Music Career
In 1967, O'Sullivan was signed to a five-year contract with April Music, CBS Records' house publishing company, by the general manager Barbara Hayes. He was paid an advance of £12 with which he bought a piano. He was signed to CBS Records by the A&R manager Mike Smith (The Tremeloes and the Love Affair) and renamed 'Gilbert O'Sullivan', a play on words of Gilbert and Sullivan.
After two unsuccessful singles with CBS, "What Can I Do?" and "Mr. Moody's Garden", and one with the Irish record label, Major Minor, O'Sullivan sent some demo tapes to Gordon Mills, the manager of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, whereupon O'Sullivan was signed to Mills' label, MAM Records. O'Sullivan's self-created eye-catching visual image comprised a pudding basin haircut, cloth cap and short trousers. Mills reportedly hated the image, but O'Sullivan insisted on using it initially, until he assumed a more modern 'college-like' look in which he often wore a sweater bearing a large letter 'G'.
Read more about this topic: Gilbert O'Sullivan
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