GILBERT


 O'SULLIVAN

Singer/songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan successfully

combined a flair for Beatlesque popcraft with an

old-fashioned music hall sensibility to emerge as

one of the most distinctive and popular new

performers of the early 1970s. Born Raymond

O'Sullivan in Waterford, Ireland he went on to

attend art school in Swindon, England, writing

songs throughout his formative years and sending

out demo tapes to little avail. After graduating he

went to work in a London department store; one

of his co-workers there was under contract with

CBS, and soon O'Sullivan was signed to the label

as well. The wit and craft of O'Sullivan's music

aside, much of his early success was predicated

on his unusual image - at the peak of the hippie

movement, he resembled nothing so much as a

Depression-era street urchin, complete with

pudding-bowl haircut, short pants, and flat cap.

As quickly as O'Sullivan ascended to fame,

however, his star began to fall. Although singles

like "Ooh Baby" and "Happiness Is Me and You"

continued to chart, they sold increasingly fewer

copies, and after 1973, his overseas popularity

essentially ceased altogether. 

Go To Next

Artist/Band

Return To 

Rocking Ireland

Return To RM

Lay Out

Return To Major

Bands & Artists