Sally Oldfield

Sally Oldfield
Birth name	Sally Patricia Oldfield
Born	8 March 1947 (1947-03-08) , Dublin, Ireland
Origin	Reading, Berkshire, England
Genres	Pop, folk
Years active	1968–present

Sally Oldfield (born Sally Patricia Oldfield, 8 March 1947, Dublin, Ireland) is a singer-songwriter, and the sister of the composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.

Early life

Oldfield and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their mother, Maureen. Spending her childhood in Reading, Berkshire, Oldfield studied ballet from the age of four and won numerous competitions in all styles of dance, including ballet, tap and modern. At the age of eleven, she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dancing, then located in Holland Park, London, and two years later was starred to move on to the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge. However, she gave up ballet two years later, and achieved three A-Levels at Grade A. She also studied classical piano to Grade 7. All her school years were spent at St Joseph's Convent School, Reading, where she became friends with Marianne Faithfull.

Oldfield then went on to read English Literature and Philosophy at Bristol University. She had originally planned to move on to post-graduate studies. However, following a spontaneous near-death experience while walking on a beach in the spring of 1968, she began to write songs which she had never done before and from that moment she knew she wanted a life in music.^{[citation needed]}

Musical career

Oldfield's musical career started in 1968, when she founded the folk music duo The Sallyangie together with her brother Mike. The duo recorded their first and only album at the recommendation of Pentangle band guitarist, John Renbourn, whom Oldfield met at the Troubadour Folk Club in Bristol. The album Children of the Sun was recorded in August 1968. The songs on it are mainly written by Oldfield, and the album contained some of her brother's early guitar work. Guesting were Terry Cox on drums and Ray Warleigh on flute.

Oldfield's debut solo album, Water Bearer, was released in 1978. Her track, "Mirrors", peaked at #19 in the UK Singles Chart, spanning 1978 and 1979, and remained in that chart for thirteen weeks. Since then, she has released twelve solo albums.

On the demise of her record label Bronze Records in 1984, Oldfield relocated to Germany where her musical career was based from that time. Most of her albums from 1983 onwards were not released in the UK. She worked with many German record producers and musicians, including Gunther Mende and Candy DeRouge. Oldfield regularly appeared on national television and radio, and undertook several European concert tours, the last being in Germany in 2003.

Guest appearances

Oldfield provided background vocals in sections of brother Mike's albums Tubular Bells and Ommadawn. She reprised her role for the 2003 re-recording, Tubular Bells 2003. In addition, she worked on her other brother Terry's recordings. She sang "Shadow of the Hierophant" on Steve Hackett's 1975 album, Voyage of the Acolyte.

Discography

Solo

• Water Bearer (1978)
• Easy (1979)
• Celebration (1980)
• Playing in the Flame (1981)
• In Concert (1982)
• Strange Day in Berlin (1983)
• Femme (1987)
• Instincts (1988)
• Night Riding (1990)
• Natasha (1990)
• The Flame (1992) as 'Natasha Oldfield'
• Three Rings (1994)
• Secret Songs (1996)
• Flaming Star (2001)
• Cantadora (2009)

With Steve Hackett

• Voyage Of The Acolyte (1975)

With Mike Oldfield

• Tubular Bells (1973)
• Ommadawn (1975)
• Tubular Bells 2003 (2003)

External links

• EP Music – Sally Oldfield
• Official MySpace Page