LEO SAYER

www.leosayer.com

LEO SAYER..........THE STORY SO FAR

Leo was born Gerard Hugh Sayer on May 21st. 1948, to Thomas Sayer and Teresa Nolan at Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, in England. He was the second child of three (an older sister Kathleen and a younger brother Brian).

The Sayer family were devout Catholics, and after serving as an altar boy, Leo was inducted into the choir under the educated ear of Father Dermot MacHale, the Parish Priest. To this day Leo attributes "the finding of his voice" to Father MacHale, who gave much singing instruction to the boy chorister.

At secondary school he showed a gift for drawing and painting. He sang with the school band, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley songs he'd learnt from his older cousin, David's, record collection. David introduced Leo to Buddy, The Crickets and Bob Dylan, records that had a great effect on him. He was now 16 and it was the year of 1964.


Leo left school graduating into a course for commercial art and graphic design at West Sussex College of Art and Design in Worthing, Sussex. He started listening to Rhythm and Blues, and singing with soul bands. He used to sit and draw on Worthing beach, and try out his new passion - the mouth organ. Here he met a professional harmonica player who taught him the instrument. Leo used to play on the 20-minute train journey to Art School every day, and soon learned enough to sit in and jam with local bands.


Leo and some friends formed an Arts and Music club called "The Worthing Workshop" and Leo sang and played with the local house-band "Terraplane Blues". Leo was meanwhile finding he had a non-conformist streak, rebelling against an uncreative course and left after completing only two years of the three-year course. However, he got work straightaway in nearby Brighton at a design studio.

He moved up to London in late 1967, right at the moment that the youth revolution was changing the world. Here he met painters and musicians, started writing poetry and working on a book. At work he designed record covers, and illustrated top 60's magazines. He frequented Soho and Kensington folk clubs and sometimes got up to play the harmonica. He went freelance as an artist, but he got into trouble with too much work and not enough money, had a mild breakdown and came back down to his home town, Shoreham - landing with a bump.


He stayed on a houseboat for a while on Shoreham's river Adur, licking his wounds. It was now 1969. He worked in a factory that imported German cars. Some local friends were playing at night in bands and he joined them, now singing as well as playing the harmonica. He flung himself into music and started writing songs, setting some of his old poems to music. He gradually b 515y2419f uilt up a band of mates that called itself Patches. Patches started playing gigs all over the south coast.

The Rock newspaper Melody Maker had a "Battle Of The Bands" contest that Leo and his mates entered, narrowly missing winning the local heat. Leo, still known as Gerry at the time, had decided what he wanted to do with his life. It was now 1970 and he was 22 years old.


A local Brighton newspaper, The Evening Argus, ran a small box advert for a talent contest. David Courtney, who was about to set up a talent agency, held the audition, which took place at Brighton's Pavilion Theatre. Patches featuring Gerry Sayer (vocals and harmonica) won the audition. It turned out that David Courtney was not just a promoter. He'd played drums (with early 60's pop star Adam Faith) and was also a songwriter.

So began what would turn out to be a remarkable creative partnership. At David's Brighton flat, the two started writing, Dave's bright pop melodies fusing wonderfully with Leo's bruised loner lyrics. They worked separately - David bashing out the melodies on his Knight upright piano, Leo in the next room, surrounded by books of poems and lyrics that he'd been writing since his early teens. They put everything down onto David's Grundig tape machine.
Those tapes are still around today and show how songs like "One Man Band" and "Giving It All Away" were originally conceived. After an abortive attempt to get a deal with Beatles producer, George Martin's new Air records label, they took the songs that they had demoed to David's ex - employer, Adam Faith.

Adam's response was immediate and dynamic. Leo's band Patches were booked into London's Olympic Studios less than a week later, to make his first single.

David Courtney's "Living In America" was on the A-side, and Leo and David's "The Hour Is Love" on the B-side. The session was exciting as rock band The Who were recording next door and wanting to meet Adam, added their input to the session.

Things were happening fast. Gerry Sayer became Leo Sayer, his head of curls inspiring Adam's wife Jackie to christen him Leo, after the lion.


