Gary Glitter

Paul Francis Gadd was born May 8, 1944 in Banbury, Oxfordshire , into a Protestant family; Primary education in a Catholic school. The first group of Gadd, Paul Russell & His Rebels (Russell - the last name of his stepfather), debuted at the morning competition of the sciffle groups broadcast by the regional TV channel Sutton Granada , and sang " Buddy !", The song of Buddy Holly .

In 1958, the same group in the renewed line-up (with drummer Brian Ramsey and guitarists Mike Thompson and Pete Reiner) became a resident of the Safari Club located in Trafalgar Square . It was here that film producer Robert Hartford Davis noticed Paul Gadd, who signed a contract with Decca Records for him, brought him on television (to the program Cool for Cats ), gave a small role (in the film “Stranger in the city”) and helped release January 1960, the debut single "Alone in the night" under the pseudonym Paul Raven ( English Paul Raven ) ^[2] .

As a frontman for The Rebels, he conducted a “combined” tour - along with Ronnie Corbett, Tony Newley , Mike and Bernie Winters and Bernard Breslau - but the band soon broke up and Paul Gadd-Raven began a solo career ^[3] .

In 1961, after a series of concerts in Scandinavia , Paul Raven and his new manager, Vic Billings ( English Vic Billings ) signed a contract with Parlophone Records ^[2] . Here came the second sorokapyatka singer "Walk on boy", but, like the debut single, she did not hit the charts. The single “Tower of Strength” recorded with George Martin also failed, but Raven got into the Ready Steady Go program, where The Beatles performed that day. It was here that he first met the producer and author , who invited him as vocalist for Mike Leander Orchestra, the band that was accompanying The Bachelors on their UK tour at that time.

At the end of the tour, already in its new lineup, Paul Raven & Boston International, Gadd went to Germany , where in those days the heyday of the club scene was observed. At first, the musicians were going to stay there for a month, but lingered for five years. All this time, Gadd did not lose contact with Linder, who by that time had already written fifty hits (including “Early in the morning” for Vanity Fare and “Lady godiva” for Peter & Gordon ) and took over as head of production at MCA Records . In April 1965, the singer joined the Mike Leander Show Band; the team leader, in addition, allowed his protégé to gain experience as a producer: he recorded the singles of Thane Russell and the Scottish beat band The Poets. Linder's group soon broke up and Raven, with saxophonist John Rossall, created a new band, Boston International, whose name was later reduced to The Bostons: the group spent the next several years touring Germany, occasionally returning to England to record with Linder ^[2] .

Linder signed Raven to MCA and wrote for him “Musical man” and “Soul thing”, songs released by singles under the pseudonyms Paul Munday ( born Paul Monday ) and Paul Raven (respectively). Then (under the pseudonym Rubber Bucket ), the single “We are living in one place” was released, with a choir of 3000 people recruited from among the homeless in the abandoned MCA buildings. All these singles failed commercially, however as D. Thompson (author of the biography at Allmusic ) notes, during the work on them the style of the musician gradually acquired individual traits ^[2] .

After George Harrison’s “ Here Comes the Sun ” and “Stand” songs didn’t hit the charts, Raven lost his contract with MCA and refused a pseudonym. Meanwhile, it is under this name that Paul Gadd is listed as a member of the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, where he performed the arias of two clergymen ^[3] .

At the same time that Raven lost the contract, Linder himself left the MCA and got an office in the GTO building. Here they are with Paul Gadd and began to discuss a new direction in the career of a musician. Paul Raven recalled ^[3] :

“One night, we started inventing all sorts of pseudonyms that could be appropriate for the perfect glam rocker ,” Paul recalled. - Stan Sparkle, Terry Tinsel, Galloping Gormay, Horace Hydrogen ... The winner was Gary Glitter.

Having received free studio time “as a gift” from David Essex , Gary Glitter and Linder recorded a debut single named after an article in the Melody Maker under the title “Rock'n'Roll Parts 1 & 2”. Linder played all the instruments, and Glitter sang the vocals and added percussion. The 15-minute jam was compressed to two three-minute compositions under the general title “Rock and roll, parts one and two” ^[3] .

1971-1996

The official “birthday” of Gary Glitter is considered to be May 3, 1972 , when “ Rock and roll ” came out as a single. 1500 promo copies were sent out by journalists and radio broadcasters, but the discoverer’s main allies of Glitter turned out to be: it was there that the single became a hit, which is why it began to rise slowly in the charts. In the end, he reached number 2 and sold a million copies in the UK alone. In the US, "Rock and roll (part two)" entered the Top 10 (later becoming a mass sports chant); in France, by contrast, the first part became a hit. Glitter recalled:

The first touring lineup of The Gary Glitter Rock'n'Roll Spectacular included: bassist John Springate ( English John Springate ), guitarist Jerry Shepperd ( English Gerry Shepperd ), drummers Pete Phipps ( English Pete Phipps ) and Pete Gill ( English Pete Gill and saxophonists Harvey Ellison and John Rossall.

