Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:22 - First gig: Lonnie Donegan
03:44 - Designing Catch A Fire's sleeve
07:08 - The harmonica years
09:20 - Writing for other artists
14:30 - Adam Faith's Fortnum & Mason office
16:51 - Sharing a plane with Muhammad Ali
19:51 - The most impressive person
24:03 - Top-of-the-world
28:16 - Essential songs

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Leo Sayer burst onto national telly in 1973 dressed as a Pierrot with the Show Must Go On launching a 50-year career in colourful company – songwriters, boxing legends, swindling managers, scurrilous socialites – and learning a great deal in the process. “Don’t underestimate the idiots!” is the hard-won advice. He’s touring in October and joins us here from Australia to look back at …

… how he and Linda Ronstadt escaped from Trump’s gruesome penthouse

… walking through Memphis dressed as a clown

… seeing Lonnie Donegan invent skiffle, Dylan at the Albert Hall and Bob Marley at the Lyceum from the side of the stage

… when Paul Kossoff asked him to audition for Free

… designing record sleeves for Marley, Roger Daltrey, Humble Pie and Quintessence

… “I’m the Forrest Gump of the music industry – nearly there!”

… “working with Adam Faith was like having Marlon Brando as your acting coach”

… the advice Paul McCartney gave him in 1973

… “Do you mind if I vomit in your shoe?”

… and a week in a training camp with Muhammad Ali.

Order Leo Sayer tickets here: tix.to/LeoLive26

Order the ‘Leothology’ box-set here: roughtrade.com/product/leo-sayer/leothology-the-studio-albums-1973-now