The Early Years

Mike Oldfield was born on 15 May 1953. At the age of ten he took up the guitar and left school in persuit of a music career.
From 1971 he started working on Tubular Bells, which was finally released in 1973 on Richard Branson's new label Virgin Records. 4 Days after the release, British DJ John Peel played the entire album on his radio show on BBC Radio 1, calling it "one of the most impressive LPs I've ever had to chance to play on the radio, really a remarkable record."
Tubular Bells got also a massive boost when it was used in the movie The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin. In 1974 Mike Oldfield won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition. A re-recording of the original Tubular Bells was released in 2003 with updated digital technology and several corrections.
Hergest Ridge , released in late 1974, was No.1 in the UK for 3 weeks, before being dethroned by Tubular Bells. Like Tubular Bells, the album is a two-movement instrumental piece. It was followed in 1975 by Ommadawn.  Incantations, recorded between December 1977 and September 1978, introduced more choral performances. The album was supported with a European tour in 1979. The live album Exposed was released after the succesful tour.

The Eighties

By November 1979 the album Platinum was released. This was the start of a change towards mainstream and pop music. QE2 followed in 1980, Five Miles Out in 1982. 1984 is the year of 2 albums. Discovery had 'To France' as first track, following the success of 'Moonlight Shadow'. Mike Oldfield also composed the soundtrack for the acclaimed film The Killing Fields, directed by Roland Joffé.

In 1987 Islands was released with the guest singers Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers and Anita Hegerland, who also sang on Oldfield's next album Earth Moving, released in 1989. By the end of the eighties the relationship with Virgin Records became sour as a result of disagreements over his contract, royalties and the lack of effort in promoting his albums. Mike Oldfield had 2 more albums to deliver as part of his Virgin contract.   Amarok was produced with the aim of pleasing the fans while annoying Virgin. Released in 1991, Heaven's Open, was the last album on Virgin Records. It is also the only album under the name Michael Oldfield. Happy to leave Virgin Records, Oldfield can be heard at the end of "Music from the Balcony", saying "Fuck Off !"

A new start

Produced by Trevor Horn, Tubular Bells II was the first album with Warner Music. Supported by a live concert at Edinburgh Castle and aired on national television, Tubular Bells II reached number 1 in the charts in the UK and Spain.

Based on the sci-fi novel by Arthur C. Clarke, 'The Songs of Distant Earth', was released in November 1994. It was followed in 1996 by Voyager, an album of mainly Celtic music. Incorporating electronic music from Ibiza's bars and clubs, Tubular Bells III was out in 1998. The album is the least succesful of the three main Tubular Bells albums. In 1999 played all the music on the album Guitars, using only guitars of various types. The Millennium Bell is a reflection of different periods of human history. The album borrows its name from the dawning of the 3rd millennium and Oldfield's Tubular Bells series of albums. It was the main work performed at Oldfield's concert for Berlin's new year celebrations on 31 December 1999. Tr3s Lunas was released in July 2002, with Oldfield exploring electronic and chill-out music. In 2003 it was followed by a complete re-recording of Oldfield's first album, now called Tubular Bells 2003.

Mercury/Universal Records

Light + Shade (2005) offers two genres for two different moods. "Light" features brighter and quiet pieces, "Shade" brings in a much darker feel. Music of the Spheres, Oldfield's first classical work, is based on the concept of a clestial Musica Universalis. A live concert at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 2008 came out on 2 CD's later that year. The album was the 2nd best selling classical album in 2008 in the UK. In 2012 Mike Oldfield performed live at the Olympics opening ceremony in London. During a segment about the NHS he brought "Tubular Bells", "Far above the clouds" and "In Dulci Jubilo". Mike Oldfield's twenty-fifth album was "Man on the Rocks", released in 2014. It is only his second full album of exclusively songs, with no long or instrumental pieces (after "Earth Moving"). The vocals are sung by Luke Spiller, from the British rock band The Struts.

In 2017 Mike Oldfield released the follow-up of the popular album Ommadawn, "Return to Ommadawn".
The album is the first since Incantations that follows the format of having one track per side (on vinyl) titled simply "Part One" and "Part Two".