Born in Reading on May 15th 1953. At the age of 14 he performed and recorded  with his sister Sally in a duo called Sallyangie. A year later his own band Barefoot was assembled and disbanded with little notable acheivement.

Subsequently he was asked to join Kevin Ayers and the Whole World as a bassist, then switching to lead guitar. The band's inebriated charm endeared it to many, but the break-up occured in summer 1971.

When he was 17 he composed 'Tubular Bells' and made a demo tape which was rejected by numerous record companies for reasons best known to themselves. When Virgin decided to create its own label, Oldfield was the first musician signed. He set about recording his work at the Manor Studio, overdubbing almost all of the instruments himself.

The launch of Virgin Records and the release of 'Tubular Bells' was on 25th May 1973. There was unanimous critical acclaim for both the record and a live performance at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Worldwide sales of the album have now reached 9 million including 2 1/2 million in the UK. A section was used as theme music for the film 'The Exorcist'.

Oldfield completed work on the 'Hergest Ridge' album released in August 1974. It entered the cahrts at No.1 while its predecessor remained in the second position - an unprecedented acheivement in British Chart History.

He joined forces with former Whole World colleague, composer/arranger David Bedford on two recording projects: Bedford's own composition 'Star's End' and 'The Orchestral Tubular Bells', both performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Oldfield on guitar. Oldfield has since played on all Bedford's albums.

He worked on his third album 'Ommadawn' throughout spring and summer 1975. It was completed and released in October 1975 to a euphorically enthusiastic response and was followed by a top five single 'In Dulci Jubilo'.

A boxed set consisting of remixed and reconsidered versions of hs three albums, plus a compliation of of fragments of old and new, was released in October 1976, entitled 'Boxed'. He made a guest appearance at the Royal Albert Hall performance of David Bedford's 'The Odyssey' in January 1977. While 'Boxed' and 'Tubular Bells' remained dominant in the album charts, another top five single arose: 'Portsmouth'.

After two years relative musical inactivity, 'Incantations' - a double album - was released in November 1978. In April 1979 Oldfield plans to tour European capitals with 46 musicians, playing a selection of his recorded works. This will be followed by five nights at various London concert halls where the total audience will number 30,000.

(Unknown source - Bio written at the time of Incantations)