Leo had a girlfriend at the time, Janice. They arranged to get married in Brighton. Patches single came out on Warner Brothers in the U.K. It wasn't a sales success but undaunted by this, Adam became Leo's manager and David and Adam prepared to produce Leo's first album. They chose Richard Branson's Manor Studios in Oxford, to start the recording. Patches disbanded, with only Max Chetwynd, guitarist, staying on.

The recording of "Silverbird" was a difficult and somewhat experimental process, Adam and David having loads of ideas but no real experience in record production. The writers were inspired however and the album started to come together with further recording at the home studio of Roger Daltrey, the Who's lead singer, in Sussex, and at the Beatles' Apple studios. Here the recording took further shape with the team creating, amongst others, the unique "The Show Must Go On". But before the project was complete an interesting opportunity suddenly arose for the team.
Roger Daltrey had so much liked the songs Leo and David had written that he asked them to write some for his first solo album. The boys had by now created a large backlog of material and gave Roger songs that they had intended for the next Leo Sayer album.

Adam and David set about the production and the album "Daltrey" was released on Track Records in 1973, ahead of Leo's album, to excellent response. The first single "Giving It All Away" became a hit in Britain and the U.S.A. and soon everybody wanted to know about the writers.


The head of Warner Brothers records in America, Joe Smith, came to Brighton that month to witness Leo in performance and signed Leo up for a ten-album deal in the The States, Canada and South America. Chrysalis Records in the U.K. signed Leo for the rest of the world.

Adam masterminded a big publicity build up on Leo's involvement with Roger, and the stage was set for "Silverbird", Leo's first album release.

Roger Daltrey had a cousin, Graham Hughes, who was a well-respected photographer. Leo met with him just after he'd shot Roger's album cover and was intrigued by some fashion photos Graham had taken. What had inspired Leo was the presence amongst the models in the shoot of Belgian mime artist Julien in the guise of Pierrot the clown.



Leo had found an image that he felt went with his songs, and Graham, Julien and make - up artist Kirsty Climo set about creating the look for Leo. Graham shot the cover with Leo portrayed as himself on the front and as the pierrot on the back. Leo was on the road continually at this point with Adam always present guiding his young charge.

One night on the way back from a gig, Adam had a near fatal car crash. As he lay in bed recovering in hospital all he talked about was Leo's first single from "Silverbird" - "Why Is Everybody Going Home". The album was released in the U.K. and the U.S. simultaneously and further to Adam's dynamic promotional work, the B.B.C. offered Leo a slot on their T.V. rock show, "The Old Grey Whistle Test".

Leo came on the show dressed as the Pierrot and such was the reaction to his performance, the entire business noted that a new star was born. Leo went on a British and European tour supporting Roxy Music, now appearing on stage dressed as the Pierrot. His wife Janice made the costumes and applied his make up, and they were quite inseparable.

"The Show Must Go On", released as the second single, went to number 2 in the U.K. charts and the "Silverbird" album also reached number 2 in the album chart. The B.B.C. put Leo in concert on T.V. and as the year of 1973 drew to a close both the Melody Maker and The Sun newspaper (on the cover of it's new year issue) predicted Leo as "The Star Of '74".

In the U.S.A, Three Dog Night covered "The Show Must Go On" and took their version right to the top of the singles chart there. They had seen Leo on British television dressed as Pierrot and dressed up as circus clowns on U.S. T.V., in their interpretation of Leo. They had ironically changed Leo's lyric to: "We must let the show go on...." This proved Leo's songs could travel, as Leo was now starting to get lots of attention around the world, and Leo prepared to tour the U.S. for the first time.
 
This first U.S. tour had a big impact on the audiences and on Leo, and the biggest names in the music industry turning out to see the boy with the white face and white suit. Leo played weeklong performances at The Troubadour in Los Angeles and The Bottom Line in New York (with supporting act, Hall and Oates).

The U.S. tour was deemed a great success and Leo was featured on the front cover of every British music magazine.


