Gary Osborne (born 1949 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) is an English singer and songwriter. He chaired The Songwriters Executive of the British Academy Of Songwriters Composers and Authors for 12 years during which time he was also chairman of The Ivor Novello Awards.

Career

Born in London in 1949, Osborne is the son of the late musical director Tony Osborne. He was educated in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and entered the music industry at the age of 15. As a teenage songwriter Osborne had recordings by Timi Yuro,

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( ; born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career, she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek language, Greek, French language, French, ...

and

Val Doonican Michael Valentine 'Val' Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening and novelty songs, noted for his warm and relaxed vocal style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in t ...

and at age 17 had his first US chart entry with "On The Other Side" by

The Seekers The Seekers were an Australian folk music, folk-influenced pop music, pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the Unit ...

, which he wrote with Tom Springfield. Osborne was influenced by lyricist/producer Norman Newell whom he knew via family connections in his youth. Osborne's early career included presenting the 1960s radio show ''Cool Britania'' on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

and a stint with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

in its A&R department. In the early 1970s, he was active in television

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s, writing and performing hundreds of songs for brands including

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

, Ultra Brite, Shredded Wheat and

Abbey National The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies. It was the first building society in the United Kingdom to Demutualisation, demutualise, doing so in July 1989. The ba ...

.British Academy of Composers and Songwriters
Retrieved May 2008. Osborne and Paul Vigrass recorded two albums, both produced by

Jeff Wayne Jeffry Wayne (born July 1, 1943) is an American composer, musician and lyricist. In 1978, he released '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', his musical adaptation of H. G. Wells' science-fiction novel ''The War of the Wo ...

. Their first was ''Queues'', in 1972, containing the hits " Forever Autumn", "Men of Learning" and "Virginia (Be Strong)". Their second and last was ''Steppin' Out'', with the hit "Gypsy Woman". "Men of Learning" peaked at #84 in Australia in 1972. The duo did release a belated UK single in 1975 (also produced by Wayne) on CBS 3170 with "Take it Away" on the A side and "Hangin' in, Hangin' Out" (co-written by the duo and Wayne) on the B side. Osborne went on to collaborate with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

throughout the 1978 album ''

A Single Man ''A Single Man'' is a 2009 American historical drama film, period romantic drama film based on A Single Man (novel), the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood. The List of directorial debuts, directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, the fi ...

'', and on parts of the albums '' 21 at 33'', '' The Fox'', '' Jump Up!'' and '' Leather Jackets''. The three biggest singles co-written by Elton John and Osborne were " Part-Time Love" from 1978, " Little Jeannie", a U.S. million-seller in 1980, and the worldwide hit "

Blue Eyes Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic trait determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris. In humans, the pigmentation o ...

" from 1982. Osborne was the principal lyricist on the best-selling

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

'' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'' which has sold in excess of 15 million albums and performed half a dozen sold-out UK arena tours as well as touring in Europe and Australia. Osborne's collaboration with Richard Kerr yielded the US hit "I'm Dreaming" for

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter who has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet " Up Where We Belong", and in 1987 fo ...

and "Making The Best of a Bad Situation" for

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American R&B and soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies sold. Jackson's songs o ...

's '' Still Caught Up'' album, as well as cuts by Jimmy Helms,

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

, The Edwin Hawkins Singers and

The Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the L ...

. He co-wrote four songs for

Albert Hammond Albert Louis Hammond Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 18 May 1944) is a Gibraltarians, Gibraltarian singer, songwriter and record producer. A prolific songwriter, he also collaborated with other songwriters such as Mike Hazlewood, John B ...

's album ''Somewhere in America'' (1982). " I Am the Future", written with

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

for the soundtrack of the movie ''

Class of 1984 ''Class of 1984'' is a 1982 crime thriller film directed by Mark Lester, produced by Arthur Kent, and co-written by Tom Holland and John Saxton, based on a story by Holland. The film stars Perry King, Merrie Lynn Ross (who also served as ...

'', was performed by

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

. Other films featuring Osborne songs include ''

My Own Private Idaho ''My Own Private Idaho'' is a 1991 American independent adventure drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's '' Henry IV, Part 1'', '' Henry IV, Part 2'', and '' Henry V''. The story follows two friends, ...

'', '' Stardust'', '' Every Day's a Holiday'', ''

Summer Lovers ''Summer Lovers'' is a 1982 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Randal Kleiser and starring Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah, and Valerie Quennessen. It was filmed on location on the island of Santorini, Greece. The or ...

'', '' The Legacy'' and '' Oh! Heavenly Dog''. Osborne's credits as a backing vocalist include "Sugar Baby Love" by The Rubettes, "You Can Make Me Dance" by Rod Stewart and The Faces, and "Part-Time Love" by Elton John. More recent work includes the 2006 UK top-3 hit " Checkin' It Out" by

Lil' Chris Christopher James Hardman (26 August 1990 – 23 March 2015), known professionally as Lil' Chris, was an English singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality. He came to prominence in 2006 after appearing on the Channel 4 series '' Rock ...

References

External links

* AllMusic song discography
British Academy of Composers and Songwriters article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Gary 1949 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English lyricists English session musicians British soft rock musicians A&R people Date of birth missing (living people)