Leo Sayer has met everyone – rock legends, sport superstars, future presidents …

Leo Sayer has met everyone – rock legends, sport superstars, future presidents …

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold June 2, 2026 Duration: 32:46

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: https://tix.to/LeoLive26

 

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


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Word In Your Ear
Podcast Episodes
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