Leo had always vowed that he would drop the Pierrot costume and make- up as soon as he became successful. This he did on his return to England in June 1974, and a nervous but relieved Leo found that an audience could readily accept him without the image. Leo played his biggest gig yet that summer at London's Crystal Palace Bowl supporting Rick Wakeman.


Adam, David and Leo had already started work on Leo's second album "Just A Boy", cutting "One Man Band" while Leo was on the American tour. More recording took place in London. This time the recording went smoothly and the right results were quickly accomplished. Some of the songs, like "Long Tall Glasses" were written in the studio. "Long Tall Glasses" was all about Leo's reaction to America and became his first top ten record there.

The album's back cover pointedly depicted a group of new Leos giving Pierrot the elbow. The photograph was taken by Terry O'Neill, who had by now become Leo's exclusive photographer. The singles, "One Man Band" and "Long Tall Glasses" both hit the charts in the U.K. and around the world.  Leo was now popular in Europe and made many promotional appearances there. He played in Paris at The Theatre D' Champs Elysees, the theatre known as the home of his then hero, mime artist Marcel Marceau.
In late 1974 British promoter Paul Dainty took Leo down to Australia for the first time, The reaction was amazing. Two hit albums had really stirred up the crowds there and fans mobbed Leo when he arrived at Sydney Airport. The shows were all sell-outs and "Leo-mania" broke Australian box office records.

Leo was becoming an accomplished stage performer by now and the second U.S. tour, which followed, underlined this. Leo's band now included Chris Stainton, pianist with the Greaseband, who had famously backed Joe Cocker at Woodstock.

It was now 1975 and the hit team was starting to move in different directions. David Courtney, Leo's co-writer and co-producer with Adam Faith of the work so far, had made a solo album of his own ("First Day", released on EMI records), and now Adam Faith also was set to release an album "I Survive" in the U.K. on Warner Brothers Records.

Leo performed in February 1975 at the Midem music business festival in Cannes and upset the organisers of the international music industry gala by getting a raucous standing ovation that made the next act unable to go on, a symphony orchestra conducted by the film director Frederic Fellini's composer Nina Rota.

David was off to America and Adam was concentrating on his own career as an actor of some repute. Leo, meanwhile, with the help of a new co-writer, ex Supertramp bass player and pianist Frank Farrell, was busy preparing his third album, to be titled "Another Year".

Leo was more than proud of the songs he'd written (on location in Spain) with Frank Farrell, but the recording of "Another Year" was an unnecessarily rushed affair. Adam insisted that everything was completed within two weeks, giving Leo little chance to bring out the epic nature of the songs.
Still, the album was well received and "Moonlighting" became a runaway hit in Britain, climbing to number two in the charts. A unique single hit came out of Ireland too with "I Will Not Stop Fighting".

Leo spent the year on the road, playing Britain, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, the Far East, and Europe, all promoting the album. Meanwhile Adam was in America searching for a new producer, as he was obsessed with the idea that Leo had to now make an American record.

In December 1975, Leo released a Christmas single in the U.K., this time a cover of the Beatles "Let It Be". It was produced by Adam and Russ Ballard and was not a success, but later turned up on producer Lou Riesner's concept album "All This And World War Two", released in early 1976. The record was the soundtrack for a bizarre movie featuring various artists singing Beatles songs to footage from the second world war. Leo also sang "I Am The Walrus" and "The Long And Winding Road" to the accompaniment of a symphony orchestra.

In the spring of 1976, Leo met Richard Perry in Los Angeles - Adam's suggestion for the American producer. Richard had a distinguished reputation in the U.S, having produced such acts as Barbra Streisand, Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Art Garfunkel and Diana Ross amongst others. He'd seen Leo in concert and was impressed. The only problem was that Leo still wanted to sing his own songs and Richard was more interested in "that voice", and thought that Leo should stretch his horizons beyond just his songwriting.
The first session between the two was arranged in the summer of 1976 at Richard's Studio 55, on Melrose Boulevard in Hollywood, where they recorded "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted", "Tears Of A Clown" and "Reflections" - all covers. Leo was not sure about the direction, but loved the all-star band Richard had provided. His voice soared in this new setting, and he began to think that maybe Richard was right.

