UNIVERSITY Concert Hall is very proud to announce a date with the legendary Gilbert O’Sullivan. The show will take place on March 23 and this tour will also see Gilbert visit Galway, Louth, Wexford, and Cork plus three dates at Dublin’s newest venue, Grand Canal Theatre. The performances will be hugely entertaining for Gilbert fans old and new. Claire Kelly spoke to Gilbert O’Sullivan ahead of his Irish tour.
My name is a source of great amusement to the singer as we begin our interview, much to his disappointment I explain I wasn’t named after his 1972 hit ‘Clair’ but he delights in hearing I have been serenaded with it.
An average day for Gilbert is pretty much like anyone else’s and he treats his song writing craft like a regular nine to five. “If I’m song writing I get up at 7am, do a bit of domestics and then at 9 o’clock start writing until 5 o’clock, then I’ll take the dog for a walk and have dinner, that’s a typical working day and that’s five days a week”, he explains. “It’s very disciplined because it has to be, as you get older you get less disciplined, other than that it’s touring and doing press. I write new songs and make an album every two years and then I tour, America, Japan and Ireland.
The Waterford born superstar will be performing all of his massive worldwide hits. He is also hoping to release his new album Gilbertville in Spring 2010 and will be treating fans to a little taste of the new music during his live shows. The new album was originally going to be called Mum’s the Word, but Gilbert has changed the title to Gilbertville. “It was recorded in Nashville and it turns out there is a little town called Gilbertville, so I thought it was very fitting and went with that”.
His music has sound tracked films and television shows from Stuart Little 2 and The Simpsons to Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, Meera Syal’s Anita & Me and the Japanese manga cartoon Maison Ikkokou. Most recently Alone Again (Naturally) featured in the hit BBC series Life On Mars. That song in particular continues to make an impact on music lovers young and old and through Stuart Little 2 and the Simpsons is brought to young ears with a new generation of Gilbert O’Sullivan fans emerging. “I wrote that song as a happy young bunny it wasn’t based on my own experience, to be a good lyricist you have to understand other people’s experiences, it was just a nice song. It was incredibly successful in America, they have taken it as one of their own song, and it spent six weeks at number 1 and did the same in Japan. It’s a compliment to any song if other artists want to cover it. I accept cover versions of this song to be a tribute to the song”. His songs have been covered by amongst others Andy Williams, Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Bobby Darin, Sarah Vaughan and more recently Har Mar Superstar and Donny Osmond.
Gilbert played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2008 and this was an experience he really enjoyed. “People always assume that I shouldn’t be doing that sort of thing, but I always think why not? We had a great time and the 20,000 strong crowd certainly enjoyed it.”
Of contemporary artists he pays close attention these days to production. “Women are dominating at the moment, you need to listen to what’s going on, Pixie Lott, Ellie Golding and Lady Gaga. I also like John Mayer, I don’t necessarily learn a great deal about song writing but I definitely learn a lot about production”.
Gilbert O’Sullivan has had an incredible career spanning four decades. The Limerick Post has a pair of tickets to giveaway to readers for the show at UCH on March 23. To be in with a chance of winning email your answer to the following question to ents@limerickpost.ie. Where in Ireland does Gilbert O’Sullivan have Irish roots?.
