John Otway

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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.

Arriving on the back of punk rock and a gymnastic performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, John Otway's first single, the half-spoken love song "Really Free" soared to number 27 in the UK Singles Chart. It would be John Otway's greatest success for some time. However, the song did earn John Otway a five album deal with Polydor Records, who thought he was a punk rather than merely eccentric. John Otway's 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 John 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, John Otway's live audience remained loyal, due to Otway's manic energy and the probability of physical injury during renditions of songs such as "Headbutts". John Otway's autobiography (subtitled "Rock and Roll's greatest failure") was a study in self-deprecation, and John Otway's touring continued to sustain him. By 1993 John Otway could draw 2,500 fans to a gig in London and in 1998 4,000 celebrated John Otway's birthday with him at the Royal Albert Hall, coinciding with the release of Premature Adulation, John Otway's first album of new material for over ten years.

By then, John 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 John Otway's finest moment came in 2002. Asked what he wanted for his 50th birthday, John Otway 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 John 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, John Otway 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 John Otway has now been able to release his Greatest Hits album (note the s, he's very proud of it, having "finally got it on the right side of Hit").

John Otway currently tours as a solo act; as a duo with Richard Holgarth (also of Eddie and the Hot Rods; and often with his Big Band which includes Murray Torkildsen, Seymour, Adam Batterbee and guest keyboard player Barry Upton.

John Otway also delivers occasional (humorous) lectures on the theme, "Making success out of failure".

A world tour was planned in October 2006. John 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) the tour was cancelled.

John Otway now has a motorcycle club of dedicated fans called Beware of the Flowers MCC. Members are all Otway fans that also ride bikes.

from Wikipedia licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.