Throughout that summer the two worked steadily, patiently putting together the album that was to prove Leo's biggest success to date.

Leo started writing exciting new songs in this environment, and he and wife Janice embraced L.A.'s melting pot atmosphere with undisguised relish. They rented a house in Laurel Canyon and gradually "went Californian". During this period, Leo wrote two songs for the album with New Yorker Barry Mann (famous for composing "You Lost That Lovin' Feeling", and "On Broadway") and most importantly created "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", which came from a jam session in the studio, with drums by the legendary Steve Gadd and guitars by the great Larry Carlton and Ray Parker Jr (of later "Ghostbusters" fame). He completed the song with co-writer Vini Poncia, who had produced Kiss and Ringo Starr, and when the result was released in September '76 - it became Leo's first American number one. Leo was now on top of the world and the ricochet of his U.S. success echoed around the globe. Endless Flight was critically well received everywhere, and though some felt Leo had lost some of his uniqueness in the process, none could deny the instant pop appeal of the album.

Leo now had an all star band on the road, featuring Nicky Hopkins on keyboards and Bobby Keys on saxophone (both from The Rolling Stones), Reggie McBride on bass and Steve Madaio on trumpet (both from the Stevie Wonder band), and Don Preston (from The Mothers Of Invention).

At the Roxy in L.A. during November 1976, the support act was Randy Crawford. Leo was now just twenty-eight years old.

The second single, "When I Need You" (a ballad by Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer-Sager), brought even more success.

For years in Britain, Leo had been "knocking on the door" of the number one position in the U.K. music charts. He'd been kept at number two by the likes of Abba, Gary Glitter, Alvin Stardust and Slade. In January 1977 he got his new year present. Number one in the U.K. was followed by his second number one in the U.S. Number ones in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and many other countries.

Leo and Janice had all but given up on any ideas of a normal married life by now. In the U.K. offers came in for Leo's own T.V. series. In the States he was wined and dined on Johnny Carson and all the big chat shows and in February 1977 got the biggest accolade of all, a coveted Grammy award for best Rhythm & Blues song - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing". He also won awards in Britain (a B.P.I. award and a T.V. Times award), Canada (a Juno award), and Europe (Belgium's Golden Lion).

Back briefly in England in March, Leo appeared on T.V. for the B.B.C. with his own prime time special. He played in Windsor great park during the summer of 1977. The occasion was the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and Leo had the honour of being presented to Her Majesty after the show.

"How Much Love" (written with Barry Mann) was the third single release from "Endless Flight" and continued the chart-hit trend. The album went platinum in both Britain and the States, where such a rating then equalled a staggering one million copies.


The singles from the album had now sold roughly six million copies around the world. Richard Perry was eager to put out a follow up album as quickly as possible to continue this momentum. Late summer and early autumn 1977 was spent recording "Thunder In my Heart" at Studio 55.


From his base in L.A., Leo had already started co-writing with Tom Snow (the album's title track), Albert Hammond (who'd written "When I Need You"), and with Michael Omartian (pianist on "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and the producer of singer Christopher Cross).

The album featured more original material than "Flight", and with Richard again collecting together L.A.'s finest musicians and arrangers, firmly established Leo as a white Rhythm & Blues artist, just as "Endless Flight" represented his pop side.


Though the record bears witness to one of Leo's best periods in his recording career, Leo, Adam and Richard were to be disappointed as the sales didn't quite follow the same pattern as "Endless Flight". Nevertheless, both the "Thunder In My Heart" and "Easy To Love" singles got into the U.S. top forty, and the album reached number thirty-eight in the charts.

Leo was now becoming a big draw on the U.S. concert scene, headlining big venues such as The Greek Theatre and Universal Amphitheatre in L.A, and Central Park in New York.

He was now a tax exile away from Britain only returning for concert and television performances. This mystique actually did him no harm as British journalists now flew out to interview him in glamorous Beverly Hills.




Adam brought in a partner, the agent, Colin Berlin, who though Leo's roots were in rock and soul, directed him towards the lucrative Las Vegas and cabaret market. Colin saw Leo as an all - round - entertainer. Leo was worked hard, but he started to feel he was going in the wrong direction.


