Gilbert O’Sullivan - seventies icon - never stopped writing songs

No longer forgotten

March 24th, 2008 by Jean-Paul Heck

JERSEY - It was a sign of life: the message that Gilbert O’Sullivan will give one concert in The Netherlands in May. What has happened to the man who had a number of hits in the early seventies with beautiful, charming songs like Nothing Rhymed, Clair and Alone Again (Naturally)? After those it was quiet and O’Sullivan was only in the news when he once again had won a court case against a manager, another artist or a record company. For many years, the Irish-born singer lives on Jersey in the Channel Islands. There the 61 year old hermit tells his fascinating story.

Once you are on Jersey you would forget that super stars like Justin Timberlake, Elton John and former Smiths-singer Morrisey are big O’Sullivan fans. It is a rainy day when his brother Kevin - 2 years younger - drives the Dutch visitors over the island. Kevin is a playful looking Irishman who has been assisting his successful brother for 35 years.

Shed

We drive via a little village called St. Brelade towards the west coast of the island, where a beautiful farmhouse comes into view. Jersey has numerous well-to-do residents. In the garden, a shabby shed catches our eyes more than the enormous swimming pool and the two tennis courts. Upon entering his home we are struck by the fact that the distinctive taste of Gilbert O’Sullivan is everywhere. Paintings, cushions, handmade vases and tapestries, all with the mark of the house lord on them. The real version has locked himself up in the working room upstairs. Immediately he pulls himself together when the Dutch visitors enter this ‘holy place’. "Here I waste a large part of my life. Writing songs, playing piano, and listening to music".

That is obvious. All over the place there are piles of cds on the floor, with small notes on them. "I am a terribly organized person. All that I do, I register. No musical activity passes without being taped." O’Sullivan scans his visitors for a reaction. He has just passed sixty, but at first sight he seems to not have changed a bit. The large bunch of hair has only grown larger and his tall, fawn body is stuck in an angora vest.

The shy man, who always avoided media, occurs to be a prudent speaker. "Once I was nominated for a Grammy and only with a lot of pain and effort I let myself be dragged to the ceremony. I am completely anti-social and my wife still has huge problems with that. She tries to take me to several social events on this island. In vain."

Precious

Then he rises and walks to the small room. "Here are the tapes of all the songs I have written in the last few years. Even last year a new album was released Scruff At Heart, and in Japan it was a huge hit. It is a pity that the cd wasn’t released in your country." He sighs deeply. Holland has always been precious to him. "In the seventies I even lived in Blaricum for a couple of months with a very good female friend from Eindhoven. A special time." That was in the middle of the halcyon days for this Irish-born but English-raised minstrel.

A glorious time - also according to the man himself - that disappeared too quickly. The ballad Nothing Rhymed signaled his breakthrough in 1970 and after it the above mentioned hits followed as well as Get Down and Matrimony. "It was a nice time, but a times also difficult, because the media often painted me as ridiculous. I had carefully cultivated the ‘Bisto Kid’ image: the 1930's look, with short hair, flat cap and short trousers but they didn’t understand it at all. It was a unique time of long-haired hippies and colourful clothing, while I seem to have stepped out of a Charles Dickens novel."

That O’Sullivan hardly had hits anymore, according to him, mainly had to do with the emergence of expressive Rock patriots such as David Bowie and Elton John. "They were trendy while I wasn’t. My image didn’t help me with this." We don’t have to feel pity for the musician. In 1982 he got five million pounds when he won a court case against his former manager Gordon Mills. "Gordon was very important for my career and I even wrote a song about his daughter Clair. Nowadays I'm in contact with her and Gordon’s widow too, but it was a hard time."

Owner

Due to these kinds of showbiz adventures, O’Sullivan is known as a difficult man. "Of course! I first sued my manager and after that a record company. Later on also rapper Biz Markie (who sampled Alone Again without permission, editor). I have even won all these court cases and then you can expect that you don’t win a price for popularity. Nevertheless I’m one of the few artists from the seventies that own his own songs."

The pop-millionaire is a real hermit who, together with his Norwegian wife Aase, chooses the intimacy of Jersey and his family. "My two daughters live in London and besides my brother Kevin also a sister of mine goes with me on tour, to sell t-shirts and cds." O’Sullivan refuses to accept that his fans in Europe buy tickets for nostalgic reasons only. "Nonsense. Almost every year I make a new album and I dare say that I - in contrast to many other major singer-songwriters - make music nowadays that is better than my old ones. Unfortunately it doesn’t sell and that’s a pity." "It is beautiful when people cover my songs, but they are not meant to be misused by others. I have rejected offers for half a million dollars, when they wanted to use a song for a commercial."

For just a second he is angry but then he walks to the window and points out to the earlier observed shed. "Do you see that weathered shed over there? It stood in our back yard in Swindon once. My first piano just fit inside. In that shed I wrote my biggest hits." According to him these hits will be heard in Carré too. "I come to Amsterdam with a band of eleven people including a string quartet to have my songs sound as good as possible. Definitely we are going to play all the familiar songs and during the show there will be all kinds of old pictures of me on a large screen."

For a second he’s quiet and then he puts his long piano fingers on my wrist. "To tell the truth, I merely get alive on stage. Only then all my inhibitions disappear. Crazy, isn’t it?"

Gilbert O’Sullivan performs on 29 May at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam.

www.gilbertosullivan.net

Thanks to Rob van der VAART! (Welcome Back)

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