Gilbert O'Sullivan Getting Down Under

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Back in the early 1960s when most of us listened to The Beatles ,
The Shadows , and Bob Dylan , if you had mentioned the name Gilbert
O'Sullivan you would have got no reply and a blank expression from most
music lovers .
However at this time in his career Gilbert was very hard at work trying
to get a break into the business . Before he started to write songs
Gilbert played the drums and every morning he would regularly show up
at the same music publisher asking to see the manager . This went on
for months until finally the manager got sick of the sight of him
sitting outside his office and invited him to come inside . After
Gilbert had played a few of tunes he had paved his way to stardom .
Gilbert got the break he was looking for and recorded his first single
in 1967 entitled "Disappear" .

This was followed by a song entitled "Nothing Rhymed" that shot him
straight into the big time in 1970 . Now people everywhere
began to hear the immaculate voice of Gilbert O'Sullivan .
At this stage he was joined by Gordon Mills who became Gilberts manager
and they teamed up a string of hits together that included Alone Again
, Clair , No Matter How I Tried , and Get Down ,
among many others .

In the 1980s Gilbert and his manager had a parting of company over
million of pounds that where still owed in royalties to Gilbert .
A battle was fought in the courts and only recently while on tour in
Australia Gilbert told the audience that he recently had won the case .
During the twenty years it took to settle the case his manager had died
and Gilbert was now back on track with his songs and career . His
latest album entitled "Irlish" has just been released in New York and
Japan . Gilbert has taken his show on the road performing his new songs
as well as his well known hits .

Early on in the begining of the 21st Century r Gilbert had mentioned
that he has always wanted to come to Australia . Althought it took him
30 years to arrive he said better late than never .

Accompaning him on the tour where his wife and daughter as well as his
brother Kevin .

I was very lucky to be invited to his dressing room for a chat and a
photos session .

Gilbery is living in Jersy these days quite happy and settled . His
music is as always fantastic . On the new album Irlish there are some
vibrant and challenging lyrics that keep in touch with the themes of
todays youth .
Songs like Say Goodbye sees Gilbert singing in Japenese open up a side
not many have seen before with his multilingual skills . Then there are
numbers like Water Music that do not have any instruments apart form
Gilberts voice . The song was concieved with aspects of healing and
emotional release attatched to it.
My personal favourite is a number called Have It . Its progressive and
bears all the hallmark of Gilbert O'Sullivan himself .

After talking with Gilbert about his music I asked him about Clare one
of his biggest hits in the seventies . He had said that everyone on
Jersy thought it was about his daughter . But Gilbert had to expalin
that it was about his managers daughter . Back them he used to pften
babysit Clare while his manager went ou to dinner with his wife .
So now every person from Jersy to here know the truth about Clare and
who she reall y is .

Gilbert spoke quite openly about his thoughts
on Irishness and in particular being an exile . He expressed a great
empathy about living outside Ireland and touched on those emotional
issues about travelling as a musician around the world .

As far as I'm concerned there is no other like Gilbert O'Sullivan . He
has always been my personal mentor and thank God for his special talent
for it has made the world for me a much better place to live in .

By Paul McCann

THE END