Latest news with #LeoSayer
Irish Examiner
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Leo Sayer: 'I got to sing a duet with Miss Piggy, a wonderful thing'
Leo Sayer has bittersweet memories of the night he opened for the Beach Boys and their tortured genius songwriter Brian Wilson, who passed away recently. 'We did a massive concert with The Beach Boys in 1977 when my star was really rising America, with two number ones. I got booked to do a gig with the Beach Boys. It was fantastic to be asked. 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
Belfast Telegraph
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
Music superstar (77) opens up on NI relatives… and making Gerry Adams shake hands with political rival at gig: 'The audience went mad'
He may be 77, but singer loves the job too to even think about hanging up his mic He came to prominence in 1973 when his debut single The Show Must Go On reached number two in the charts, and at 77, Leo Sayer has no plans to quit. The singer, also known for hits such as You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, When I Need You, Thunder in My Heart and Moonlighting, is still playing to packed venues around the globe and will visit Belfast next month as part of his Still Feel Like Dancing tour.
Belfast Telegraph
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
Belfast-bound Leo Sayer still feels like dancing: ‘I've relatives scattered all over Ireland, so I've a special love for the country'
He may be 77, but singer loves the job too to even think about hanging up his mic He came to prominence in 1973 when his debut single The Show Must Go On reached number two in the charts, and at 77, Leo Sayer has no plans to quit. The singer, also known for hits such as You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, When I Need You, Thunder in My Heart and Moonlighting, is still playing to packed venues around the globe and will visit Belfast next month as part of his Still Feel Like Dancing tour.
Perth Now
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Leo Sayer returns to Mandurah Performing Arts Centre for first solo Aussie tour in six years
Leo Sayer is coming to Mandurah for his first Australian tour in six years. Leo Sayer is coming to Mandurah for his first Australian tour in six years. Credit: John Eaden After his latest sold-out UK and Ireland tour, music legend Leo Sayer's Still Feel Like Dancing! Australia tour will hit the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre stage on September 11. As an international chart-topper throughout the late 70s and 80s, the British-born singer has called Australia home for most of the millennium and said he was excited to perform in intimate theatres nationwide for the first time since 2019. Camera Icon The British-born 80s icon will come to Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on September 11. Credit: John Eaden 'We intentionally choose smaller scale venues because it feels nice to perform intimate theatres,' he said. 'I'm very happy doing these places because there's a real shared experience between the audience and the band. There's no clever tricks, no backing tracks, no dancers, just the interplay of the musicians which is nice for audiences to come up close and see.' Sayer said concerts today were very different to how the icons of the 70s and 80s used to do it. Camera Icon Sayer said he's excited to strip things back for an intimate performance with his band. Credit: John Eaden 'Not to sound critical but I think technology has come in and changed a lot; there's great artists out there today whose shows are more manufactured than what we were doing,' he said. 'There's so much between you and an audience at a big show and sometimes it's too much. 'The efforts have to come from the acts themselves and for us it's time standing still; we're still doing the things we did all those years ago and it's nice that it hasn't evolved.' Performing top hits like Thunder In My Heart, More Than I Can Say and tour namesake You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, Sayer promised a hit-packed, high-energy evening not to miss. Tickets are available on the Leo Sayer website or the MPAC website.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
The Goldilocks zones: Scientists pinpoint the suburban sweet spots where families will be happiest in Britain
Britain's suburbs – natural habitat of Hyacinth Bucket, Victor Meldrew and his garden gnomes – are often derided as boring. But it turns out that these leafy neighbourhoods are where the nation is happiest. Scientists say residents in what they call the 'Goldilocks zone' – not too busy, not too quiet but just right – sandwiched between city centres and the countryside, are less likely to suffer anxiety and depression. The researchers have come up with a formula to pinpoint these sweet spots, with the distance from the centre of town dependent on the size of a city's population. So for an area with a population of 200,000, such as Reading, the best place to live is 5.5 miles from the city centre – and Caversham, rising from the Thames to the Chilterns, fits the bill. For those looking for a place near Portsmouth, they would do well to consider Cosham, the UK HQ of computer giant IBM. For Brighton and Hove, with its slightly larger population, the perfect place to set up home might well be in Shoreham-by-Sea, birthplace of singer Leo Sayer. And for somewhere with a population of about one million, such as Birmingham, the happiest people are living up to a 13-mile journey from the city centre: examples include Knowle and Catshill. It is not clear why suburbanites are the happiest, and the findings were true only for the UK, the team of international scientists said. But it may be linked to the demographics of these areas, which are more likely to be populated by families who move there for cheaper housing. They may have fewer money worries and a better quality of life overall than those who live more centrally. 'In the UK, depression and anxiety peak in urban and rural areas, with a 'Goldilocks zone' of lower rates in between,' the researchers wrote in the Journal of Affective Disorders, having used data from the UK, New Zealand and Norway. 'This zone may result from families relocating to areas just outside cities, while demographics more vulnerable to depression and anxiety tend to favour urban living. 'It is unclear why the Goldilocks zone was only found for the UK.' The results show the highest levels of depression were in urban areas, at 8.5 per cent of the population, and in rural areas at 7.9 per cent. But areas in between had a rate of just 7 per cent.
