Thai authorities hold rocker Glitter

(CNN) -- British glam rocker Gary Glitter remained confined in the transit lounge of a Bangkok, Thailand, airport Wednesday while officials negotiated with him to get on a flight to London, England.

Glitter, 64, arrived in Bangkok Tuesday after serving nearly three years in a Vietnam prison on a child molestation conviction. But Thai authorities refused him entry into the country, and Glitter has refused to board a connecting flight to London.

Glitter, born Paul Gadd, was a rock institution during the 1970s - topping the music charts multiple times.

He is best known for a stadium anthem song called "Rock and Roll (Part 2)." The song -- with its one-word chorus "Hey" -- is played at professional sporting events around the world.

He gained fame not only for his music but for his crazy outfits and wild performances.

But his music stopped in March 2006 when he was convicted in Vietnam of sexually abusing two Vietnamese girls when they were ages 9 and 11.

After serving nearly all of his three-year term, he was released Tuesday from prison. Watch a report on his deportation from Vietnam »

One children's advocate called for his return to London. "It's important that Glitter comes back here and that he's carefully risk-assessed here in the U.K., where we can do that," said Zoe Hilton. "It's important that we stop him traveling overseas again where he is a known risk of abusing children."

His trouble in Vietnam was foreshadowed by other tawdry acts. In 1999 he served four months in a U.K. prison after dozens of images of child pornography were found on his computer.

At the time, he expressed "deep regret," and then moved abroad -- first to Cuba, then to Cambodia, before surfacing in Vietnam -- where he quickly landed back in legal hot water.

CNN's Cal Perry contributed to this story

All About Vietnam • United Kingdom • Cambodia