Nick and Sue. This edition of the Chatterbox Redux podcast is brought to you in association with the Old Glory Iconic Music and Sports Superstore. More from them in a bit. Welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and Nick and today our special guest is Graham Lepe Lee. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Oh yeah! Chatterbox, the best interviews with Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news We're
just lucky enough to welcome Lee P. Lee. Lee, welcome. How are you, sir? Hello, Lee. Well, I look well. Thank you, Nick. Yes, I'm fine. How are you? We're good, thank you. And I see that you were born just along the coast from us. We're based in St. Leonard's, and you were born along the Sunshine Coast, so... It was. How did you get into singing? Did you like singing as a child, or how did you actually get into
it to start with? Well, I used to like Saturday morning pictures in those days, you know, and I used to love the cowboys sitting on their horses with guitars, Gene Auctor and people like that. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Gene Auctor many, many, many years later when I did the Grand Old Opry, but, um, them, and they were my heroes,
and I liked the look of the guitar. So I started to save up for my paper round, round Eastbourne, and there was a guitar in the window at one of the music shops, there was a fiver, and I was trying to save up for my seven and six a week.
ukulele next to it and it had only 30 volts so I bought the ukulele and I started on a ukulele and then we started getting a couple of friends around my uncle knew how to make a t -chest bass so he made a t -chest bass for us you know we were actually pre skipple before skipple really started about a year or so before skipple really kicked off so we were well ready Brilliant. So what was the next move? Did you sort of get to play around pubs, bars or halls or whatever?
We played in hotels and things in Eastbourne. We were very popular at the Espresso Lounge and that because there wasn't anything like it. It was all new. We were packed. People had come for miles to see it because it was just new. It was a novelty. I'm not sure if music was that good, but it was a novelty. a front a group in 1958 I got off the off at all a front a group as somebody came down to see us at the London Palladium. Wow. So I actually started off at
the London Palladium. Although we did go and do them at Edgeware Road with the Urchin as my group was called. Urchin? So I fronted a band that made up a session musician because there still were rock and roll patterns even then in 58, not really in America, they were not really in the UK. They were just beginning down to two highs and everything. And then so I found it in a group which went on to become, oh god, Hootsmon and the Moose Loose, I don't know who's from
that one. Lord Rockingham's 11. Lord Rockingham's 11, that's right. Yeah, that's it. I sort of started at the top and worked down. And when it sort of finished, I know all the boys went back to their various sessions and their various jazz, they were all jazzmen, you know. And Rex went off to perform, they were rocking. And I sort of finished up sort of wallowing a little bit, but I always actually wanted to be an actor.
I didn't want to be a... just the music business just came along, you know, with acting I wanted to do. So I went into... shows but they all folded so I was in trouble so I started doing other things through her money for some time. A shop in the Portobello Road and a few stalls around, you know, that sort of thing. And I'm in the East End called the Bongo Club where I used to book the tremolos and give me pays, and all before they start it's thirty -five a week, thirty -five
a night. I mean you were sort of playing him, you don't sort of get much bigger than that. But do you perhaps feel if you weren't, because Eastbourne, a little bit off the beaten track if you like, as I look upon Hastings as being a bit like that, but do you think if you were, it's difficult to say if you were in Liverpool, but you say you were pre -Skiffles though, that's pre -Enquiremen sort of thing. Do you think if you were in one of the big cities when you first
started, you might have led the way? with like some skiffle movements, or was it just set the way it became? Well, I could have led the way actually, because when I went up to England in 1958, it was just kicking off down the Two Eyes and everything. But actually, in my days, I was with Bruce and Hank from Shadow, you know, and I knew Cliff there as well. But anyway, and they were all going to the Two Eyes, and Lanny Parnes, I don't know if you know, Lanny Parnes was the
big role manager at the time. people up right left and centre, Billy Fury and Matthew Wild and Wildcats and what, but I was on the podium you see, so I was already at the top wasn't I? What I should have done was gone under two eyes, that's really it, because that was where it was all really beginning you know, and I just jumped the gun slightly and of course I was out of sight out of mind for those two years. but not me.
