Leo Sayer
 Born
Gerard Hugh Sayer, "Leo" Sayer fronted The Terraplane
Blues Band and Phydeaux while a Sussex art student before moving
to London, where he supplemented his wages as a typographic
designer (during this time he designed three of his own typefaces)
by street busking and via floor spots in folk clubs.
In 1971, he formed a group called Patches in Brighton who were
managed by 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 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 version 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.
Sayer and Faith parted company shortly after the Let It Be
release. Taken from 1977's Endless Flight (produced by
the 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 (Though I Try)
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 swansong (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
receiving a financial settlement and the ownership of his masters
and song publishing.
His
recording career recommenced in 1990 after signing to EMI Records
and being 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.
He undertook a major tour in 1998, buoyed by a bizarre UK media
campaign (led by The Sun newspaper) to reinstate Sayer as
a living legend.
An excellent reissue program was undertaken by RPM Records and
Sayer's Silverbird label in 2002. Each album has an audio section
with Sayer giving great detail to each album and his life.
The quality of his song writing was further enhanced later in
the year by a cover version of I Can't Stop Loving You (Though
I Try) from Phil Collins.
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