Mike Oldfield

Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953 in Reading, Berkshire) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age and more recently dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album Tubular Bells which broke new ground as an instrumental concept album and launched Virgin Records. Tubular Bells became Oldfield’s most famous work. The instrumental composition was recorded in 1972 and launched on 25 May 1971. The album was ground-breaking, as Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments, often recording them one at a time, and layering the recordings to create the finished work. Many of his albums feature this technique. Tubular Bells received attention mainly by appearing in the soundtrack of the movie, “The Exorcist.”