwriter of the Year' in 1973 and is also credited as being one of the first artists to bring about the practice of 'sample clearance', after successfully suing rapper 'Biz Markie' in 1991 who had used a part of Gilbert’s 'Alone Again (Naturally)' song without permission.

In total, 11 LPs have charted (Top 100) with four achieving 'Top 10' placings and the album 'Back To Front' hitting the coveted No.1 spot in the UK in January 1973. In all, his LP chart success has gained him over 200 weeks in the UK music charts to date.

In terms of single/EP releases, 16 have charted in the UK music charts. Seven of these have achieved positions with the UK Top 10 with 'Clair' and 'Get Down / A Very Extraordinary Sort Of Girl' hitting the UK No.1 slot in November 1972 and April 1973 respectively. Overall, Gilbert has achieved placings in the UK Singles Chart for 145 weeks.

Data provided by Discogs