Mike Oldfield

Michael Gordon Oldfield, known simply as Mike Oldfield, was born into an English family of Catholics in 1953. He showed his musical gift since childhood - as his brother and sister did. They also became successful artists. Oldfield started playing the guitar and began performing in local pubs in his teens. In 1967, he and his sister founded The Sallyangie band. The folk music album Children Of The Sun saw light in 1968, thought the duet collapsed soon. Oldfield also played rock music with his brother in the duet titled Barefoot, but this command did not exist for long. In 1970, the artist became the bassist and vocalist for Kevin Ayers' The Whole World, which he left after two discs. In that band, he was acquainted to David Bedford, at whose studio he recorded hid debut attempt Tubular Bells. In spite of the fact that other labels refused to release this daring album, believing in its commercial failure, the Tubular Bells disc became the real sensation in the world of instrumental music after its release at Virgin.

The Tubular Bells music was used in the soundtrack to The Exorcist picture and brought Oldfield to fame even in the USA. The Hergest Ridge album, devoted to the legendary flight of Apollo 11, saw light two years later. In 1978, Oldfield explored choir singing with his mesmerizing album Incantations, after which he headed to his first tour along the country. In 80s, the musician chose the pop genre for his further musical experiments. Issues Platinum and Q.E.2 featured shorter instrumental tracks that harmonically entered the mainstream music. Oldfield also started writing songs and recording them with guest vocalists. There is no doubt that the fairy-tail melody Moonlight Shadow, sang by Maggie Reilly in 1983, became the most famous composition of those times. Oldfield’s composition Family Man is also still popular. The Islands long-length contained one side of instrumental tracks and one side of pop-rock compositions, producing the smash hit Magic Touch. The Earth Moving package had only melodic mainstream songs like Hostage, Innocent and Holy.

Amarok edition became Oldfield's rebel against Virgin label policy that inclined him to call the next work Tubular Bells II. Amarok became the whole-album instrumental variation, which made it impossible to pick out a single. Moreover, the disc had the deciphered Morse code insult to the label chief. The next disc Heaven's Open had only singer's lead vocals and became his final work for Virgin. The musician released both Tubular Bells II and Tubular Bells III on the next label - the latter with the touchable shift to dance music. He also explored other genres - for example, Celtic motives (Voyager) and guitar playing (Guitars). Oldfield commemorated three celebrations at once with his rework Tubular Bells 2003: his fiftieth birthday, thirty years since the Tubular Bells release and his second marriage. In 2005, the musician released his double album Light and Shade. The first part of this work has light and positive compositions, while the other features songs of opposite moods. In 2008, Oldfield released his first classical disc Music Of The Spheres. This brilliant orchestral work, continuing the Tubular Bells theme, was written in tandem with composer Karl Jenkins.