Leo Sayer ~ More Than I Can Say 1980 Extended Meow Mix

Gerard Sayer was born May 21, 1948 in Shoreham, England. It was not until he attended Worthington Art College that he became fully invested in a music career by forming a band named Terraplane Blues. That lasted until he joined Patches when he met David Courtney, a drummer who worked for Adam Faith.

Courtney got Sayer signed to Adam Faith's management company when Adam's wife Jackie noted that his curly mane reminded her of a little lion. With that thought in mind, he changed his name to Leo Sayer.

He began racking up the hits in the UK, but America was not ready for him until 1975 when Leo's version of "Long Tall Glasses" peaked at #9. The next album, "Endless Flight" had Richard Perry at the producer's chair and gave Leo a pair of #1 hits, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and "When I Need You".

The final charting single from "Endless Flight" was "How Much Love" which peaked at #17. His next LP "Thunder In My Heart" contained the eponymously named single that made it to #38 and "Easy To Love" checking in at #36 relative disappointments after the success of "Endless Flight". His 1978 LP "Leo Sayer" featured "Rainin'In My Heart" which entered the chart at #88 peaking at #47 spending only seven weeks on the chart. His 1979 album "Here" produced no hit singles at all and sank into obscurity.

Hooking up with producer Alan Tarney (who would give a-Ha their #1 single "Take On Me"), he brought out all his songs. Tarney felt that the album needed one special song when an ad came on the TV for Bobby Vee's greatest hits and his version of "More Than I Can Say" played over the commercial. After lunch, they stepped out to pick up a copy of Vee's song. Once back in the studio, they got Trevor Spencer on drums and Alan played the rest of the instruments on the track. Using a vocal loop that they recorded for the background vocals sounded very angelic and was the finishing touch for the single. Leo relates that he loved that loop so much that he used it on his answering machine playing under his message "There's no one home right now..."

Once released as a single, it bypassed Bobby Vee's peak of #61 its second week on the chart. Seven weeks later it peaked at #2 for five weeks, three weeks under Kenny Roger's "Lady" and then two more weeks it was stuck under John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over". It did top the Adult Contemporary chart for one week.

The follow up "Living In A Fantasy" went to #23 becoming his last American hit. A few years later in 1983, Leo got his own show on the BBC1-TV channel.