So Elton dressed up ridiculously, and I had the character, Gilbert. That was a separate issue. The more people who were against it made me more determined to be a singer and a songwriter. Without the songs I would never have been able to do it. At 12 years of age, I was very naive , very shy. I have always been basically shy anyway. When I was in London, I would wait until I saw an empty table in a cafe before I would sit down with my tea.
Then if somebody sat down, I would get up and go. There was an army of press and photographers outside. The driver was going mad because we drove 10 times past the cinema. There was a red carpet entrance. I was terrified. I got the driver to pull up around the corner. Then I snuck with my sister up to the top of the queue and walked in with my head down.
He was dancing with his wife Linda. I hate intrusion. I am not comfortable in the limelight. I never went out and partied. I drank Coke. I was very naive as a normal person. The first time I had a glass of wine was with Gordon. When he came on, he sat in front of us. Chances are Van did recognise him. She was living near Manhattan Beach in California where they met. On June 4, , they got married in Hersham, Surrey and are still very much together to this day.
In , she accompanied him on his ill-fated tour of America. The cost was astronomical. The first show in Carnegie Hall in New York was packed. From then on, though, the venues were half empty.
I was sent home in the middle of the night. We had a fantastic time, but it was a wonderful disaster. Less wonderful was his acrimonious falling out in the mids with his manager Gordon Mills.
It resulted in a high-profile court case. He was very good for me in those early days. We had great success. He produced the records. But by the mids, things were easing off and I was still ambitious. You are still my manager. It would be good for us. So, I made the decision to move. I shook hands with him, and I broke up with him. He basically told me to eff off. I ended up with far more than I was looking for. I deeply regret the hurt and pain it caused everybody.
But I had to do it. The appearance might have sold more copies of his greatest-hits compilation, but he turned it down. A little bit sensitive, a little bit paranoid, a lot misunderstood, O'Sullivan is odd in the nicest possible way.
It's clear he is still hungry for success. He speaks of having a top hit again and of listening to almost all new music, particularly Damien Rice, Damien Dempsey and David Gray.
You can't help hoping that one of these days, when he sits down with his tape recorder at his grand piano, he comes up with a song to blow the likes of Westlife out of the charts. But I also know I can't keep doing this for ever, so time is really precious. Love or hate him, in a world of pop mediocrity O'Sullivan is a bona-fide song-making machine - and quite possibly the last star to treat songwriting as a proper nine-to-five job.
The snootier critics may not appreciate this prince of whimsy, who, when glam rock was the next big thing, had the audacity to wear a pudding-bowl haircut on Top Of The Pops, but, bad reviews or no reviews, Gilbert O'Sullivan is not giving up.
And maybe that, more than anything, is what those in the cool set can't stand. In honour of Irish Times Food Month, a query into all manner of musical victuals. See a sample. Exclusive competitions and restaurant offers, plus reviews, the latest food and drink news, recipes and lots more. Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription. More from The Irish Times Books.
Subscriber Only. Putting the Rabbit in the Hat by Brian Cox: ticking the boxes. Music Quiz. The Books Podcast. Culture Videos. Sign up. Women writers Putting Irish women writers back in the picture. Crazy times? I had girlfriends but I had a pretty normal life at home. Ray is a fantastic songwriter and so are Squeeze, their songs are imbued with Englishness.
I let him. Different countries have different favourites. It got pulled before it reached the West Coast. After dallying with CBS, Gordon took over the managerial reins.
Their friendship ended in the mids with a legal battle over song ownership that put his career on hold for years. In , he took action against rapper Biz Markie for sampling Alone Again Naturally without permission.
Fans are generally friendly.
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