CBS/Epic Records Press Release 1980

GILBERT O'SULLIVAN

"It was like being on a conveyor belt and suddenly stopping halfway there," says Gilbert O'Sullivan, talking about the legal battles that had prevented him from recording for the last three years. But now Gilbert O'Sullivan is back with a new album, Off Centre, that should appeal to the same fans who made "Claire" and "Alone Again (Naturally)" smash hits. Off Centre features the distinctive vocal quality and provocative lyrics that also characterized his- earlier releases, and earned him three Grammy Award nominations. Gilbert O'Sullivan was born December 1, 1946 in Waterford, Ireland. In 1957 his family moved to Swindon, England and young Gilbert fell under the growing spell of rock & roll. His. Mother bought him a piano and he soon became proficient and loud enough that both he and the piano were relegated to the garden shed. Gilbert began to write and arrange his own songs., and played with a number of locally successful bands., the Doodles, the Prefects, and Rick's Blues. (Rick of Rick's Blues was Rick Davis, later of Supertramp). His break came when some of his. song-tapes reached the ears of Gordon Mills... who was to bring Tom Jones- and Engelbert Humperdinck to stardom. Mills was fascinated by Gilbert's catchy tunes and lyrics. The two reached an agreement and in 1970 "Nothing Rhymed" was released, followed by "Alone Again Naturally)" and "Claire." "Alone Again" and "Claire" reaching the million sales mark in the U.S. In 1972 his total disc sales exceeded 10 million units, making O'Sullivan the top s-tar of the year. Throughout the 1970's Gilbert also released a string of successful albums; Himself, Back to Front, I I’m a Writer Not a Fighter, A Stranger in My Own Backyard and Southpaw. What has he been doing in the past three years? "Basically, I've been climbing the walls and trying to settle this litigation thing," reflects. Gilbert. "What's happened in the three years is I've become very age conscious, and a lot of my writing reflects that. There's one song on the new album called "I'm Not Getting Any Younger", and it tells about that feeling -- which is a very normal one, ~nd a feeling that people will relate to. As a songwriter it makes sense to me to write about things that affect us all, and aging surely does that." And what about plans for the future? Gilbert is on tour to promote Off Centre in Europe, and is working on a new album, which he hopes to have out before Christmas. "It’s great to be able to fulfilled that conveyor belt process of writing, recording and releasing records again,” says Gilbert. “After all, that’s what it’s really all about, isn’t it?” Press and Public Information, 51 W 52 Street, New York, N.Y 10019/ Tel. (212) 975-4321

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