1978's "Leo Sayer" was the last album of Leo's produced by Perry and showed Leo gamely challenging these changes to his world. Against calls for a more middle of the road approach, Leo got introspective and showed another side of his talent, bringing out his harmonica and putting a country feel into songs like the album's opener, Leo and Tom Snow's "Stormy Weather". Leo had now toured all over the States and was getting in tune with America's roots as well as his own.


The album featured guitars by Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac, with backings by members of Linda Ronstadt's band and the rock band soon to be named Toto. Richard was sensitive to Leo's approach and the delicate production is evident on the album's biggest hit, Englishman Billy Nicholl's "I Can't Stop Loving You".



At this time Leo and his wife Janice were literally homeless - living on the road. The exhausting schedules in 1978 included the USA (65 date tour), Canada, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain (32 date tour), and he finished the year by playing to 8000 people on one night in Dublin.


The US tour was briefly interrupted by a fall offstage in Wisconsin, which hit the headlines, but though exhausted and injured the little trouper still didn't miss a show.

During the UK tour, over six weeks, you could also see Leo headlining his own show on B.B.C. T.V. every Friday night, and he also guested famously on The Muppet Show, dueted with Miss Piggy on the Johnny Carson Show in New York, and appeared with his idol, Fred Astaire on T.V. in Hollywood.


In early 1979, Leo was looking for a new producer when his old chum Dave Courtney turned up on his L.A. doorstep.

It was just like old times as the two put their heads together with the album "Here", featuring new songs from Leo and David. The album had a great studio band, including Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn from Booker T. and the M.G.'s, members of Little Feat and Toto, and veteran Al Kooper from Blood Sweat and Tears (and Bob Dylan's first electric band).

The album turned echoed both David and Leo's new found love for the American groove and Ray Parker Jr. and Leo's "When The Money Runs Out" was a rocking and funky single release.

Back in England, 1979 also saw the release of "The Very Best Of Leo Sayer", which thanks to an extensive TV advertising campaign, saw Leo breaking his own and Chrysalis's sales records, the album going straight to No.1 in the UK album charts and being awarded double platinum status, which in those days meant sales of two million units in the U.K. alone!

The British Pop and Rock awards (now The Brits) presented Leo with Best Male Artist (of 1978), and Leo and Janice bought a house in Kensington and settled into a briefly comfortable London lifestyle.

It seemed that Leo had truly arrived at the pinnacle of his success, but he had little time to enjoy it. Cracks had started to appear in Leo and Janice's much publicised inseparable lifestyle too, and financial pressures meant Leo soon had to go off and work all of the far-reaching world markets he now appealed to.

He travelled through the Far East: Thailand, Singapore, and Japan. He played in South Africa, to black audiences in the townships as well as at Sun City.

Leo played the Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City casinos, in the US, with a big orchestra added to him and his band, and co-headlining the showrooms with the likes of Bill Cosby.


1980 bought a welcome return to the charts with a hit single, "More Than I Can Say", a classic song written by Jerry Alison and Sonny Curtis from Buddy Holly's backing group The Crickets, and originally recorded by Bobby Vee. It went to No.2 in the US and British charts.

The song came from 1980's "Living In A Fantasy" album, produced and co written by a new partner for Leo, Alan Tarney. Alan created for Leo an entirely new sound, the most surprising element being that Alan also played all of the instruments except for Trevor Spencer's drums. Also with Alan Tarney, Leo wrote a hit song "Dreaming" for Cliff Richard. It reached No.8 in the U.K. charts in August 1980.

It was at this time (the 80's) that the techniques of recording were to dramatically change with the advent of new technology. With one of the new Fairlight sampling synthesisers, the two created the remarkable "Orchard Road" as a demo, and that same demo became one of Leo's most enduring works.

Leo moved back to Los Angeles in 1982, to work with Arif Mardin, famed musical arranger and producer of Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack and The Bee Gees. They recorded the album in two locations, Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles and at the fabled Atlantic Studios in New York City.

