Irish-English singer-songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan reaches No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart on October 29, 1972 with “Clair,” one of his biggest selling singles, from the album Back to Front. The song is written by O’Sullivan and produced by Gordon Mills.

“Clair” is the love song of a close family friend who babysits a young girl (actually the artist’s manager’s daughter), though for the first part of the song, the ambiguous text leads one to think that it is from one adult to another. The brief instrumental introduction is the sound of O’Sullivan whistling, before he comes in. The real Clair is the three-year-old daughter of O’Sullivan’s producer-manager, Gordon Mills and his wife, the model Jo Waring. The little girl’s giggling is heard at the end of the song. The “Uncle Ray” mentioned in the song is O’Sullivan himself, a reference to his real name of Raymond O’Sullivan. The instrumental break in the middle section is done half a step up from A to B-Flat, before going back to A.

“Clair” is the number one single in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks and number one in Canada on the RPM 100 national singles chart. In late December, it peaks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, behind both “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul and “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon. “Clair” is also O’Sullivan’s second and last number one hit on the United States Easy Listening chart, after “Alone Again (Naturally).”