John Otway

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Otway at Glastonbury Festival, 2002.

John Otway, (born 2 October 1952, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England) is a self-confessed unsuccessful singer-songwriter, who built a large cult audience through unrelenting touring, a surreal sense of humour and a winning underdog personality.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Arriving on the back of punk rock and a gymnastic performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, his first single, the half-spoken love song "Really Free" soared to number 27 in the UK Singles Chart. It would be his greatest success for some time. However, the song did earn him a five album deal with Polydor Records, who thought he was a punk rather than merely eccentric. His first album, recorded with Wild Willy Barrett, was produced by Pete Townshend but sold only fitfully. The follow up singles fared no better despite some imaginative promotion, which included an offer for Otway to come to a lucky buyer's house and perform the single if their copy was one of the few from which the vocal had been omitted.

Despite that, his live audience remained loyal, due to Otway's manic energy and the probability of physical injury during renditions of songs such as "Headbutts". His autobiography (subtitled "Rock and Roll's greatest failure") was a study in self-deprecation, and his touring continued to sustain him. By 1993 he could draw 2,500 fans to a gig in London and in 1998 4,000 celebrated his birthday with him at the Royal Albert Hall, coinciding with the release of Premature Adulation, his first album of new material for over ten years.

By then, Otway had realised he could use his fanbase, who were in on the joke, to engage in minor publicity stunts. A well orchestrated grassroots campaign saw his "Beware Of The Flowers Cause I'm Sure They're Going To Get You Yeah" voted the seventh greatest lyric of all time in a BBC poll, but his finest moment came in 2002. Asked what he wanted for his 50th birthday, he requested "A second hit". A concerted drive, including a poll, scrutinised by the Electoral Reform Society, to select the track, saw "Bunsen Burner" — with music sampled from the Trammps classic "Disco Inferno" and lyrics devised to help his daughter with her chemistry homework — reach the UK number 9 on 6 October, and earned Otway an appearance on Top Of The Pops, BBC Television's flagship popular music programme.

To encourage fans to buy more than one copy each of the single, he released three different versions. The flip side of "Bunsen Burner — The Hit Mix" was a cover of "The House of the Rising Sun" recorded at Abbey Road Studios and featured 900 of his fans on backing vocals, each of whom was credited by name on the single's sleeve.

Thanks to this second hit he has now been able to release his Greatest Hits album (note the s, he's very proud of it).

John Otway currently tours as a solo act; as a duo with Richard Holgarth; and often with his Big Band which includes Murray Torkildsen, Seymour, Adam Batterbee and guest keyboard player Barry Upton. He also delivers occasional (humorous) lectures on the theme, "Making success out of failure".

A world tour was planned in October 2006. Otway, his band and 300 fans were to embark on a world tour with gigs in Las Vegas, Sydney, Shanghai and Dubai. However, due to insufficient numbers (150 signed up) and airline costing errors the tour was cancelled.

John Otway And Wild Willy Barrett - Really Free excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
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[edit] Discography

John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett - John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett (1977) album
Deep & Meaningless - John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett (1978) album
Where Did I Go Right - John Otway (1979) album
Way & Bar - John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett (1980) album
Gone With The Bin - The Best Of Otway And Barrett (1981) compilation
All Balls and No Willy - John Otway (1982) album
The Wimp and The Wild - John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett (1989) album
Cheryl A Rock Opera - John Otway & Attila The Stockbroker (1991) album
Under The Covers and Over The Top - John Otway (1992) album
Premature Adulation - John Otway (1995) album
OT-AIR - John Otway (2004) album
Bunsen Burner - The Album - John Otway (2006) album