El* Mike Oldfield bio + 90 song playlist.........
Create a MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield was born on 15 May 1953, in Reading, England. Having learned the guitar, he began to compose instrumentals as early as 1963. He left school to join his sister Sally to form the short-lived group Sallyangie at the age of 14. After a year, Mike and Sally went their separate ways and Mike formed his own group called Barefoot, which didn't last too long, either. He then became the bass player for Kevin Ayers & The Whole World. It was here he met his life-long friend, David Bedford, who encouraged him in his unique compositions. Using a borrowed tape recorder, he discovered that by blocking the erase head, he could record many instruments over each other to form a symphonic-like work.
After working with the band at Abbey Road Studios, he found a storeroom with tons of instruments. He realized that he had a knack for making the instruments he found sound good. In 1971, the band broke up leaving Mike alone to fine-tune his work. After finishing a demo tape, he discovered that the record companies of the day rejected it because, although they enjoyed it, they deemed it not marketable.
When Richard Branson was founding Virgin Records, he was looking for new and innovative music with which to launch his company. When Mike Oldfield was approached by Branson, Mike's response was his Tubular Bells. Launched in 1973, Tubular Bells, serial number V2001, was Virgin's first release. It was unique. It was two tracks long, each around 20 minutes in length. Part One was recorded in a week, Part Two took months. It was an astounding success, and helped make Virgin Records the industry giant it is today.
Other than music, his interests include aviation (he is a qualified aircraft and helicopter pilot) and science fiction (his latest album The Songs Of Distant Earth is meant as the concert music described in Arthur C. Clark's novel of the same name).
Mike Oldfield has never repeated the extraordinary success of Tubular Bells, which is sometimes referred to as the theme from The Exorcist (much to Mike's chagrin). While he has continued to release highly complex and beautiful music, his commercial success has waned.
In 1992, Mike Oldfield left Virgin and joined Warner Records, his first release with Warner being Tubular Bells II, a retrospective of his first album, having gone full circle.
Perhaps not as well recognized as he deserves, Mike Oldfield continues to produce exquisite music and will always be admired by his loyal fans.
Interesting Facts
Mike Oldfield has been honoured by having a minor planet (asteroid) named after him. Unlike the bogus commercial organisations that sell star names, the naming of minor planets is handled by a commission of the International Astronomical Union, the governing body for professional astronomers, and is official. The object in question is (5656) Oldfield. Gareth Williams has prepared a page describing the Mike Oldfield minor planet. Gareth was the one who suggested the name as principal identifier. He made the identification between the original 1920 observations and the observations from 1978 and 1981 made by Bowell. He is also a big Oldfield fan!
Views: 11
Videos
iMusic Content Policy
To new and prospective members:
iMusic is a site for music, video and photo sharing with custom home pages. A PROFILE PHOTO or avatar is required to complete membership. Spam will not be tolerated.
Badge
© 2024 Created by wildplum.
Powered by