A single from the album "Have You Ever Been In Love" by English writers, Andy Hill and Pete Sinfield, was yet another worldwide hit. Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees especially for Leo wrote the epic "Heart Stop Beating In Time", and Dave Courtney and Leo co-wrote (yet again!) four entirely new tracks, including the title song, "World Radio".

While still keeping up his workaholic touring schedule, Leo somehow found time to be all over the airwaves at the same time. He hosted two more self-titled T.V. series for the B.B.C. during 1983 and 1984. He appeared on talk shows, television specials and music shows as diverse as Des O'Connor, Michael Parkinson, The Two Ronnies, Captain and Tenille, Kenny Everett, Dinah Shore, Les Dawson, Julie Andrews and Perry Como. He co - hosted Solid Gold in America with Dionne Warwick. In England he had his own show on Radio 1.

He got heavily into Formula 1 motor racing, even driving Niki Lauda's McLaren at Silverstone for the BBC. He followed the Grand Prix circus around the world, striking up friendships with many leading drivers, from Ayrton Senna to Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.

But the inevitable pressures of showbusiness were starting to take their toll. In 1985 Leo sadly split up with Janice. The news soon followed that the couple were to be divorced.

Leo then split with Adam Faith and the British newspapers started to home in on the apparently acrimonious end to one of British pop's most enduring partnerships.

Leo said nothing and carried on working, but a new musical direction was to prove difficult to achieve. After years of relying on others, he was now entirely writing, playing and producing his own music; he had his own studio and was trying to run his own career from his own offices. It didn't work!

In 1986 Leo found a new partner, Italian Donatella Piccinetti (who now exclusively manages and represents him).

The career difficulties continued, however. In 1987 he had split up with his long time record company Chrysalis and was actively pursuing a new record deal.

In 1988, now 40 years old, he was touring the UK again, albeit to audiences who became confused by the straight hair and ponytail he was now sporting! The lad hadn't lost his touch though, new songs revealing a harder edge and new depth to his work. The show reviews were good and the tour travelled on to great success in Australia.

Leo was still searching for a hit though, and returned to the studio in 1989 with Alan Tarney, to record "Cool Touch", released in 1990 on EMI. The album was a journey into disco and soul, and though it didn't achieve the success that Leo and Alan had hoped for, the "Cool Touch" single and video introduced Leo to the new "MTV" and dance generation of the 90's.


Leo toured Australia again, and also in 1990 played two amazing concerts in Moscow. The entire audience sang along to "One Man Band" and "When I Need You" - in English! Leo was totally shocked, having never known of his popularity there.

Between 1991 and 1996 his career progressed steadily along similar lines, tours of the Far East and Australasia, some recording, some writing and co - writing, but no real big breakthrough. Then in 1997, Leo received an offer for a season of shows at The Cafe Royal, in the heart of London's West End. There was a press call, and members of the tabloid press turned up to the opening night.

A couple of journalists from the Sun newspaper ended up backstage after the show, raving about what they'd seen, and their next day's edition featured the start of a campaign to "Bring back Leo Sayer".


Also at this time a group calling themselves The Groove Generation hit the UK charts with a 90's style re-working of Leo's classic "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" - featuring Leo himself. This opened up an entirely new market to Leo and he started appearing in discos and at University dances and balls throughout the U.K. to a younger crowd, who now thought he was the epitome of chic. The seventies revival had started, with Leo being one of the great pace setters.

The Sun kept on flying the flag for Leo and soon the much awaited comeback of Leo Sayer was became a media and music business reality.



Since then, Leo has returned to successful touring the UK and Australia. In 1998 Polygram-Universal released "The Definitive Hits Collection" CD and in 1999 the "Live In London" live CD was recorded from a triumphant homecoming 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 hit movie "Charlie's Angels" - the accompanying soundtrack album entering the U.S. charts at no.5 and the movie becoming a huge hit all over the world in theatres and on video during the millennium year.

Also in August that year Leo and his band played to a huge crowd at South Africa's Sun City. This concert was staged to recognise the 21st birthday of Sun City's Superbowl venue and Leo was chosen for the celebrations as he was the first artist to have played there - way back in 1979.


