Disgraced British former pop star Gary Glitter, a convicted paedophile repeatedly refused entry to Asian countries, has fallen a long way from his 1970s heyday as the leader of the glam rock gang.

Glitter (64) was the dazzling king of the glam era, characterised by performers in sequinned dress and extreme make-up.

He sold more then 20 million records and had a string of stomping hits like 'I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)'.

But his fading career was dealt a fatal blow when he was caught by British police with thousands of hardcore child pornography images in 1997, and briefly jailed.

Deported from Vietnam on Tuesday having served nearly three years for child sex offences, and arriving in Britain on Friday after being refused entry to several Asian countries, Glitter was branded the "world's most unwanted man" by top-selling British daily newspaper The Sun.

The flamboyant star was born Paul Francis Gadd on 8 May 1944 in the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, southern England.

Gadd had been performing on the British club circuit since the 1950s. Riding the crest of British pop music's glam wave, he adopted the Glitter name and scored a huge hit with 'Rock and Roll (Parts 1 and 2)'.

Glittermania

Complete with extravagant make-up, silver outfits and high boots, the showman notched up three British number one records in the 1970s with a cheerfully anarchic brand of music based on the "Glitter Stomp": a thumping drum beat and simple instrumental riffs.

The hits kept coming, such as 'Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again' and 'I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)' as glittermania swept Britain.

Tired out, he announced his "retirement" in 1976, went bankrupt in 1980, but soon relaunched his career and scored a 1984 hit with 'Another Rock and Roll Christmas', one of the classic yuletide tunes.

The Timelords' 1988 British number one hit 'Doctorin' the Tardis' featured Glitter and sampled 'Rock and Roll', but despite pulling in crowds with his extravagant live shows, the record sales slowed.

Hardcore files

Glitter's shock arrest in 1997 came after he took his computer to a store for repair. Hardcore paedophilia was spotted on the computer's files.

He was sentenced in 1999 to four months in prison, of which he served two, after he admitted 54 charges of downloading indecent pictures from the internet.

Glitter's arrest led to a string of charges as alleged child abuse victims spoke out. The showman was charged with raping a friend of his daughter when she was eight, but the case broke down due to the 22 years since the alleged offence.

Glitter was charged with having sex with an underage girl aged 14, Alison Brown, whom he had a 12-year relationship with. But he was found not guilty after she sold her story to a newspaper.

Keen to avoid the media, Glitter reportedly moved to Cuba.

He later moved to Cambodia and was permanently expelled in 2002, allegedly for trawling for underage sex, although Cambodian officials did not specify his crime or file charges.

After being tracked down in Vietnam by a British newspaper which alleged he was living with a 15-year-old girl, Glitter was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport in November 2005 while trying to leave for Thailand.

He was charged with molesting two girls aged 10 and 11 and, in a two-day trial in March, was convicted. Glitter maintains his innocence, blaming a media conspiracy.

The singer was sentenced to the minimum three years in prison, a term later cut by three months, which ended this week.