RIP, Andy Leek

’He is the singer and songwriter who quit 1980s hit Brummie band Dexys Midnight Runners two weeks before they topped the charts with Geno - to become a mortuary assistant at a Midland hospital. But Andy Leek has since enjoyed international success as a musician, writing hit songs for Tom Jones and Abba's Frida, having his album produced by Beatles producer Sir George Martin, and being big in Beirut.’ (Birmingham Post and Mail, 2012)

Well, this is very sad.

Having mentioned Andy Leek in my previous post, I Googled his name only to discover that he died last Sunday following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

What a tragic coincidence.

I didn’t know him well at all but Andy took part in a number of concerts and shows I produced in the mid Nineties. He was always the headline act but my post didn’t tell the full story.

In addition to events at the Royal College of Music, the Library Theatre in Manchester, and Wyndham’s Theatre in London's West End, I thought so highly of Andy and his band that I also organised a gig for them at the Rock Garden, the iconic restaurant and club in Covent Garden where Talking Heads, XTC and The Police all played in their early years. (Today the site is occupied by an Apple Store.)

By then Andy was on the party circuit, playing a wide range of covers from ‘Daydream Believer’ to ‘Livin’ La Vida Loco’ to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and many more, so I also booked the band for a gala dinner in London, and what turned out to be a fabulous night at the old Granada Studios in Manchester where they performed on the cobbles of the original Coronation Street set.

Having enjoyed several tracks on his debut album Say Something (produced by Sir George Martin and released, I think, in 1988), I also persuaded him to perform a solo show at an intimate cabaret venue near Cambridge Circus in London where he performed more of his own songs.

Say Something was not a commercial success. Andy told me (tongue-in-cheek, perhaps) that most of the budget had been spent on George Martin’s fee and there was nothing left to promote the album!

He was subsequently dropped by his management and record company and his solo career never really recovered, although he enjoyed a minor hit in Germany with a subsequent single, ‘All Around The World’.

Two decades later he also discovered that, unbeknown to him, the title track from ‘Say Something’ had been a number one hit in Lebanon!

After I joined Forest in 1999 we kept in touch intermittently and for a brief period I tried to help him get more corporate gigs, even paying for a promotional flyer and placing a full page ad in a magazine I was editing.

To be honest, I don't think he really needed my help because the band - now known as Andy Leek and the Blue Angels - got plenty of bookings and great reviews, but I sensed that his enthusiasm for the party circuit was beginning to wane.

My last conversation with him was in 2008.

Forest and The Freedom Association had joined forces to launch the two-day Freedom Zone at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.

One of the events I was wanted to organise was modelled on the David Letterman style of chat show. Presented by Claire Fox (now Baroness Fox), I envisaged having a band that would perform a couple of songs and introduce each guest with a few bars of live music.

Andy lived locally so I asked him if he was interested. He was, but it was just too complicated. There would be no time to set up and rehearse, and the stage at the Austin Court Conference Centre wasn’t big enough to accommodate both the presenter and guests, plus musicians and their equipment (drums, keyboard etc).

What I didn’t know until yesterday was that, around that time, Andy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Despite that, he continued to write songs and recorded a new album, Waking Up The World, as well as releasing a remastered and extended version of Say Something (Say Something: Deluxe Edition) in, I think, 2012.

In 2014 a documentary/interview (Life of Dexys Midnight Runners’ Andy Leek) was posted on YouTube.

Until I stumbled upon it late last night I had never seen it, but although the background music is a bit intrusive it’s worth watching - even more so in the light of Andy’s death.

It’s especially poignant because the Andy Leek I remember from the Nineties, when he was in his thirties, had a charm and confidence that occasionally bordered on arrogance.

The man in the video is older, wiser, and has a wonderfully dry and self-deprecating sense of humour.

I may be wrong but he seems visibly at peace with life, and himself, despite the frustrations and disappointments he experienced during his career.

Watching it I felt sad, but happy that he appeared happy, if that makes sense. It’s a fitting epitaph, as well as an interesting insight into the vagaries of the music business.

Last but not least, my sincere condolences to Andy’s wife. We never met but I have just read that they married on October 30, a few days before he died, after 35 years together.

PS. My favourite tracks from Say Something (1988) and Say Something: Deluxe Edition (2012) are:

‘Please, Please’
‘What’s The Problem?’

Andy also recorded a promo CD featuring some of the many cover versions he played at party events. The studio versions don’t match the raw excitement of the live versions, but here’s his recording of The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.

See also: Blast from the past (The Herald, September 2012).

The most complete biography I have read can be found here.

Below: Andy describes working with Dexys Midnight Runners, George Martin, Frida (from Abba), Kirsty McColl, and more.

Right: The flyer I commissioned for Andy Leek and the Blue Angels in 2002 makes a fleeting appearance in the video!