| Mike Leander | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Michael George Farr |
| Also known as | Mike Leander |
| Born | 30 June 1941 Walthamstow, (then Essex, now East London), England[1] |
| Died | 18 April 1996 (aged 54) London, England |
| Occupations | Arranger, record producer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1963–96 |
| Labels | Bell/Decca/Atlanic/MCA |
| Associated acts | Marianne Faithfull, Billy Fury, Marc Bolan, Joe Cocker, The Small Faces, Van Morrison, Alan Price, Peter Frampton, Keith Richards, Shirley Bassey, Gary Glitter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Lulu, Jimmy Page, Roy Orbison, Brian Jones, Gene Pitney |
Michael George Farr[2] (30 June 1941 – 18 April 1996) professionally known as Mike Leander was an English arranger, songwriter and record producer.
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Born as Michael George Farr in Walthamstow, East London on 30 June 1941 he won a scholarship to Bancroft's School in Woodford Green, Essex where he was educated from 1952, until 1959.
Leander started his career as an arranger with Decca Records in 1963 and Bell Records in 1972 and worked with such artists 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 and Gene Pitney. He is perhaps best known as co-writer and producer for Gary Glitter throughout the 1970s.
Leander also worked as a producer/arranger with Ben E. King and The Drifters on the Atlantic record label and was the arranger on The Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album (the only time The Beatles recruited someone other than their producer, George Martin, to provide orchestration.)[3]
He was executive producer of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/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.
Leander first worked with singer Paul Raven in the 1960s 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 -- many of which Leander co-wrote with Glitter -- beginning in 1972 with "Rock and Roll (Parts 1 and 2)", which reached #2 in the UK, #1 in France and also the top 10 in many other countries including the USA. This was followed by ten more Top 10 UK singles, including three chart-toppers, "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" (1973), "I Love You Love Me Love" (1973) and "Always Yours" (1974).
In the 1980s he wrote the musical Matador, which gave Tom Jones a hit album and single A Boy From Nowhere.
He married Penny in 1974 they went on to have two children and remained together until his death in 1996.