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Les Reed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Leslie David 'Les' Reed O.B.E. (born July 24, 1935, in Woking, Surrey, England) is an English composer and musician.
He was an accomplished musician by the age of 14, 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, "Leave A Little Love" for Lulu, and "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)", a 1967 hit for Herman's Hermits. During 1965 he wrote "It's Not Unusual" with ex-Viscounts member and Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills, which gave Jones a UK number one in March 1965. Les Reed also arranged and played piano on the song. During the year he also met up with Barry Mason from Wigan in Lancashire. Together they wrote some of their biggest hits including "Delilah" again a hit for Tom Jones. "Delilah" was later covered by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band in 1975. Les Reed and Barry 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.
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," "What Do You Want"), Eden Kane ("Forget Me Not"), and Lance Fortune ("Be Mine"). Reed is also responsible for composing Marching on Together (Leeds, Leeds, Leeds), the famous tune of Leeds United Football Club and (play all the way for) Leeds United, another Leeds supporters' anthem.