I REMEMBER... Leo Sayer

Leo Sayer first came to fame in the Seventies and this year he's celebrating five decades in the business. He tells us about being managed by Adam Faith, meeting The Beatles and why he moved to Australia

- Simon Button

THE VERY FIRST THING I REMEMBER is being thrown out of a pram by our dog when I was barely a year old. Our dog was a big labrador named Joey who was very boisterous and I think he just jumped up to look into the pram. I was such a light-weight baby that I flew out of the pram and landed on my head. I ended up with a bump I’ve still got.

DAD WAS AN ENGINEER AT A HOSPITAL IN SHOREHAM-ON-SEA and Mum was a nurse in Ireland who met him after she moved to England, just before the war. She was a staunch Catholic and my father converted in order to marry her. He was very straight-down-the-line and when I brought home the “Great Balls of Fire” record [by Jerry Lee Lewis] he threw it into the garden, saying, “I don’t want that heathen music in here!”. Mum was very loving and caring but Dad was disappointed in me because, unlike my sister and brother, I was this dyslexic kid with learning difficulties and a dreamer who had trouble concentrating.

WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME AT THE PARISH CHURCH and I became an altar boy. I was in the choir and the parish priest took me under his wing, telling me, “You’ve got a gift”. I sang solos and was also in a school band, singing Peggy Sue without a microphone while the drummer was banging his text books. Later we got proper instruments and people would tell me I was a good singer.