Leo Sayer: 'I got to sing a duet with Miss Piggy, a wonderful thing'
But when we got to the gig, it was a bit weird, because Hell's Angels guys were doing the security. They wouldn't give us a dressing room trailer. It was about 40–50,000 people there at a race track in Rhode Island.'
Without a trailer of his own, Sayer was mooching about backstage when Wilson noticed him. 'Brian saw me sitting by somebody else's trailer or by the steps somewhere backstage, and beckoned me into his cabin. I remember him and his lovely wife, Marilyn – not with us either anymore – making me tea, and Brian chatting away, and me asking him all these silly questions: how did you write this? He answered every single question. The guy was such a gentleman.'
Wilson was familiar with Sayer's music – hits such as When I Need You, More Than I Can Say and the global number one, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. 'I'm not in that same stratosphere as those guys but he was kind and gracious. We had a good talk about songwriting. You pinch yourself to think I'm that close to talking to someone like that, who's your hero,' says Sayer.
Leo Sayer IN 1975. (Photo by)
Sayer (77) is speaking from Australia, his home for the past 20 years. He is talking ahead of a return to Ireland for a national tour – and a chance to reconnect with a country close to his heart.
Growing up in the English coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea, he was always keenly aware of his family's Irish heritage, passed down through his mother, from Maguiresbridge in Co Fermanagh.
'My mother was Irish from Maguiresbridge in Ulster, near Enniskillen. We used to come over every summer as school kids - me and my brother. It was a pretty standard thing –every school holiday from the age of three until about 15 or so.
"It was so much fun. Ceilis and donkey derbies and meeting up with relatives all over the north and on the border towns as well as Cavan and Donegal.'
His creative side largely comes from his Irish roots, he feels. 'A guy, I think his name is Michael Daley, he's been writing a book about the Irish living in Britain and how they all felt growing up. And I was able to describe to him how a lot of my creative spirit came from that Gaelic experience.
"It left a feeling of freedom, of honesty. My English side of the family – they were all very reserved, and I loved the lack of reserve that the Irish had – the country Irish, you know?
"It probably wouldn't be the same in the city, but the country Irish… they just said how they felt. They didn't hold back. If they were asked to sing a song, they'd sing a full pelt, I love that, and that had a big effect on me. I thought, hang on, you can express these things. You don't have to be shy and quiet and retiring. Why not? You could be outgoing.'
Sayer clocked up his biggest hits in the 1970s, when the music industry was a bit of a Wild West and artists such as David Bowie and Elvis were duped by unscrupulous managers who convinced them that the business side of music was best left to others.
Things were much the same for Sayer. He has spoken openly about how his manager, the late pop star and actor Adam Faith, hoodwinked him – how those glory days topping the charts papered over a darker truth about his finances.
However, he also nonetheless speaks positively of Faith, who passed away in 2003. He may have taken advantage of Sayer - but he also helped turn him into a chart-topper. All these years later, the singer's feelings are complicated, to say the least.
'He ripped me off. That was his form of management. At the same time, he took me where I was and he opened so many doors. His influence was quite incredible, and he truly believed in me; otherwise, he wouldn't have been both my producer and manager. We made some incredible records in those early days together. So I can't think bitterly of him. I didn't get rich. That's one side of it.'
Unlike many British stars who were content to be big in the UK, he was always keen on doing well in America. This led to some surreal situations – sitting backstage in Rhode Island without a dressing room only to be introduced to Brian Wilson was one. Another was his appearance on the Muppet Show in 1978 when he sang with Kermit the Frog and struck up a firm friendship with Muppets creator Jim Henson and with Frank Oz, the puppeteer and voice of Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy.
'Jim was a good friend, and sadly no longer with us. And Frank turned out to be a marvelous film director. This team of those two were wonderful to work with, very inspiring. And I did other shows with them, a Julie Andrews special. And I did the Johnny Carson Show, The Tonight Show. It was hosted by Kermit the Frog, and I got to sing a duet with Miss Piggy, which was a wonderful thing.'
At the peak of his success, it seemed that Sayer could top the charts at will. He looks back on those days as a blur – it was all happening at such speed it was difficult to take it all in.
'Initially, anyway, all the way up to 1979, everything's at breakneck pace, and you're trying to keep up, so you don't really sort of stop and sit and look at everything. In fact, you don't dare do that. Because we all thought in those days that anyone over 40 would no longer be able to do this. Look at Jagger and Paul McCartney and Billy Joel and me and Rod Stewart. We're all still doing it, which is incredible.'
Leo Sayer: A Question of Taste
Television: I've been enjoying a show called MobLand. There's an Irish side to it because it stars Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren as his Irish wife. It's been absolutely delicious to watch. It's by Guy Richie, and I love his productions – he's such a great writer and director.
A scene from A Complete Unknown.
Cinema: I loved A Complete Unknown about Bob Dylan. It was so brilliantly done. God knows how it didn't get an Oscar. I thought the same thing with the Elvis movie - the Baz Luhrman film. It was just incredible.
Books: There's a series of books by a guy called Henry Porter. The most recent one is the Enigma Girl. It's fantastic. His plots are incredible and believable. Unlike a John le Carré, he's bringing it right up to date. You're reading something that has so many overtones of the crisis and chaos of modern life and modern geopolitics.
Leo Sayer plays National Opera House, Wexford, Friday July 11; BGE Theatre, Dublin, July 12; and Cork Opera House, July 13
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