John Otway, (born 2 October 1952, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is an English singer-songwriter, who built a large cult audience through unrelenting touring, a surreal sense of humour and a winning underdog persona.
Arriving on the back of punk rock and a gymnastic performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, his first single, the half-spoken love song "Really Free" reached number 27 in the UK Singles Chart. It would be his greatest success for some t...
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John Otway, (born 2 October 1952, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is an English singer-songwriter, who built a large cult audience through unrelenting touring, a surreal sense of humour and a winning underdog persona.
Arriving on the back of punk rock and a gymnastic performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, his first single, the half-spoken love song "Really Free" reached number 27 in the UK Singles Chart. It would be his greatest success for some time. The song earned him a five album deal with Polydor Records, who viewed him as a punk rather than merely an eccentric. His 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 Otway to come to a buyer's house and perform the single if their copy was one of the few from which the vocal had been omitted. Otway's and Barrett's only other UK chart success came in July 1980 with "DK 50-80", a...
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