Back by popular demand is beloved singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, who’s returning to the U.S. for an eight-city run. O’Sullivan kicks things off on March 11th in Boston with the trek winding down on March 22nd in Nashville. Along the way he’ll be making stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Chicago, and Atlanta.

Gilbert O’Sullivan is best remembered on this side of the pond for his five Top 40 hits, including 1973’s Top Ten favorite “Get Down,” the previous year’s Top Two smash, “Claire,” and his six-week 1972 chart-topping classic — “Alone Again” (Naturally).” The track topped the American charts for a whopping six weeks, displacing yet another monster 1972 classic “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers, which enjoyed a three-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

Gilbert O’Sullivan’s recent studio set, Driven, snagged highly-coveted four-star reviews from both Mojo and Record Collector with a five-star rave from Shindig! Among the many highlights on the set are collaborations with guest performers KT Tunstall on “Take Love” and Simply Red‘s Mick Hucknall on “Let Bygones Be Bygones.”

We caught up with O’Sullivan and pressed him on how he’s been able to remain ageless as a singer, world-class songsmith, and record maker: “Y’know, you have to have the melody. Without the melody — it’s all very well being a good lyricist, but getting the melody is the hardest thing. So, therefore, if you’re up for doing it — if you’re up for working hard, up for looking for the melody, working hard to get it, then I think you can compete with anybody. As long as you can come up with that, there’s no reason why you need to be discounted and looked upon as the past as opposed to the present.”

JUST ANNOUNCED: Gilbert O’Sullivan North American tour dates (subject to change):

March 11 – Boston, MA – City Winery Boston
March 12 – New York, NY – City Winery New York City
March 15 – Philadelphia, PA – City Winery Philadelphia
March 16 – Cleveland, OH – Music Box Supper Club
March 18 – St. Louis, MO – City Winery St. Louis
March 19 – Chicago, IL – City Winery Chicago
March 21 – Atlanta GA – City Winery Atlanta
March 22 – Nashville, TN – City Winery Nashville