Gary Glitter
 Paul
Gadd was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, on 8 May 1944.
He changed his name to Paul Raven and recorded several
singles during the 1960's - when he was a regular at the 2I's
and the Safari Club in Swinging London - but without much
success.
Deterred, he took up the
job of a warm-up man for the pop show Ready Steady Go,
and it was here he met songwriter/producer Mike Leander who
invited him to front The Mike Leander Orchestra on a UK tour,
supporting The Bachelors.
When the tour finished, he
formed Paul Raven & The Boston International Showband and
headed out to the booming club scene in Germany. Initially
booked for a month, he ended staying, almost permanently, for
five years. He also tried his luck as Paul Monday and
Rubber Bucket (truly!).
Leander and Raven knew
they wanted to work together even though all their previous
efforts had failed to set the world alight, and in the early 70s
the pair plotted how to launch the newly-named 'Gary Glitter' on
an unsuspecting public.
With some free studio time
available due to a cancellation by David Essex and a song title
courtesy of a Melody Maker feature entitled "Rock
'n' Roll Parts 1 & 2" the pair recorded the debut Gary
Glitter single, Leander playing the instruments and Gary
painfully putting down every one of those hand claps.
Gary Glitter was
officially born on 3 March 1972 with the release of Rock 'n'
Roll. 1500 promo copies were sent out to DJs and
journalists but it was the discotheques that got behind the
single and with their support the song peaked at number two in
July, selling over a million copies in the UK alone.
With demand for TV
appearances and a UK-wide tour, The Gary Glitter Rock 'n' Roll
Spectacular was hastily formed in June, featuring bassist John
Springate, guitarist Gerry Shepperd, drummers Pete Phipps and
Pete Gill and sax players Harvey Ellison and John Rossall - who
would eventually become The Glitter Band.
The follow-up single,
I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock 'n' Roll) went
to number four in October 1972 and 'glittermania' swept the
nation. The instantly identifiable trademark sound, The Glitter
Beat, made 1973 Gary's most successful year.
Two UK number two hits, Do
You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah) and Hello Hello I'm Back
Again were followed by two number one's with I'm The
Leader of The Gang (I Am) and I Love You Love Me Love,
the latter actually entering the chart at number one and staying
there for a month.
The Touch Me
album spent 35 weeks in the charts and, as well as touring the
UK, Gary also toured Germany, Australia, France, Spain, Italy,
Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia and Austria.
The ballad Remember Me
This Way hit number three in March 1974 and was
followed by another number one with Always Yours and a
number two with Oh Yes, You're Beautiful.
The Glitter Band scored
hits of their own in the same year with Just For You
and Let's Get Together Again utilising the same Glitter
Beat evident on all Gary's chart-toppers.
Two 1975 'glitterbeat'
hits, Love Like You And Me and Doing Alright With
The Boys, charted before Gary went to America to record The
G.G. Album which also featured a then-unknown Luther
Vandross on backing vocals. A mixture of R&B and New York
disco, the LP was poorly received by Glitter devotees and the
single, Papa Oom Mow Mow, only managed to scrape into
the Top 40, as did You Belong To Me.
Gary announced his
retirement from live performances with five nights at London's
New Victoria Theatre, the last of which was televised.
Relocating to Paris in the
Summer of 1977, he kept a relatively low profile until being
offered the part of Frank N Furter in a New Zealand production
of The Rocky Horror Show: A spell living in
Australia followed before he felt the urge to return to the UK
in 1979 and to re-launch Gary Glitter.
His comeback began in
November 1980 with a short club tour and the release of two
independent singles, Whatcha Momma Don't See and When
I'm On: Throughout the early eighties, he worked
tirelessly on the live circuit, his shows as extravagant as
ever, and totally re-established his career and credibility. The
Lyceum and other major venues were regularly packed to the
rafters and he was a firm favourite on the university circuit.
Joan Jett had a US Top 20
hit with Do You Wanna Touch Me? and Gary himself
stepped back into the UK charts when Dance Me Up hit
number 25 in July 1984. That Christmas he enjoyed his biggest
hit for nine years when Another Rock 'n' Roll Christmas
hit number seven.
TV adverts for Heinz soup and poster adverts for British Rail
kept his public profile high. The NME put him on the
front cover, The Timelords featured him on their chart-topping Doctorin
The Tardis single and he presented his own chat show, The
Leader Talks on late night TV.
Gazza succeeded because he was more of a showman than a
rocker, and he refused to take his image seriously. He took his
music seriously however, and worked and worked and worked on
getting his music and his image across. Gary was probably
the most unlikely teen idol ever.
Paunchy, past 30 and with a 50's throwback bouffant quiff, he
took Glam Rock's job description to its giddy limit with a
an outrageously hairy chest encased in a rhinestone and glitter
jacket, painfully tight silver foil trousers and the flashy and
orthopaedically dangerous high heels which made Mr Glitter the
most imitated act of the time. But nobody could get near to the
exciting productions of Mike Leander which showcased Glitter's
talents so well.
But the most remarkable aspect of Gary Glitter's varied
career was his incredible capacity for survival. He came through
drug addiction, alcoholism, bankruptcy, numerous youth culture
revolutions, baldness, a suicide attempt and allegations of
kiddie porn, to become the darling of the advertising and late
night TV industries. He also consistently sold out 10,000
capacity venues with his annual Christmas tour.
Gadd's world began to unravel, though, in 1997 when over
4,000 indecent images of young children were found on a computer
he had taken to PC World for repair. He was jailed for four
months. Fleeing the country upon release, he moved to Cambodia,
but was expelled from the country in 2002 and moved to
Vietnam.
In late 2005, at age 61, he was arrested by Vietnamese
authorities and charged with molesting two girls, aged 10 and
11, at his home in Vung Tàu. He was convicted of
committing obscene acts with minors and sentenced to three years
imprisonment.
He was released from prison on 19 August 2008 and returned to
London, after being refused entry into Thailand and Hong
Kong. Glitter consistently denied any wrongdoing, saying he
was framed by British tabloid newspapers.
Do you wanna be in my gang? er, we'll get back to you . . .
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