This is (H)it

John Otway Hit No. 2 - 25-years on

Twenty-five years after John Otway scored his first and thus far only Hit with, Cor Baby That’s Really Free, he is about to storm the charts again with Bunsen Burner.

The Hit was chosen by Otway’s legion of fans who voted for the song in a bizarre ‘hit or miss’ Eurovision style spectacular held at London’s Astoria on Saturday 27^th July.

Released on 30^th September, Otway’s 50^th birthday, Bunsen Burner is the culmination of a 25 year quest to repeat his chart success of 1977.

Produced by Steps co-writer and producer, Barry Upton and cunningly using a sample from Disco Inferno, Bunsen Burner will set the charts alight with its mixture of dance, lyric and mayhem.

One of the music industry’s true eccentrics, Otway has from the beginning chosen an alternative path in his quest for recognition. Despite only having the one hit, he has maintained a cult following over the years of thousands of dedicated fans who attend his live shows and club together annually to purchase a birthday present for him. When asked what he wanted this year, he announced, “Another hit!”

With a questionable track record of selecting his own material as potential Hits, he took the unprecedented step of letting his fans decide one for him. “They might as well,” he argued, “They’ll be the ones who’ll have to buy it.” Producing an 11-track CD of specially recorded songs he pressed 5,000 copies and let the fans make their choice. Indeed one of his biggest fans, Barry Upton contacted Otway and declared, ‘I‘ve just knocked Kylie off the number 1 spot, so I reckon I can help you out’.

Otway hired the Astoria for his fans in return and performed a free gig showcasing each song only then to reveal it as a ‘hit’ or ‘flop’. The result of this election was decided in a sealed postal ballot, conducted by the prestigious Electoral Reform Society to avoid any conspiracy theories about vote rigging.

The B-side, a cover of the Animals’ House of the Rising Sun was equally novel as Otway invited 1,000 fans to Abbey Road Studios as backing singers, arguably the biggest backing vocal group ever!

With his legendary reckless abandon, and reasoning that he could become busy with preparations for his return to his chart success, Otway, has already booked a venue for his hit come-back, the London Palladium on 6^th October. This huge gamble will, of course, turn out to be either a glorious triumph or a spectacular disaster.

With his popularity currently at a 25-year peak, legions of fans behind him, and renewed public affection, John Otway is suddenly looking forward once again to chart stardom. If you want to catch his manic show while he’s still a one-hit wonder, there’s still time left. He’ll be touring throughout the UK in the months leading up to the release of Bunsen Burner, or visit www.HitHitHit.com.

JOHN OTWAY – BUNSEN BURNER – 30 SEPTEMBER 2002

For further information contact:

Press: Suzanne Noble @ Peter Noble PR

Tel: 0207 794 2302, e-mail: suzanne@noblepr.co.uk

TV/Radio: Matt Connolly @ Fleming Connolly Lander

Tel: 0207 482 9742, e-mail: mat@fclpr.com