Michael Oldfield: Biography and Discography

Michael Oldfield is a popular British singerinstrumental music. The peak of his work - album Tubular Bells, released in 1973, lasted in the top ten charts of leading European radio stations for 13 weeks.

In the post-Soviet space, the most famous Oldfield song is The Wind Chimes, which was played in the final credits of the "Travelers Club".

The singer was married three times, he has seven children from different women.

Childhood

Michael Oldfield was born on May 15, 1953 in the familyEnglish physician Raymond Oldfield and Irish nurse Maureen Liston in the city of Reading in the UK. His childhood was happy until Michael was 8 years old.

The matter is that the grandfather of the future musician afterThe First World War returned home with a disturbed psyche, and the boy's parents had a child (the fourth in the family) with Down syndrome. The child was called David. David died one year after birth. This caused mental problems in Michael's mother. Oldfield's father identified his wife in a psychiatric clinic for treatment.

Michael tried to escape from family problems infascination with music. The boy's grandmother was a pianist, and my father liked to play guitar in his free time. The boy especially liked folk music. She reminded him of a mother who often told Irish legends to children. Already at the age of seven the boy asked his parents to buy him their own guitar, and already at nine he performed in local clubs with music of his own composition.

Career

At the age of fifteen, Mike quits school andTogether with his sister, Sally creates a musical band Sallyangie. Having recorded several singles and an album, the brother and sister go on tour with concerts.

In 1968 the band breaks up, and Michael Oldfield first tries to organize a band with his brother, and then joins the band The Whole World as a bass player.

In 1972, after gaining sufficient experience,the musician decides to start a solo career. For a fairly short time, Michael Oldfield writes his first disc. Tubular Bells - the album, released in 1973, became the pinnacle of Oldfield's musical career. On the air of BBC Radio One, the musician's album was completely lost, later critics described his work as compositions of incredible beauty and power. Fragments of this record were used in the feature film "The Exorcist," which added popularity to the album, and to Michael himself. To date, sold 16 million copies of it.

In subsequent years, the performer firstexperimented with music, then recorded commercial albums, but eventually returned to Tubular Bells, releasing several more versions that brought him recognition and fame.

Michael Oldfield: discography

Over the years of his creative activity Michael has released many albums, including:

in 1969, together with the Sallyangie group, the Children of the Sun;
in 1970 and 1971 Shooting at the Moon and the album Whatevershebringswesing.

Solo albums:

In 1973, the famous Tubular Bells;
In 1974, the Hergest ridge;
In 1975, the disk Ommadawn. In the same year, the live recording of The Orchestral Tubular Bells;
From 1978 to 1987, albums Incantations, QE2, Discovery, Five Miles Out and others, live album album Exposed;
From 1989 to 1999, the Amarok disks,Tubular Bells II, Heaven's Open, Voyager, Tubular Bells III, The Millennium Bell, Tubular Bells II in Edinburgh and Tubular Bells III on DVD.
From 2000 to 2017, the singer releases Tr3s albumsLunas in 2002, 2003 Tubular Bells 2003, in 2005 Light + Shade, in 2008 Music of the Spheres, in 2014 Man on the Rocks, in 2017 the album Return to Ommadawn.