Sally Patricia Oldfield is a singer-songwriter, sister of composers Mike and Terry Oldfield. Born in Dublin, Ireland, she was raised in the Roman Catholic faith of her mother, Maureen. Spending her childhood in Reading, Berkshire, Oldfield studied ballet from the age of four and won numerous competitions in all styles of dance, including ballet, tap and modern. At the age of eleven, she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dancing, then located in Holland Park, London, and two years later was starred to move on to the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge. However, she gave up ballet two years later, and achieved three A-Levels at Grade A. She studied classical piano to Grade 7. All her school years were spent at St Joseph’s Convent School, Reading, where she became friends with Marianne Faithfull. Oldfield went on to read English Literature and Philosophy at Bristol University.dfield’s musical career started in early 1968, when she made some demo recordings with her younger brother Mike Oldfield. These sessions were suggested and overseen by Mick Jagger. It is not known what became of those recordings.

Soon after this she founded the folk music duo The Sallyangie together with her brother Mike. The duo was signed to Transatlantic Records and recorded their first and only album at the recommendation of Pentangle band guitarist, John Renbourn, whom Oldfield met at the Troubadour Folk Club in Bristol. The album Children of the Sun was recorded in August 1968. The songs on it are mainly co-written by Sally and Mike Oldfield, and the album contained some of her brother’s early guitar work. Guesting were Terry Cox on drums and Ray Warleigh on flute. Ten years later, she had a hit in the UK Singles Chart with a song called “Mirrors”, composed by herself.

Sally Oldfield’s debut solo album, Water Bearer, was released in 1978. Her track, “Mirrors”, peaked at #12 in the UK Singles Chart, spanning 1978 and 1979, and remained in that chart for thirteen weeks. Since then, she has released fifteen solo albums.

On the demise of her record label Bronze Records in 1984, Oldfield relocated to Germany where her musical career was based from that time. Most of her albums from 1983 onwards were not released in the UK. She worked with many German record producers and musicians, including Gunther Mende and Candy DeRouge. Her last studio album was released in 2001. Oldfield regularly appeared on national television and radio, and undertook several European concert tours, the last being in Germany in 2003.