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Mike Oldfield
Sign in to saveAlso known as Michael Gordon Oldfield, Michael Oldfield
English musician (born 1953)
Mike Oldfield is an English musician born in 1953 who is known for his work in progressive rock and instrumental music. He is most famous for creating the album "Tubular Bells," which became a landmark release in progressive music and introduced audiences to his distinctive multi-instrumental compositions.
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Film & TV
Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
Michael Gordon Oldfield is a British musician, songwriter, and producer best known for his debut studio album Tubular Bells, which became an unexpected critical and commercial success and propelled him to worldwide fame.
Known for
- Mike Oldfield - Hergest Ridge 50th Anniversary2025
- Mike Oldfield - Return To Ommadawn (Deluxe Edition)2017
- When Albums Ruled the World — Self2013
- Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story — Self2013
- London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder — Self2012
- Prog Rock Britannia — Self2009
- Best of Night of the Proms Vol. 3 — Self2008
- Best of Night of the Proms Vol. 2 — Self2007
- Best of Night of the Proms Vol. 12006
- Mike Oldfield: Exposed — Self2005
via TMDB
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Active from
- 1953
Discography
Member of
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 1,190,668
- Total plays
- 32,259,974
Tags
Mike Oldfield (born Michael Gordon Oldfield, 15 May 1953, Reading, Berkshire, England) is largely known for Tubular Bells, his groundbreaking album from 1973, the success of which also bankrolled Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Records, for which Tubular Bells was the inaugural release. However, his musical career has spread over more than 40 years encompassing a range of styles, with varying amounts of success. According to the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock, his style is labeled as Ol
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Place of birth
- Reading
- Sibling
- Sally Oldfield
- Occupation
- game designer
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- English language
- Genre
- Celtic fusion
- Instrument
- piano
- Record label
- Virgin EMI Records
- Discography
- Mike Oldfield discography
- Official website
- www.mikeoldfieldofficial.com
- Image
- Mike Oldfield by Alexander Schweigert 2.jpg
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Mike Oldfield
- date of birth
- 1953-05-15
- topic's main category
- Category:Mike Oldfield
- birth name
- Michael Gordon Oldfield
- topic has template
- Template:Mike Oldfield
- name in native language
- Mike Oldfield
- start of work period
- 1967-00-00
- unmarried partner
- Anita Hegerland
- social media followers
- 3621
- partner in business or sport
- Maggie Reilly
- nominated for
- Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
- copyright representative
- PRS for Music
- member of
- The Sallyangie
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is a retired English musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield played a range of instruments, which included keyboards and percussion, as well as vocals. He had adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient and new age music. His discography includes 25 studio albums, nine of which have reached the UK top ten.
Oldfield took up the guitar at age ten and left school in his teens to embark on a music career. From 1967 to 1970, he and his sister Sally Oldfield were a folk duo, the Sallyangie, after which he performed with Kevin Ayers before starting work on Tubular Bells in 1971. The album caught the attention of Richard Branson, who agreed to make it the first-ever release on his new label Virgin Records. Its opening was used in the horror film The Exorcist, and the album went on to sell over 2.7 million copies in the UK. Oldfield followed it with Hergest Ridge (1974), Ommadawn (1975) and Incantations (1978). Like Tubular Bells, these albums consist of longform, mostly instrumental pieces.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mike Oldfield” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.