Gary Glitter - real name Paul Gadd - was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court today.
The ageing rocker was convicted of one count of attempted rape, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and four counts of indecent assault.
The 70-year-old's victims included one young girl who was under the age of 10 when he tried to rape her in 1975.
He also attacked two girls, between the ages of 12 and 13, when he invited them backstage to his dressing room and isolated them from their parents.
Glitter denied all charges made against him when he arrived in court on Friday morning.
According to reports at Sky News, he did not react as his sentence was read out.
Sentencing the singer Judge McCreath said: "I have read the victim impact statements of all three victims. It is clear, in their different ways, they were all profoundly affected by your abuse of them.
"You did all of them real and lasting damage and you did so for no other reason than to obtain sexual gratification for yourself of a wholly improper kind."
He added: "The offences for which I must pass sentence today took place many years ago at a time when in particular, in respect of one of them, the maximum sentence was considerably lower than that which is now available."
Gary Glitter was the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree, the investigation launched by the MET Police in wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.