@newburytoday interview: Leo Sayer still feels like dancing

@newburytoday has been lucky enough to secure one of a limited number of interviews with Leo Sayer, so BRIAN HARRINGTON put in a Zoom call to his Australian home (Scroll down)..

Back in the 80s, it was quite usual to bump into Leo at the M&S checkout in Northbrook Street. The singer songwriter with the big 70/80s hits lived for a time in the Frilsham/Yattendon area, then Buckinghamshire, before later becoming an Australian citizen in 2009. Now he’s back on the scene with his Still Feel Like Dancing? tour, a new run of UK live shows for autumn 2024 in celebration of his more than five decades as a recording artist. One of the most successful British artists of all time, Leo has racked up millions of album sales as well as transatlantic No.1 singles (in addition to numerous GRAMMY and BASCA awards) since releasing his debut single way back in 1972. The perennial, much-loved British pop performer also hit the top of the dance charts again two years ago with a storming Armand van Helden re-working of his 2006 UK No.1 single with Meck,Thunder In My Heart Again

Watch the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPcmWDR4cms

Leo’s army of hit singles include Thunder In My Heart, The Show Must Go On - famously performed in a Pierrot costume -, One Man Band, Moonlighting, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, How Much Love, I Can’t Stop Loving You, More Than I Can Say and the timeless When I Need You. His forthcoming autobiography ‘Just A Boy’ will be published later this year, exactly 50 years since he released an album of the same name.

Always a hugely popular live attraction, Leo Sayer’s ‘Still Feel Like Dancing?’ UK tour (in conjunction with RLN Music and Silverbird) will hit 19 UK towns and cities this autumn including Basingstoke’s Anvil on September 28. Visit https://www.anvilarts.org.uk/ for booking details.

INTERVIEW: Leo talks to @newburytoday’s BRIAN HARRINGTON from his home in Australia.

Leo Sayer - Still feels like dancing.

Many people in and around West Berkshire will remember seeing Leo on a regular basis locally, he lived in Yattendon then and told me he was very happy there and even wanted to buy the house he was renting. He just couldn't afford it.

He now lives in Australia and is about to embark on a UK tour titled Still Feel Like Dancing, which will bring him to Guildford on September 27 and Basingstoke on September 28.

I spoke to Leo by zoom (yes, he still has his signature mop of tightly curled hair) about his over 50 years of making hit records.

He told me that as a small child in West Sussex he was a choirboy and his parish priest recognised his vocal abilities and helped enormously in training his voice. He performed at various Cathedrals including Westminster and Liverpool.

Never a scholar, because he was dyslexic, Leo embarked on a career as a graphic designer and was doing well but suffered what he described as a "nervous breakdown". He then lived on a houseboat for around a year and became engrossed in songwriting with a friend. This collaboration led to the 45rpm single Living In America in 1972 as one half of Patches.

By this time Leo was also attending and sometimes performing at the legendary Les Cousins club in Soho, where people like Al Stewart and Paul Simon were resident performers.

He came to the attention of Adam Faith, who Leo described as a "mentor", adding that Adam's philosophy was that he should play 1,000 live shows before releasing an album. Silverbird was released in November 1973 and reached number 2 in the UK album chart.

Describing himself as a "biographical and autobiographical" songwriter (He is also writing his autobiography) Leo told me that hits like Giving It All Away are 100 per cent true, (it details his firing Adam Faith) while Moonlighting is also a true story, except that in real life the couple never quite made it to Gretna Green.

I asked Leo which of his own songs he was most proud of and he said that he hopes his best songs are still ahead of him, the songs he wishes he had written are Bob Dylan's Tangled Up In Blue and Texas by Waylon Jennings.

Leo is working on re-recording an album he created in 1992, for which he didn't get a record deal at the time and audiences can expect songs from that project as well as Leo's distinctive voice (and harmonica playing) on the hits we all remember.

Definitely something to look forward to.