English glam rock singer Gary Glitter (born Paul Francis Gadd) released seven studio albums, four live albums, 13 compilation albums, one extended play (EP) and 42 singles, including three UK number-one singles. He became known for his energetic live performances and extremely glam rock image of glitter suits, make-up, and platform boots.
Glitter's popularity waned in the late 1970s, followed by a successful comeback as a solo artist from the 1980s; his 1984 song "Another Rock and Roll Christmas" became one of the most played Christmas songs of all time. Glitter spent the next decade mostly as an in-demand live performer, and mainly toured Britain.
Glitter sold over 20 million records and had 26 hit singles which spent a total of 180 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, with 12 reaching the top 10 and three of those charting at number one. Touch Me (1973) is Glitter's bestselling album, peaking at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. Glitter was an influence on a number of musicians and genres from the 1970s onwards, especially British punk, post-punk, new wave, gothic rock, Britpop and glam metal.
Glitter's music career ended after he was imprisoned for downloading child pornography in 1999, and was later also convicted of child sexual abuse in 2006 and a series of sexual offences (including attempted rape) in 2015. In 2006 his back catalogue was made available via the Internet from sites such as iTunes and eMusic.
