John Otway

Armed with scant musical skill, a talent for self-mockery and a complete disregard for onstage dignity, the East Londoner John Otway sustained a small-scale recording career chiefly to sidestep any return to refuse collection. Frenzied performances that routinely placed his own safety in jeopardy first drew public interest, leading to the 1977 single “Cor Baby That’s Really Free.” Polydor, hoping to exploit punk without fully grasping it, offered a contract that produced five albums; Otway’s determined lack of polish proved timely once punk ascended.

High-profile admirers soon surfaced. Pete Townshend produced and contributed guitar to the 1977 debut John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett, on which Steeleye Span drummer Nigel Pegrum also appeared. Paul McCartney invited Otway to support Wings, yet prior bookings forced him to decline. Reputation as rock’s consummate oddball extended beyond live antics and eccentric discs. One album pressed only the backing tracks for three songs, with Otway promising to appear in person and supply the missing vocals if a buyer’s copy lacked them. On another occasion he barred entry to an entire national tour unless attendees presented his newest single, whose retail price undercut a standard ticket.

When record sales declined, Otway expanded into theater by co-authoring Verbal Diary and casting himself as a bumbling yet affable fool. The role translated directly into television commercials, while a later lull prompted his memoir Cor Baby That’s Really Me (Rock and Roll’s Greatest Failure). Marketed explicitly as the confessions of a lovable failure, the book surpassed nearly every Otway album in sales within weeks of release. Heartened by an audience of 2,500 at his 2,000th concert in London in 1993, he spent the next two years cutting Premature Adulation, his first album in five years. As the century closed he continued to accept whatever music or acting assignments arose.