# Gilbert O'Sullivan! That's right... Gilbert O'Sullivan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941 "2017-02-15T21:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/1 "2017-02-15T21:56:04Z")
Tell me something I don’t know about him! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/2 "2017-02-15T21:58:32Z")
Right now, he’s alone again. (Naturally). ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/3 "2017-02-15T22:15:21Z")
He’s not in my kitchen! ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/4 "2017-02-15T22:19:37Z")
I’ve got his first four albums and some non-album singles. Oh, and a collection of early works. Super-talented and more unknown at this point than underrated. Thing you don’t know? Ever hear “Mr. Moody’s Garden” and his other early material? Good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/5 "2017-02-15T22:24:36Z")
He had a rather disturbing relationship with Claire. (Joking! I know she was his niece and it was a perfectly cromulent relationship). ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/6 "2017-02-15T22:27:34Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > He had a rather disturbing relationship with Claire. (Joking! I know she was his niece and it was a perfectly cromulent relationship). “Cromulent?” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/7 "2017-02-15T22:58:59Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > Tell me something I don’t know about him! Did you know he used to be the voice of the AFLAC duck? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/8 "2017-02-15T23:09:21Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > “Cromulent?” [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cromulent#Adjective](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cromulent#Adjective) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/9 "2017-02-15T23:14:31Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Did you know he used to be the voice of the AFLAC duck? I heard he played Iago the parrot in _Aladdin_. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/10 "2017-02-15T23:19:37Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > He’s not in my kitchen! Dammit! That was gonna be _my_ joke! ---
**Author:** ![wellanuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@wellanuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wellanuff)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/11 "2017-02-15T23:38:03Z")
I bet you didn’t know that Gilbert Oscar Sullivan (childhood nickname: “Gilbert O!”) was a “replacement child” conceived and born in 1946 to fill the gnawing void left in the lives of the parents of the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who were all killed in the November 1942 sinking of the light cruiser Juneau. Growing up as an only child in a house filled with mementos that belonged to brothers he would never know but whose deaths still weighed heavily on his parents’ thoughts daily, he eventually drew on his feelings of isolation to craft the hit song, “Alone Again Naturally.” You’d be surprised how many people don’t know any of that. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/12 "2017-02-16T00:59:05Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Did you know he used to be the voice of the AFLAC duck? Don’t know if you’re joking but I believe that was Gilbert Gottfried. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/13 "2017-02-16T01:01:00Z")
> [@wellanuff](#): > > I bet you didn’t know that Gilbert Oscar Sullivan (childhood nickname: “Gilbert O!”) was a “replacement child” conceived and born in 1946 to fill the gnawing void left in the lives of the parents of the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who were all killed in the November 1942 sinking of the light cruiser Juneau. > > Growing up as an only child in a house filled with mementos that belonged to brothers he would never know but whose deaths still weighed heavily on his parents’ thoughts daily, he eventually drew on his feelings of isolation to craft the hit song, “Alone Again Naturally.” > > You’d be surprised how many people don’t know any of that. I’ll bet! Now do you know anything _factual_ about early 70s pop star Gilbert O’Sullivan? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/14 "2017-02-16T01:20:03Z")
His real first name is Raymond. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/15 "2017-02-16T01:41:50Z")
He married his Norwegian girlfriend Aase and they have 2 daughters. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/16 "2017-02-16T02:00:43Z")
He once parallel parked a train. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/17 "2017-02-16T02:02:47Z")
His name isn’t Gilbert. You get to choose a name for yourself, you’d think you could do better than ‘Gilbert’. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/18 "2017-02-16T02:20:31Z")
His real name is Raymond, and “Alone Again Naturally” is fictional- his mother was alive and well when he wrote it. His father was dead, but he’d been a mean drunk, and Ray didn’t miss him. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/19 "2017-02-16T03:26:49Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > He had a rather disturbing relationship with Claire. (Joking! I know she was his niece and it was a perfectly cromulent relationship). She wasn’t his niece but his manager, Gordon Mill’s daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941/20 "2017-02-16T03:30:51Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > His name isn’t Gilbert. You get to choose a name for yourself, you’d think you could do better than ‘Gilbert’. Jerry Dorsey chose to be named Englebert Humperdink. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-osullivan-thats-right-gilbert-osullivan/779941.md?page=2)