Feature Photo: by Luke Hodgkins – courtesy of Primary Wave
For music fans who grew up in the 1970s and 80s, the music of Leo Sayer became a part of the soundtracks of their lives. With two straight number one singles called “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and “When I Need You” in 1977, Leo Sayer’s music would be forever grained in the memories of our youth. Yet, as a hardworking songwriter and performer, Leo Sayer has celebrated a musical career that is filled with a deep catalog of hit songs, brilliant albums, and commercial success.
Leo Sayer released his first full-length album in 1973 entitled Silverbird. The album contained the song “The Show Must Go One” which would become Leo Sayer’s first hit record peaking at number two on the UK Music Charts. The song was later recorded and turned into a hit once again by Three Dog Night. In our interview, Leo Sayer discusses his feelings about Three Dog Night’s version of his song.
Leo Sayer followed up his debut album from 1973 with his next record in 1974 called Just A Boy. The album was fueled by Leo Sayer’s first hit in the United States entitled “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance).” The song was a top 10 hit in the United States and many other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands and more. While the single had gotten Leo Sayer wide notice around the world, what would happen a few years down the world would turn Leo Sayer into one of the biggest stars in the world.
At the end of 1976, Leo Sayer released the album Endless Flight. The album produced by the well known successful producer Richard Perry was fueled by a group of A-List musicians. Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, and Toto fans would recognize many of the names like Larry Carlton, Steve Gadd, Jeff Porcaro, Lee Ritenour and many others who played on Leo Sayer’s Endless Flight album. Of course, an album is only as good as the songs it contains and Endless Flight was filled with a bucket of them. The album spawned two number one singles in the US with “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and “When I Need You.” The album’s third single “How Much Love” also became a big hit. From that one album alone, Leo Sayer had cemented his legacy in pop culture.
Throughout his fifty years career, Leo Sayer has released sixteen studio albums, four live albums, and fifteen compilation albums. He has released sixty four singles. His most recent release issued in 2022 entitled Northern Songs presented fans with wonderful new takes on classic Beatles Songs. During the early part of his career, he wrote songs for Roger Daltrey including Roger Daltrey’s hit “Giving It All Away.”
Recently, Leo Sayer announced that he will be coming back to the United States in March of 2023 to perform once again in front of U.S. audiences. He said he plans to tour for the next three years hitting many cities around the world. You can keep track of his tour dates at website LeoSayer.com.
Below is our video interview with Leo Sayer who sat down with us on March 6, 2023, for a wonderful chat about his career and his future plans. The man was a joy to speak with, filled with personality and good cheer making it very easy to see why everyone loves Leo!
Leo Sayer: The ClassicRockHistory.com Interview article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2023
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Thank you for this article, and accompanying video interview, on Leo Sayer, and his evolution from unknown to unstoppable (at least during the 70’s and early 80’s).
I guess I have always been a champion of underappreciated musical artists, and although Leo Sayer had a very good run for a while, his music still resonates today – to me, the sign of a consummate performer, not a trend follower.
His original version of “The Show Must Go On” is far superior, in it’s simplicity, when compared to Three Dog Night”s schmaltzy and over-produced/layered version.
Critics who might say he followed into disco with “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” or”How Much Love””, to which I would say – “Bah Humbug” – Then you would have to say the same thing about The Stones’ “Miss You”, Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy?”, or even the Eagles “One Of These Nights” (All songs, which by the way, I do not consider as sell-outs, but rather, a part of evolution).
If you want an excellent single-disc compilation album, Classic Rock History readers should purchase Leo Sayer’s 1993’s “All The Best”, which hopefully, would lead to checking out his individual LPs as there are many excellent album cuts on those LPS, and as stated, are still fresh today.
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I could not agree with you more. Leo Sayer’s album’s catalog is brilliant. He is also a super nice guy who treated me like a real friend when I interviewed him.