Mike Oldfield Biography

Last revised: 14 April 1995



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 Exorsist (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.



    Back to The Bell...

    Back to Pettypi's Hurls...