Well at the time I can see why you thought that was the gig to be at because you know name -wise that is that is the the top of the uh well it was absolutely you know and um unfortunately the producer was a real old -time theatre man and he had the director who absolutely hated the new rock and roll they did music through the ages and they started off with to rock and roll and we went from about five numbers and
he'd cut us right down to one. We were only actually doing one song and that was a whole lot of women. We only did the one song in the end. We used to bring a house down in my head. Of course it wasn't much of a showcase for me just singing one song you know. So I didn't have to get discovered from there. No, well, I get that. I mean, was there any early offers of record deals and things like that, or was it literally... Oh, yes, yes, I did. I sent a demo to Tony Hatch. Oh, yes,
yes. Yeah, I remember. And Tony listened to it, and he loved it, and I went and recorded with Tony Hatch, and it was a relief. It was a record for what was all happening, which I'd written in East Byron. in a way, but, you know, I still dig it out sometimes. I'll play on my radio program because I've got a radio show as well, you know,
so I like it. And I have a good time. And it's a hard thing about that because many years later we had a phone call come through from America and they were making a film called The Hatton. to whether my It's All Happening was available. What took them so long? Anyway, of course I said yes. They put Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Happening. That one, they used that and said it was far better anyway. So I missed out there. But yes, I recorded then. I don't remember doing
anything else with Tony Hatch actually. He was very busy at the time. Oh he was wasn't he? Yeah. Yeah, I broke Coronation Street, didn't I, the theme and all that, you know, with his wife. Jackie Trent. Jackie Trent, absolutely right, yeah, Jackie Trent, yeah. And, no, I really, I had to earn money because I had a family then. Sure. You see, I've had my best baby when I was quite young. I met Mary in Eastbourne, my wife, when I was 15. And I went up to London when I
was 18, so, and I knew. because I wanted to be an actor, all the auditions were in London. Anyway, so when I had the excuse to go to be at the Palladium, that was a double bubble, you know, after I went. But yeah, good times, bad times, you know, I didn't mop auctions, as I said, I had the club in the East End, you know, I booked the boys and everything. Screaming, Lord such, we willy.
You mentioned, you know, about maybe being ahead of your time and things like that, and we talked about the Palladium a bit, and of course, you know, as I said, that is the top of the pile, isn't it? The Palladium. But of course, looking back, hindsight for any of us is a great thing, isn't it? It could have so easily been the other way, couldn't it? Well, it normally is the other way. Well, yes, yes. Anyway, so it's all happening in 1962. You told us a great story about that.
I see you've brought another song out, King of the Whole Wide World. Yeah, I did that with Ray Davis. OK. Well, he wrote it or you sang it with him? Well, I was with the same management as Ray Davis and Robert Ways and Granville Collins were his managers and I was with the same management and they asked Ray to write me a song and he wrote me and I said, wow, yeah, that's the one
for me, hearing the demo, you know? But they decided that the demo had turned out so well that the Kings were going to release it anyway. And that's with a couple of others, too, with Matt, Randy, and all that, anyway. And then he wrote King of the Whole Wide World, and I did it with him. And, oh, we had Goldie and the Gingerbreads singing, Madeline Bell singing, Bachbell and three bells. And when you listen to it, you're going to hear the Kings, you know, you're going
to hear it. It's a Kings song, that's what it was, wasn't it? Nick and Sue. Supporting the show means supporting the brands that keep the lights on and today I'm thrilled to talk about a personal favorite of mine, Old Glory. Old Glory is the ultimate destination for music, sports and pop culture fans. They are a family owned
business founded back in 1969. Now Old Glory and I actually share a birth year and while I'll be the first to admit their vintage tees have aged a little more gracefully than I have, that's exactly why I love them. With over 300 ,000 officially licensed items, we aren't just talking about generic prints. From the heavy hitters like the Beatles, Metallica and the Rolling Stones, to official NASA gear, they cover every corner of fandom. Most importantly, the quality is top
tier. There aren't one and done shirts. They hold their shape and the colour wash after wash. Beyond the Gear, I'm proud to partner with them because every purchase through our link supports a bigger goal. Abortion of our commission goes directly to the Stripe Climate Program, helping fund carbon removal technologies to combat climate change. Upgrade your wardrobe and support the planet. Use code CBUKRDUX at oldglory .com for
15 % off your entire order. The link is also waiting for you in the show notes of this podcast.
Don't forget CBUKRDUX. So here's Nick and Sue Your musical duo This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox Giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox Chatterbox you know but the kings never did you know the only one they ever they ever recorded with so that's nice that's a very proud fact isn't it uh what a record by the way and it's worth 150 quid if you've got one wow unfortunately I just thought,
oh, she hasn't got any. Around what time did you decide on the name Leepy Lee? Was that at the beginning in 62 or was it when you were... Yeah, I got that. I unfortunately got lumbered with that name, which I've had to live with all my life. I think it's a great name. See, you've got to ask... With a name like that, you never get taken seriously, you see. So when I try to do a serious thing, do they... I didn't know if it was sort of a nickname when you were growing
up around Eastbourne or something. But I'll tell you something, it's memorable. It's very memorable. It's catchy and it goes well with the song. Yeah. Well, we'll talk about your songs in a bit, but Sue, you've got a question for Lee about his name, haven't you? Yeah, how did you come up with Leepy Lee? Well, when things died down a bit with the palatial and everything... and I needed to get money because I already have one
child and another one on the way. I had a family, a lot of those lads were young and they didn't have any, you know, they had no responsibilities or anything, you know, but I did, I had a family
so I had to do other things. So I had a bingo hall in, just started that bingo at the time, in Shepherd's Bush and I had another one in East End and Canning Town and I had the club there and I had a stall in the Portobello Road and the shop in in the Portobello Road, little shop, and I would leap in from one job to the next. And that's literally how it happened. Before leaping in again, you know, that was stuck. And I've been lumbered with since. Brilliant, brilliant,
brilliant. I'm now coming on 83 and still leaping. Oh, brilliant story. Well, you know, there's always great, nice bit of history there. Anyway, we need to get into, because we had quite a run and I don't know what happened to you in Australia with all those hits. It looks like you were the second coming almost. But we get to 1968 and, obvious, we were going to talk about this at some point, Little Arrows, were you still with?
