 |
|
| Sixties Stardom |
 |
|
LEAPY LEE is the original artist who, in 1968, sold 3,500,000 copies of his song "Little Arrows". The song and the album topped the charts in 18 countries around the world. Two more No.1 hit singles in South Africa and Australia, along with subsequent tours and cabaret shows established Leapy as a true international performer in every sense of the word.
Leapy's hit "Little Arrows" was prevented from going to number one in the UK charts by The Beatles' "Hey Jude". When The Beatles came off the top, Leapy stayed at number two while Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days" leapfrogged him into the top slot. |
| Leapy's career began as a comedian (his real name is Lee Graham), although he is best remembered for "Little Arrows" which has since been reissued on three occasions. He was very friendly with The Kinks and his humour seems to have played a major role in soothing internal pressures in the group. He was almost offered the opportunity to record "Sunny Afternoon" before Ray Davies changed his mind and decided The Kinks should record it. Eventually Ray wrote, arranged and produced "King Of The Whole Wide World" for him and got Dave Davies, Pete Quaife and two of Goldie's Gingerbread's (Margo and Carole) to play on it. The song could easily have been a hit but it wasn't. In October 1968 Pepper became his backing group. |
 |