Still on the concert trail, in July 2001 he made a first visit to Seoul, South Korea, playing two sold out concerts with a local 50 piece orchestra and becoming an instant celebrity on TV and radio there in October 2001 he returned to the concert stage in Australia and New Zealand to play a sold out tour of fourteen major venues. From a special extra concert he and the band performed in Sydney a live DVD "Live In Sydney" was released in Australia, Spring 2002.

In 2003 Leo started work on his first self-produced, self written (along with co writing contributions from Albert Hammond and Susie Webb) album release, "Voice In My Head". This was released to great critical acclaim in 2004




In 2005 Leo moved home to Sydney Australia. The move coincided with the release in the UK, first as a club remix and finally as an official release, of "Thunder In My Heart Again" by Meck featuring Leo Sayer. The single was an instant success, going straight into the coveted No.1 position in the UK charts, and staying there for a total of four weeks! Since then the track is still high on the dance download charts in territories from Germany to Australia, is just about to be released in the USA and is a constant addition to chart radio playlists all over the globe.

Leo Sayer is currently as "in demand" as ever, and at a still youthful 58, feels the story is only just beginning. With sold out concert tours in Australia, sold out festival appearances in Europe this summer, a new studio album in the pipeline, and more single releases poised to follow the success of "Thunder." the story is far from over.....

© SILVERBIRD/ABM 1999 - 2006

LEO SAYER - Discography

U.K. CHART SINGLES Chart Position THE SHOW MUST GO ON No 2 Dec 1973
ONE MAN BAND No 6 June 1974
LONG TALL GLASSES No 4 Sept 1974
MOONLIGHTING No 2 Aug 1975
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCING No 2 Oct 1976
WHEN I NEED YOU No 1 Jan 1977
HOW MUCH LOVE No 10 Apr 1977
THUNDER IN MY HEART No 22 Sept 1977
I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU (THOUGH I TRY) No 6 Sept 1978
RAINING IN MY HEART No 21 Nov 1978
MORE THAN I CAN SAY No 2 July 1980
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE No 10 Mar 1982
HEART (STOP BEATING IN TIME) No 22 June 1982
ORCHARD ROAD No 16 Mar 1983
TIL YOU COME BACK TO ME No 51 Oct 1983
UNCHAINED MELODY No 54 Feb 1986
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCING
(THE GROOVE GENERATION featuring LEO SAYER) No 32 Aug 1998

THUNDER IN MY HEART AGAIN
(MECK featuring LEO SAYER) No 1 Feb 2006

U.S. CHART SINGLES Chart Position LONG TALL GLASSES No 9 Mar 1975
ONE MAN BAND No 96 June 1975
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCING No 1 Oct 1976
WHEN I NEED YOU No 1 Feb 1977
HOW MUCH LOVE No 17 Sept 1977
THUNDER IN MY HEART No 38 Oct 1977
EASY TO LOVE No 36 Dec 1977
RAINING IN MY HEART No 47 Sept 1978
MORE THAN I CAN SAY No 2 Sept 1980
LIVING IN A FANTASY No 23 Jan 1981

ALBUMS Producer(s): Year / U.K. Chart Position SILVERBIRD Faith/Courtney No 2 Jan 1973
JUST A BOY Faith/Courtney No 4 Oct 1974
ANOTHER YEAR Faith/Ballard No 8 Sept 1975
ENDLESS FLIGHT Perry No 4 Nov 1976
THUNDER IN MY HEART Perry No 8 Oct 1977
LEO SAYER Perry No 15 Sept 1978
THE VERY BEST OF LEO SAYER Various No 1 Mar 1979
HERE Courtney No 44 Oct 1979
LIVING IN A FANTASY Tarney No 15 Aug1980
WORLD RADIO Mardin No 30 May 1981
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE Neil etc; No 15 Nov 1983
COOL TOUCH Tarney -1990
ALL THE BEST Various No 26 Mar -1993
THE DEFINITIVE HITS COLLECTION Various No 35 Feb 1999