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Childhood and early musical steps
His father, Raymond Oldfield, acquired a guitar while serving in the British Royal Air Force in Egypt during World War II. Mike recalls how his father “used to play the guitar every Christmas Eve, singing the only song he knew, Danny Boy.” Mike also attributed his early interest in music to seeing the virtuoso guitarist Bert Weedon as a child: “I saw him on TV when I was seven and immediately convinced my father to buy me my first guitar. In fact, I think that if it hadn’t been for Bert, it would never have become the main thing in my life.”
The Oldfields became a family deeply connected to music: Mike’s older brother, Terry Oldfield, is a renowned composer of music for television documentaries and has several albums on the market; his sister, Sally Oldfield, achieved great success in the early 1980s with the vocal track “Mirrors”.
At the age of 10, Mike was already composing instrumental pieces for acoustic guitar. For him, the guitar was more than just an instrument; it was an escape from a deteriorating family situation that isolated him from the outside world for a long time. Throughout that decade, the acoustic music scene had been thriving, thanks to the resurgence of British folk culture that had taken place in previous decades. It was in one of the many clubs dedicated to this movement that young Mike began to realize that his musical virtuosity appealed to audiences.
Oldfield recalls: “I had two 15-minute instrumentals that I played in folk clubs, venues where I would go through all the styles. I would even completely detune the strings and bend them on the fretboard and do all sorts of things. As soon as I had a school holiday, I would spend the whole week practicing and playing the guitar.” He also experimented with electric music, playing instrumental pieces by The Shadows in an amateur band.
When Mike turned 13, the Oldfield family moved to Romford, Essex. In 1967, he left school and, along with his sister Sally, formed The Sallyangie, a folk-hippie duo of voice and guitar. They signed with Transatlantic Records, which released their album Children of the Sun in 1968 and the single "Two Ships" in 1969. Around this time, Mike's guitar playing was heavily influenced by the "baroque folk" popularized by John Renbourn, leader of Pentangle, and Bert Jansch. After a year, Sallyangie disbanded.
His father, Raymond Oldfield, acquired a guitar while serving in the British Royal Air Force in Egypt during World War II. Mike recalls how his father “used to play the guitar every Christmas Eve, singing the only song he knew, Danny Boy.” Mike also attributed his early interest in music to seeing the virtuoso guitarist Bert Weedon as a child: “I saw him on TV when I was seven and immediately convinced my father to buy me my first guitar. In fact, I think that if it hadn’t been for Bert, it would never have become the main thing in my life.”
The Oldfields became a family deeply connected to music: Mike’s older brother, Terry Oldfield, is a renowned composer of music for television documentaries and has several albums on the market; his sister, Sally Oldfield, achieved great success in the early 1980s with the vocal track “Mirrors”.
At the age of 10, Mike was already composing instrumental pieces for acoustic guitar. For him, the guitar was more than just an instrument; it was an escape from a deteriorating family situation that isolated him from the outside world for a long time. Throughout that decade, the acoustic music scene had been thriving, thanks to the resurgence of British folk culture that had taken place in previous decades. It was in one of the many clubs dedicated to this movement that young Mike began to realize that his musical virtuosity appealed to audiences.
Oldfield recalls: “I had two 15-minute instrumentals that I played in folk clubs, venues where I would go through all the styles. I would even completely detune the strings and bend them on the fretboard and do all sorts of things. As soon as I had a school holiday, I would spend the whole week practicing and playing the guitar.” He also experimented with electric music, playing instrumental pieces by The Shadows in an amateur band.
When Mike turned 13, the Oldfield family moved to Romford, Essex. In 1967, he left school and, along with his sister Sally, formed The Sallyangie, a folk-hippie duo of voice and guitar. They signed with Transatlantic Records, which released their album Children of the Sun in 1968 and the single "Two Ships" in 1969. Around this time, Mike's guitar playing was heavily influenced by the "baroque folk" popularized by John Renbourn, leader of Pentangle, and Bert Jansch. After a year, Sallyangie disbanded.
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