The ensemble gave its first concert on July 15, 1972 at Melksham Village Hall , in Whiteshire . In the ensuing British tour, the band quickly played, and Glitter developed his own style of active communication with the audience, turning each concert into a sort of cult orgy. After the single “ I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock'n'Roll) ” in October 1972 in Britain rose to No. 4 ^[1] (despite the fact that a million copies of the single were sold before its official release) ^[4] , the term glittermania appeared in the press. The fact that his own image Glitter took seriously, testified reports that he had thirty sparkling costumes and 50 pairs of branded "platforms". “We realized that we had achieved the main thing: we developed our own unique sound, which made us popular. And this is the most difficult thing for any group, ”he recalled.

Glitter reached its peak of popularity in 1973, when the musical style, which the press gave the name of the Glitter beat , began to dominate the British lists. The singles “Do you wanna touch me (Oh yeah)” and “Hello hello I'm back again” (each of which rose to No. 2 in Britain) ^[1] were followed by the charttoppers: “ I'm The Leader of The Gang (I Am) ”and“ I love you love me love ”- the last of them took off to the top a week after the release (which was very rare in those years) and stayed there for a month.

The album Touch Me (35 weeks in the list) was followed by a triumphal round-the-world tour, during which the film “Remember this this way” was shot (in London’s Rainbow Theater ).

In 1973–1974, Glitter continued to appear regularly in the charts: “Remember me this way”, “Always yours” and “Oh yes, you're beautiful” have risen to 3, 1 and 2 places, respectively ^[1] . The Glitter Band has released its own singles, “Angel face”, “Just for you” and “Let's get together again”, which have become hits in many countries of the world (the US was the exception). In the period from 1972 to 1975, Glitter sold more than 18 million records in the whole world ^[4] .

In 1975, two more of his glitterbeat hits were released: “Love Like You And Me” and “Doing Alright With The Boys”, after which Glitter went to America to record The GG Album , where then unknown yet appeared on the backing vocals Luther Vandross . Sustained in a new style for Glitter ( disco + R & B ), the album had no success with glitter fans, and the single “Papa Oom Mow Mow” ( Rivingtons rhythm and blues hit) only reached 38th place. “Somewhere half way through, Glitter got lost and Raven appeared; it was a good album, but completely Neglitter ” ^[3] ,” the author himself later recalled.

After the relative failures of the single “You Belong To Me” and the compilation Greatest Hits (# 33), Glitter announced that he was ending his concert activity. The farewell tour ended with five sold-out evenings at the New Victoria Theater in London: this was his last show filmed for television.

The next 4 years, Gary Glitter devoted to resolving numerous personal and business problems that have arisen over the years of continuous studio and concert activities. By his own admission, he began to drink a lot, fell into depression and for some time was close to suicide. In 1977, Glitter moved to Paris and did not remind himself of anything - until he was offered a role in the New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show. He lived in Australia for two years and finally returned to Britain in 1979. Gary Glitter's return was marked by a short club tour in November 1980 and the release of two independent singles: "What Your Momma Don't Know" and "When I'm On", which he later named among his best records.

Meanwhile, the audience of the singer has changed: in Britain, there were numerous followers of the new musical culture, extolling Glitter as "the godfather of punk rock." In the early 1980s, Glitter led a continuous concert activity, and for the first time became popular among students. Joan Jett in the USA released the hit cover “Do You Wanna Touch Me”, Brownsville Station recorded “I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)” and Gary himself returned to the British charts with the single “Dance Me Up” ( Number 25, July 1984).

Six months later, he launched his most significant hit in the previous nine years: “Another Rock'n'Roll Christmas” (No. 7), appeared on the cover of the NME (a weekly newspaper that was skeptical of his past person), took part in the Timelords project ( “Doctorin The Tardis'”, No. 1 - a tribute to the cult television series “ Doctor Who ”) and received on television its own show The Leader Talks ^[3] .

With producer Trevor, Horny Glitter re-recorded “Rock and Roll” and made a joint version of “I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)” with the female girl group Girlschool . In 1989, Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers used a significant portion of “Another Rock and Roll Christmas” in their own single “Let's Party”, which came out on 1st place.

In the 1990s, Glitter was regularly invited to tour and on television shows, but his financial stability was ensured mainly by regular compilations. In 1991, Glitter released the studio album Leader 2 , which received a good press. Three years later, his performance in Chicago and a concert dedicated to the opening of the World Football Championship and broadcast to 46 countries, made almost a sensation.

In 1996, Glitter played The Godfather in the new production of the rock opera Quadrophenia , released a cover version of The House of the Rising Sun , a single. Rock and Roll (Part Two) had already been used by The Full Monty, Happy Gilmore, Meet the Fockers and The Replacements soundtracks.

In 1991, Glitter opened a diner called Glitter's Snack Bar in the western part of London (which was advertised as "Leader of the Snack"). At first, it was a great success, but eventually closed in the late 90s. In the early 1990s, Glitter founded his own label Attitude Records, which later became part of Machmain LTD, a music company that was also owned by him.

The end of a musical career

In November 1997, Glitter carried his Toshiba knee pad (laptop) to the PC World branch in Bristol for repair. Here workers found files with child pornography on his hard drive and reported them to the police ^[5] .

