Week of March 8, 1997
Born 21 May 1948, Shoreham-on-Sea, England. Sayer fronted the Terraplane
Blues Band while as a Sussex art student before moving to London, where
he supplemented his wages as an
illustrator
by street husking and via floor spots in folk clubs. In 1971, he formed
Patches with drummer Dave Courtney to whose melodies he provided
lyrics. Speculating in artist management, Courtney's former employer, Adam
Faith found the group ultimately unimpressive and chose only to promote
its animated X-factor - Sayer. During initial sessions at Roger
Daltrey's studio, the Who's vocalist was sufficiently impressed
by the raw material to record some
Courtney-Sayer
numbers himself. These included 'Giving It All Away', Daltrey's
biggest solo hit. After a miss with 'Why Is Everybody Going Home',
Sayer reached the UK number 1 spot with 1973's exuberant 'The Show Must
Go On' but immediate US success was thwarted by a chart-topping cover
by Three Dog Night. Seeing him mime the song in a clown costume and
pan-caked face on BBC television's Top Of The Pops, some dismissed
Sayer as a one-shot novelty, but he had the last laugh on such detractors
when his popularity continued into the next decade. After 'One Man Band'
and 'Long Tall Glasses' - the US Hot 100 breakthrough - came the severing
of Sayer's partnership with Courtney in 1975 during the making of Another
Year. With a new co-writer in Frank
Furrell
(ex-Supertramp) from his backing group, Sayer rallied with the clever
'Moonlighting'. Though the year ended on a sour note with an ill-advised
version of the Beatles' 'Let It Be', 1976 brought a US
million-seller in 'You Make Me Feel Like Dancing’ just as disco
sashayed near its Saturday Night Fever apogee.
From 1977's Endless Flight (produced by fashionable Richard Perry),
the non-original ballad, 'When I Need You', marked Sayer's commercial
peak at home - where the BBC engaged him for two television series. However,
with the title track of Thunder In My Heart halting just outside the
UK Top 20, hits suddenly became harder to come by with 1978's
'I
Can't Stop Lovin' You' and telling revivals of Buddy Holly's
'Raining In My Heart' and Bobby Vee's 'More Than I Can Say'
the only unequivocal smashes as his 1983 chart swan-song (with 'Till
You Come Back To Me') loomed nearer. Nevertheless, even 1979's fallow
period for singles was mitigated by huge returns for a compilation. By the
late 80s Sayer was bereft of a recording contract, having severed his
long-standing relationship with Chrysalis Records and was reduced
to self-financing his UK tours. A legal wrangle with his former manager,
Adam Faith, resulted in Sayer reportedly receiving BP650,000 in lost
royalties. His recording career recommenced in 1990 after signing to
EMI
and was reunited with producer Alan Tarney. Indications of a revival in his
chart fortunes remain to be seen; however, this artist has been written off
twice before, in 1973 and 1979, and critics should not be so quick to do
so again.
Albums: Silver Bird (1974), Just A Boy (1974), Another Year (1975), Endless Flight (1976), Thunder In My Heart (1977), Leo Sayer (1978), Here (1979), Living In A Fantasy (1980), World Radio (1982), Have You Ever Been In Love (1983), Cool Touch (1990). Compilation: The Very Best Of Leo Sayer (1979)
(from "The Guinness Who's Who of Seventies Music", Guinness Publishing, UK, ISBN: 0-85112-727-4)