Leo Sayer

Leo was born on the 21st May 1948 in the UK in the Sussex town of Shoreham-By-Sea. When Leo was 20 he moved to London to play harmonica as part of the Terraplane Blues Band. He supplemented his wages by busking on the streets and playing harmonica in folk clubs, but by 1968, overworked and unfulfilled, Leo suffered a nervous breakdown and returned to Shoreham.

As a form of recovery he turned to song-writing and the songs he wrote were to form the basis of his first albums. He began performing locally in a band called Jester and another called Patches.

Leo was discovered by Adam Faith in 1972 while performing in Patches. David Courtney was the band's agent/manager, and also the drummer in Faith's last band. Sayer began recording some solo material written with David Courtney at Roger Daltrey’s studio. The Who's lead singer liked the Sayer/Courtney originals enough to record a handful himself, including the hit ‘Giving it all away’. Courtney let Adam Faith hear the band. Faith was impressed by Sayer and offered to manage him, securing an international deal with Chrysalis and Warner Bros in the U.S. Leo then went on to achieve real stardom with the single ‘The show must go on’, from the album Silverbird, which went straight to number two in the U.K.

Silverbird was followed quickly by his next album Just a boy, which included two more British hit singles, ‘One man band’ and ‘Long tall glasses (I can dance)’. ‘Long tall glasses’ managed to break Sayer into the American top ten in early 1975. Sayer’s working relationship with Courtney was severed during the recording of his third album, Another year (1975). The following year, he released Endless Flight, which was co-written with former Supertramp member Frank Furrell, featuring the number one singles ‘You make me feel like dancing’ and ‘When I need you’, the record became his biggest hit in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over a million copies in America. Following Endless Flight, Sayer became a fixture in the American top 40, yet his hits began to dry up in England.

After working with Perry, who hired the best musicians possible, Leo Sayer turned to Alan Tarney to produce the number two U.S. and U.K. hit ‘More than I can say’. This was his last big single in the U.S. with his last chart entry in America in early 1981 (Living in a fantasy). The U.K. hits didn't stop until 1983, after ‘Till you come back to me’ scraped in to the charts. His management pushed him into cabaret, playing Vegas.

Leo disappeared into obscurity for a long period of reappraisal and struggle.

In 1998 Polygram–Universal released The Definitive Hits collection CD and in 1999 The Live in London CD was recorded from a concert at Shepherds Bush Empire in the capital during the British tour of that year. Leo saw in the new millennium 2000 with an extraordinary show in South Africa from the Blue Train at a mystery location in the middle of the African desert.

In 2000 ‘You make me feel like dancing’ was featured in the movie Charlie’s Angels - the accompanying soundtrack album entering the U.S. charts at number five. Early in 2006 DJ Meck's ‘Thunder in my Heart Again’, a remix of the 57-year-old Sayer's 1977 tune, reached the U.K. number one spot holding off Notorious BIG, Diddy and Nelly.

In 2006 Leo returned to the stage to blow away audiences in the Countdown Spectacular Tour. In 2008, Sayer made a guest appearance on The Wiggles DVD and album, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. In the same year, Sayer also had a new Australian album, Don't Wait Until Tomorrow, released by Universal Music and produced by Garth Porter (from Sherbet).

Sayer has lived in Sydney, Australia since 2005, where he remains based to this day. Sayer became an Australian citizen on 26 January 2009.

Countdown Appearances:

• Countdown 3rd April 1977 – Leo co-hosts with Molly from London studio.
• Countdown, Show 306, 18th October 1981 - guest hosted by Leo Sayer and featuring live studio performances by Ian Gillan band, John Farnham, The Sports and The Sunnyboys

Links:
http://www.leosayer.com/