In the British and American press scandal erupted. All projects involving Glitter were suspended, his performance in the movie “Spiceworld The Movie” was cut out (although the song “I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)” performed by Spice Girls was left behind). On November 19, 1999, Glitter was found guilty of having stored child pornography on his computer and sentenced him to 4 months in prison, of which he served two.

The name of Paul Gadd was listed as a person convicted of sexually motivated crimes. At the same time, he was accused of having an intimate relationship with a certain Alison Brown, when she was 14 years old. The case was closed after it became known that Brown sold her story to the News of the World tabloid, from which she was supposed to receive a large amount if Glitter would be sentenced to imprisonment.

After leaving prison in 2000, Glitter moved to Spain, where he was immediately discovered by British reporters. He tried to find refuge in Cuba, but he was not allowed to enter the country: it turned out that the Cuban consulate in London had received information about him as a dangerous criminal and sent photographs to his airports.

Glitter flew to Cambodia : here his very presence caused a political scandal. The Cambodian authorities expelled him from the country in 2002 on the grounds that he "represents a danger to national security and slanders the country's international reputation." Glitter spent three days in prison before being expelled, although no charges were brought against him.

In 2001, an anthology of The Ultimate Gary Glitter was released on Snapper Records , followed by a studio album On in September 2001, where, along with new material, material was recorded that was recorded before the 1999 verdict ^[6] . In December 2004, after the release of the new single “Control”, new accusations of pedophilia were received against the singer. Fearing arrest, Glitter flew to Vietnam .

Meanwhile, in 2005, the documentary “Remember Me This Way” (originally released in 1974) was reissued. The Remixes and Live in Concert compilations (recordings of 1981) sold on the Internet, as well as the new compilation of The Best of Gary Glitter, demonstrated the fact that he had not lost his audience. In 2006, the entire Glitter back-catalog became available in electronic form - through iTunes and eMusic.

Vietnam arrest and imprisonment

In late 2005, in Vietnam, Glitter was arrested on charges of raping several underage girls, which at first threatened him with a death sentence. The judges, however, did not find any evidence that rape took place. In the spring of 2006, Glitter was sentenced to three years in prison for "indecent behavior in the presence of two minors." The appeal filed by his lawyers was rejected in June.

November 12, 2005, Gary Glitter disappeared from the house where he was supposed to be in accordance with his own recognizance . Three days later, he was arrested at Ho Chi Minh airport while trying to fly to Thailand . Six Vietnamese girls and women between the ages of 11 and 23 gave testimony, claiming that he had sex with them.

Glitter was sent to prison long before the completion of the investigation on December 26, 2006. All rape charges were dropped from him. Having received monetary compensation, the families of the injured girls signed a general request for pardon to the prisoner, which, however, remained unanswered.

In May 2006, in an interview with the BBC, when asked by a correspondent if he really was in bed with a minor girl, Glitter replied that “sleeping with girls in the same bed and having sex with them are two different things”:

I am a father, so from time to time this happens. My daughter climbs into your bed at night because she’s scared of something, or for some reason. That is what happened in this case. She was afraid of ghosts, insisted - so I agreed. ^[7]

Original Text (Eng.)

These things happen. Your daughter will come in the night because she's scared or something like that. This happened in this case over here. She was scared of ghosts, so under pressure I said OK.

In the same interview, he claimed that he had never had sex with girls under the age of 18, and that he considered pedophilia to be a serious crime. ^[eight]

Glitter continued to deny his guilt, expressing confidence that all this was arranged by British newspapers, who paid girls a lot of money for the indictments. He stated that he has a lot of evidence that at least one newspaper did this in order to organize a compromising photo report in one of London’s bars. “In Vietnam there is no concept of justice itself. The trial of me lasted for several hours, and the defense was not heard at all, ”he said.

On February 7, 2007, it was announced that Glitter would be released three months ahead of time: in August 2008. On January 20, 2008, News of the World (the one that Alison Brown paid for her testimony) reported that Gary Glitter had a heart attack , but "... could not die." This message was refuted, but the prison authorities acknowledged that the prisoner had health problems, including with the cardiovascular system.

On August 19, 2008, Glitter was released from a Vietnamese prison. A few days later, after unsuccessful attempts to stay in Thailand and Hong Kong, he returned to the UK ^{[9] [10] [11]} .

2015 sentence

In February 2015, Glitter was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a British court. He was found guilty of attempted rape, sexual harassment and sexual relations with a girl under the age of 13 in the period 1975-1980. ^[12]

Gary Glitter's biography on Allmusic ends with these words:

... So overnight, one of the most adored British idols has become the number one enemy of the people, and now even the most faithful allies of Glitter doubt that he will be able to "take out of the bag" one more return. What can not be erased <from memory>, so it is his contribution to the history of rock and roll - in the creation of "Rock and roll" as such. ^[2] - Dave Thompson.

Original Text (Eng.)

...Overnight, one of Britain's most adored icons became public enemy number one and even his staunchest allies now doubt whether Glitter will ever be able to pull one more comeback out of the bag. What cannot be erased, however, is the contribution he has made to the history of rock & roll — the creation of Rock and Roll itself.