Mike Leander

Early life

Born in Walthamstow, East London, Leander won a scholarship to Bancroft's School in Woodford Green, Essex where he was educated from 1952 until 1959.

Career

Mike Leander started his career as an arranger with Decca Records in 1963 and Bell Records in 1972 and worked with such musicians as Marianne Faithfull, Billy Fury, Marc Bolan, Joe Cocker, the Small Faces, Van Morrison, Alan Price, Peter Frampton, Keith Richards, Shirley Bassey, Lulu, Jimmy Page, Roy Orbison, Brian Jones, Paul Jones and Gene Pitney. He is perhaps best known as co-writer and producer for Gary Glitter in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mike Leander worked as a producer and arranger with Ben E. King and the Drifters on the Atlantic record label. He was later requested by Paul McCartney to arrange the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, as the Beatles' staple producer and arranger, George Martin, was unavailable at the time. Leander thus became the only orchestral arranger other than Martin to work on the recording of a Beatles basic track.Phil Spector produced the album "Let It Be", so Leander's work on "She's Leaving Home" doesn't represent the only other arranger than George Martin to have worked on a Beatles recording. |author-link= George Martin |orig-year= 1994

He was executive producer of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice concept album Jesus Christ Superstar and in the late 1960s wrote scores for several films, including Privilege with Paul Jones and Jean Shrimpton, Run a Crooked Mile with Mary Tyler Moore and Louis Jourdan and The Adding Machine with Billie Whitelaw and Milo O'Shea. Privilege featured the song "I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy", which he wrote and was performed by Paul Jones. It was a number 5 hit in the UK and charted well in several other countries.

Leander first worked with singer "Paul Raven" (born Paul Francis Gadd) in 1968 and produced various singles for him on MCA Records (now Universal Music Group) and this led to Raven's part on Jesus Christ Superstar. "Raven" later became Gary Glitter and the two began an on/off working relationship that would last until Leander's death. The partnership produced a string of glam rock hits, most of which Leander co-wrote with Glitter, beginning in 1972 with "Rock and Roll, Parts 1 and 2", which reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart,{{cite book

In the 1980s, Leander wrote the musical Matador, which gave Tom Jones a hit album and single, A Boy from Nowhere.

Personal life

Leander married Penny Carter (b. 1947) in 1974 and they had two children. They were together until his death from cancer in 1996.

References

References

1. Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club 1996 – 1997". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com.
2. Edward Seago. (4 May 1996). "Obituary: Mike Leander". [[The Independent.
3. "Works written by: FARR MICHAEL GEORGE". [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers]].
4. ‘Hot Battle Aids Love' South Bend Tribune 11 October 1970 p. 80