Les Reed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Les Reed O.B.E. (born Leslie David Reed, 24 July 1935, Woking, Surrey, England) is an English songwriter and musician.
[edit] Career
Reed was an accomplished musician by the age of fourteen, playing the piano, accordion and vibraphone. He studied at the London College of Music before joining the Willis Reed Group, with whom he toured for four years. Having been called up for National Service, he played piano and clarinet in the Royal East Kent Military Band. Following National Service he turned professional, and became resident pianist at the Lido Nightclub in the West End of London.
In 1958 he joined the John Barry Seven as pianist. He played on many of their hits including "James Bond Theme", "Hit And Miss" and "Walk, Don’t Run". During this time he began to write some of his first hits with Geoff Stephens including "Tell Me When", a hit for The Applejacks; "Here It Comes Again" for The Fortunes; "Leave A Little Love" for Lulu; and "There's a Kind of Hush", a 1967 success for Herman's Hermits. During 1965 he penned "It's Not Unusual" with ex-Viscounts member and Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills, which gave Jones a UK number one. Reed also arranged and played piano on the song. During that year he also met up with Barry Mason from Wigan, Lancashire. Together they wrote some of their biggest hits including "Delilah", again a Top Ten hit for Tom Jones. "Delilah" was originally written for P. J. Proby and later covered by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band in 1975.
Reed and Mason wrote their biggest hit in November 1966, "The Last Waltz", which became a million selling UK number one for Engelbert Humperdinck in September 1967. In 1968 another of their songs reached number one, when Des O'Connor's recording of "I Pretend", reached the top spot in the UK Singles Chart.
His 1968 song "I've Got My Eyes on You", co-written with Jackie Rae was recorded by Petula Clark, Ray Conniff, P. J. Proby and The Vogues.
In 1970 His orchestra recorded Man of Action which was used as the theme tune for Radio Northsea International till 1974
In 1971, fellow pensmith Mitch Murray conceived and founded the Society Of Distinguished Songwriters (SODS). Current members include Reed, plus Sir Tim Rice, Guy Chambers, Gary Barlow, David Arnold, Mike Batt, Justin Hayward, Don Black, and more than thirty others.
Reed composed the score for the 2004 musical Beautiful and Damned, based on the lives of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He also played piano on hits for the likes of Adam Faith ("Poor Me" and "What Do You Want?"; Eden Kane's ("Forget Me Not"), and Lance Fortune's ("Be Mine"). Reed is also responsible for co-composing "Marching on Together" (aka "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!"), the anthem of Leeds United A.F.C..
