What your loved ones want for Xmas

[Gob]

is a personalised John Otway gift!

Trouble is I already have all of his stuff

[loCAtek]

Can we have a hint, Gob?

[Miles]

Can we have a hint, Gob?

Yeah, like who is John Otway????????????????

[Gob]

John Otway, (born 2 October 1952, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is an English singer-songwriter, who has built a sizeable cult audience through extensive touring, a surreal sense of humour and a self-deprecating underdog persona

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Otway

I first saw John on "The Old Grey Whistle Test", like everyone else watching I thought he was a punk. This impression was heightened when during his second number he leaped onto his amp, fell off, cracking his nuts against the amp and unplugging the music, but carried on regardless.



Polydor thought he was a punk too, and signed him for a 5 album deal. It wasn't much later that everyone realised John wasn't a punk.

He was/is a twat.

He had one freak hit single, but became much loved as "Rock and Roll's greatest failure. He's released albums and books, and has made a living out of touring his stage show which is part music, part comedy and part "is he going to seriously damage himself (again) this gig"?

I've seen him live 20+ times, we're on first name terms. I do my best to tout him and his antics as, like all true fans I'm somewhat obsessed, and believe he could make it big some day.

In fact he had a second hit single, though he did a major scam to get this; "Bunsen Burner...".

In 2002, when asked what he wanted for his 50th birthday, he 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 song "Disco Inferno" and lyrics devised to help his daughter with her chemistry homework — reach number nine in the UK Singles Chart on 6 October, and earned 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, he 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 featuring 900 of his fans on backing vocals, each of whom was credited by name on the single's sleeve.

Thanks to this second hit he has now been able to release his Greatest Hits album. Commenting on the fact that the title of this album is now in the plural, Otway said that he was very proud of it, having "finally got it (the 's') on the right side of Hit".