Oldish Psych and Prog

Most people know that Gary Glitter's real name was Paul Gadd. Many will also know that he was born on 8 May 1940 in Banbury, Oxfordshire. He has often tried to claim to be younger (well, why not if you can get away with it!). He's been playing in rock bands since the late fifties. His first outfit Paul Russell and The Rebels (Russell was his stepfather's surname) got a residency at The Safari Club in Trafalgar Square, London. Whilst working there he met Robert Hartford Davis, a film producer who became his manager and got him a recording contract with Decca. Now using the name Paul Raven, he recorded a 45 for Decca in 1960 (Alone In The Night) and two for Parlophone in 1961 (Walk On Boy and Tower Of Strength). All three flopped, but Raven soon resurfaced as a warm-up man for 'Ready Steady Go!' He also met Mike Leander (who would become his manager in his Gary Glitter days) and briefly became vocalist with The Mike Leander Orchestra. When they broke up he formed Paul Raven and Boston International (later The Bostons) who spent most of the early sixties in Germany.
Later, in 1968, when Leander became UK head of MCA Records, he signed Paul Raven to the label and using a pseudonym (Paul Monday), Raven recorded a Leander composition, Musical Man, but it made little impact and a cover version of The Beatles' Here Comes The Sun did little better. He reverted to the Paul Raven monicker for his next MCA 45 and then recorded a 45 as Rubber Bucket. He also appeared on MCA's million-selling Jesus Christ Superstar album.

In 1971, he renewed his relationship with Leander when he signed to Bell Records. With a complete change of musical style and another new pseudonym, Gary Glitter, he forced himself to the forefront of the 'glam rock' movement. His debut 45, Rock And Roll Parts 1 And 2, took a while to take off but it paved the way for a whole series of one-riff smash hits which all sounded much the same. I'm not listing them all here but full details of his Chart attainments appear in the discography above. Despite his enormous success in the UK only two of his 45s were hits in the US:- Rock And Roll Part 2 and I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock And Roll) got to No's 7 and 35 respectively during 1972. Of his albums, only the first, Glitter, had any success in the US and then it only crept to No 186. Still, over here, Gary 'did the business' outlasting many of his teenybopper contemporaries. In March 1974, his backing group, The Glitter Band, set out on their own and enjoyed several hits of their own.
In January 1975, Gary made a televised farewell performance, and for the next few years he seldom appeared in public, although he still continued to make records. In subsequent years, he made several 'comebacks' although it's undeniable that the early seventies were his heyday.