ot to be confused with the popular Broadway songwriters Gilbert and Sullivan, Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish songwriter who made his own name known in 1972 with a pair of Top 10 hits.

Born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan on December 1, 1946, O'Sullivan first came to prominence in Europe with the group Rick's Blues, where he was teamed with future Supertramp member Rick Davies.

Debuting in the Billboard Top 40 on Nov. 11, 1972, "Clair" was Waterford, Ireland native Gilbert O'Sullivan's second U.S. Top 10 hit and the followup to his #1 smash "Alone Again (Naturally)," which like "Clair" was co-written by his manager Gordon Mills. It was featured on his sophomore LP, Back To Front, which first charted in the U.S. on Jan. 6, 1973, peaking at #48 and remaining on the chart for 14 weeks.

Buoyed by the success of having his songs accepted by a British group The Tremeloes in 1967, O'Sullivan continued to hone his songwriting in the style of his inspirations. As he stated in the liner notes to his anthology, The Best of Gilbert O'Sullivan, "I listened to the Beatles, and loved the music of Goffin/King and Mann/Weil. But I also wanted to find out more about the early days of pop music, so I discovered Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter. That was my tradition."

In 1970, O'Sullivan's demo tape landed in the hands of Gordon Mills, a professional manager of acts like Engelbert Humperdinck and Tom Jones. Mills had just formed a new record label, MAM, and signed the singer he dubbed Gilbert to be part of it. O'Sullivan's first British hit was the Top 10 "Nothing Rhymed." In America the song bubbled under at #114. His next hit, however, more than made up for it. "Alone Again (Naturally)" became Gilbert's first #1 hit. As a follow-up, O'Sullivan released the song "Clair." Clair was the name of Gordon Mills's daughter, whom O'Sullivan used to babysit. The song started with O'Sullivan's whistling, and while the song gave the impression that Gilbert was singing about a love between two adults, the child's laugh at the end helped suggest its inspiration.

"Clair" entered the charts at #86, and in 10 weeks, Gilbert had nearly equaled his previous feat. However, the song stopped at #2 for two weeks, but it did become his second gold single in a row. On the Adult Contemporary charts, it became Gilbert's second consecutive #1 hit.

O'Sullivan's follow-up to "Clair," "Out Of The Question," broke his string of Top 10 hits, stopping at #17. His next hit, the #7 "Get Down," returned him to the elite. But after 1974's "Happiness Is Me And You" stalled at #62, O'Sullivan disappeared from the charts. Gilbert's next hits all appeared to come in court. He sued his former record label for back royalties and won the case in 1982. And in 1991, O'Sullivan was part of a groundbreaking court case that successfully kept rapper Biz Markie from using an unauthorized sample of his song "Alone Again (Naturally)" in the rap hit "Alone Again." The decision helped dictate songwriting credits on future samplings, although to date no major rap hits have been built around a sample of "Clair." Gilbert O'Sullivan still records in Europe.

- Christopher G. Feldman, The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles, Billboard, 2000.

 

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