Gary Osborne

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. (December 2010) Gary Osborne (born in London) is an English singer and songwriter (most notably a lyricist) from the United Kingdom. Career: Osborne was born in London, educated in Switzerland, and followed his father into the music industry at the age of fifteen. In his younger days, Osborne was a staff A&R man for RCA Records with his own show on the BBC World Service. He went on to write and sing on hundreds of television jingles including Pepsi, Shredded Wheat and Abbey National. In 1971, Osborne and his musical partner at the time, Paul Vigras, were signed by Elton John's original publisher, Dick James, to James' label: DJM Records. As a duo, Vigras and Osborne released two lps: Queues in 1972 and Steppin' Out in 1974, before disbanding. Osborne is best known for his lyrical work with Elton John throughout the album A Single Man, and on parts of the albums, 21 at 33, The Fox, Jump Up!, and Leather Jackets. The three single hits of the collaboration are "Part Time Love" from 1978, "Little Jeannie" from 1980 plus "Blue Eyes" from 1982. The beginning and end of "Little Jeannie" accidentally plagiarised "When I Need You", and instead of suing Osborne* (this would be ridiculous, since only the melody was similar and Mr. Osborne was responsible for the lyrics only, not the melody), the latter's songwriter, Albert Hammond, collaborated with him on four songs on his 1982 album Somewhere in America. Osborne, also, collaborated on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. His co-songwriting credit thus appears on "Forever Autumn" from Justin Hayward. The song "I Am The Future", composed by Osborne and Lalo Schifrin, appeared in the soundtrack to the film, Class of 1984. His song "The Last Place God Made", co-penned with Richard Kerr, appeared on World Falling Down, a 1992 album from Peter Cetera. The song, "It's Not On", written by Jeff Wayne and Osborne, appeared on Justin Hayward's 1980 album, Night Flight. Another hit with Osborne lyrics is "Amoureuse" by Kiki Dee. Osborne's lyrics for this song are based on Véronique Sanson's original French lyrics. He has, also, had songs recorded by artists as diverse as Alice Cooper, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, Wilson Pickett, Jennifer Warnes and The Righteous Brothers. His backing vocals credits include "Sugar Baby Love" and "Gonna Make You A Star". Osborne has recently been providing lyrics for the Lil' Chris's debut album, including the UK Top 3 single, "Checkin' It Out". Connections: Osborne's father, Tony Osborne was a celebrated music director.

Source: Wikipedia

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