Leon Haywood
Leon Haywood | |
---|---|
Birth name | Otha Leon Haywood |
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | February 11, 1942
Genres | Soul, R&B, funk |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer |
Instrument(s) | Keyboards |
Years active | 1963–2016 |
Labels | Imperial, Decca, 20th Century, Columbia, MCA, Casablanca, Modern, Edge, Evejim |
Otha Leon Haywood (February 11, 1942 – April 5, 2016) was an American
Career
Born in Houston, he listened to the blues as a child and started playing piano at the age of three.[1] In his teens, he performed with a local group and worked as an accompanist to blues musician, Guitar Slim.[1] In the early 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with saxophonist Big Jay McNeely.[1] McNeely arranged for him to record his first single, "Without a Love", an instrumental on the small Swingin' record label.[1] After that, he joined Sam Cooke's band as keyboardist until the singer's death.[1] Haywood next recorded two singles for Fantasy Records, and subsequently moved to Imperial Records, where he recorded the single "She's with Her Other Love", which made the R&B charts in 1965.[1][2]
Haywood was also part of two
Haywood recorded, without too much success for the Fat Fish (Hollywood, Ca.) label in 1966 and 1967. Two singles from that source were given a UK release at the time on the Decca distributed Vocalion label but gathered few sales – "Skate a While" and "Ain't No Use".[citation needed]
He found only sporadic success as a singer, including with "It's Got to Be Mellow" and "Keep It in the Family".
Haywood is credited with writing the 1981 hit "She's a Bad Mama Jama" by Carl Carlton, which he produced in his own studio.[4] In 1983, he released the album It's Me Again, which featured a couple minor R&B hits. His last R&B chart record was "Tenderoni" (No. 22) in 1984,[1] but the accompanying album, Now and Then went unreleased (although the single was featured on a similarly-titled compilation album, Then & Now, which surfaced five years later).[7] After a few more chart singles, for Casablanca Records and Modern Records, Haywood's output failed to excite the public's taste.[1] In the late 1980s, he became associated in an executive/production capacity with the Los Angeles-based Edge Records. From the 1980s, he produced blues albums by Jimmy McCracklin, Clay Hammond, Ronnie Lovejoy, Buddy Ace and others on his own Evejim Records label.[3][4]
He died in his sleep on April 5, 2016, aged 74.[8]
Discography
Albums
- The Mellow Mellow Leon Haywood (Galaxy, 1964)
- Soul Cargo (Fat Fish, 1966)
- It's Got to Be Mellow (Decca, 1967)
- Back to Stay (20th Century, 1973)
- Keep It in the Family (20th Century, 1974)
- Come and Get Yourself Some (20th Century, 1975)
- Intimate (Columbia, 1976)
- Hey! Mr BigBen (20th Century, 1976)
- Double My Pleasure (MCA, 1978)
- Energy (MCA, 1979)
- Naturally (20th Century, 1980)
- It's Me Again (Casablanca, 1983)
- Freaky Man (Evejim, 1994)
- The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (There Ain't Enough Hate Around) (Evejim, 1996)
Singles
Year | Single | Chart Positions | Record label | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Pop [9] |
US R&B [5] |
UK [10] | |||
1965 | "She's With Her Other Love" Leon Hayward |
92 | 13 | — | Imperial |
1967 | "It's Got to Be Mellow" | 63 | 21 | — | Decca |
1968 | "Mellow Moonlight" | 92 | 35 | — | |
1974 | "Keep It in the Family" | 50 | 11 | — | 20th Century |
"Long As There's You (I Got Love)" | — | 63 | — | ||
"Sugar Lump" | 108 | 35 | — | ||
"Believe Half of What You See (And None of What You Hear)" |
94 | 21 | — | ||
1975 | "Come an' Get Yourself Some" | 83 | 19 | — | |
"I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" | 15 | 7 | — | ||
1976 | "Just Your Fool" | 102 | 26 | — | |
"Strokin' (Pt. II)" | 101 | 13 | — | ||
"The Streets Will Love You to Death - Part 1" | 107 | 63 | — | Columbia | |
1977 | "Super Sexy" | — | 54 | — | MCA |
1978 | "Double My Pleasure" | — | 91 | — | |
"Fine and Healthy Thing" | — | 84 | — | ||
"Party" | — | 24 | — | ||
1980 | "Don't Push It Don't Force It" | 49 | 2 | 12 | 20th Century |
"If You're Lookin' for a Night of Fun (Look Past Me, I'm Not the One)" |
— | 67 | — | ||
1983 | "I'm Out to Catch" Leon Haywood featuring Karen Roberts |
— | 27 | — | Casablanca |
"T. V. Mama" | — | 83 | — | ||
1984 | "Tenderoni" | — | 22 | — | Modern |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
References
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-733-9.
- ^ "Leon Haywood Biography". Oldies.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. "Leon Haywood Biography". AllMusic.
- ^ a b c Dave Williams (2007). "The Evejim Records Story". Juke Blues. No. 64. pp. 24–29.
- ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-1995. Record Research. p. 187.
- ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ "The Leon Haywood Story Then & Now". hiphoparchive.org. 1989. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ Legaspi, Althea (April 7, 2016). "R&B Singer Leon Haywood Dead at 74". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
- ISBN 0-00-717931-6.
External links
- Leon Haywood discography at Discogs