It's an amazing song and I'm glad there's some clips of you singing it on YouTube and that. But how did that come about? How did you choose that song? Well, like all singers, you need writers, you know. Nowadays there's more writers, they write their own stuff about them, but in those days you didn't. You were a singer and then you went to a writer for a song, you know. But then the writers had to sell their songs to the publishers.
And so to find songs, I would go round to all the publishers, you know, on a regular basis, you know, just looking for songs, you know. and they'd play you everything they got and you'd say, well, I like that, I don't. And one day I walked into a chapel, I think it was. Oh, yeah, chapel music, yeah. And there were these young
lads standing there, you know. Young lads standing there, and a nice enough guy, you know, he was there to sell some songs, and it was lunchtime, so he was waiting for everybody to come back from lunch. I said, well, let's hear them. I said, because I've got a friend of mine, Gordon Mills. I knew Gordon Mills. He'd just got Tom Jones at the time, you know, just got him. But
he was a... Anyway, so Albert said, it was Albert Hammond, Albert Hammond, so he said, because he'd only had one little nibble with his pre and after electric band or something, and I said, well, let's hear him, you know, I said, because I know Gordon Mills, you know, just got Tom Jones to sing out, you know, so I might be able to get your songs to him. Sure, yes. Anyway, so he played it, he played two or three to me and that came up and I said, I like that. I said,
can I take that? He said, well I only got one copy of it and I said, I will get that to Gordon Mills. had learnt it. And about a fortnight later when Gordon came round to play some poker at Dawes' house, I wouldn't play it, it was too rich for my blood, but I called him at the door, he was going out and I said, I want you to hear this song over the guitar. I don't want to hear that song, he said, I just lost 400 pounds, he said, I've not come here. There was a lot of
money in those days. I said, listen, listen, and I blocked him at the door and I started playing, I played it. And he listened and he said, I like that. He said, we'll do that next week. And of course, next week we went in and we did it. And that was it, really. but you'll know it when they hit you cause they Did you have some inkling or feed it in your water or whatever? That was the hit, that was it. Did you know straight away? Did you have a sense it would be? The record?
Yeah, he had little arrows. Did you feel it was going? I thought it was a hit. That's why I picked it. I thought it was a hit. Perfect. There was no question in my mind that it was a hit. Well, of course it was a question. You're not actually 100 % but I've got a good ear for hits and things. I had it at that time. that's a hit. Well, you made it... One of the people on the airplane as well. Sure. And later on I wanted to do Sweet Caroline when I had it at least a year out in
the UK and that he wouldn't let me do it. Oh. Gordon made a few bad decisions as well as good, you know, he wasn't... I know it was infallible, I suppose. Well done. Anyway, I knew that, I'm absolutely certain that was a go. Yeah. Gordon
made a wonderful job of it. Big Jim Sullivan, Tom's guitarist on the intro, you know, da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da
-da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da Yeah Little arrows, I mean it did rather well around the world UK number two Australia to Canada eight I was going to say the actual billboard hot 100 you did rather well there and even better in the US country chart so that that's pretty good Which is a weird thing, because I love country, but I never look on it as a country song at all. Nor have I. I was surprised to see it there.
We're not arguing about it. A lot of the die -hard country people don't like me, because they think that I try to make country pop. Well, you didn't put yourself in the chart, they had to talk to whoever did. Anyway, I'm glad you made it there. Now, Little Arrows, you did an album of that, which did quite well as well. Wow, that's amazing. Before we move on from Little Arrows, I haven't asked this question to anyone for ages
and ages. What was it like? Was it surreal? What was it like going on top of the pops and all these things when you'd actually made it, yeah? Yeah, I just wonder if I wonder if it's a bit surreal or something but no that's that's that's brilliant Nothing, literally, literally nothing. I had to borrow half a clown to go to the music, to the record company. I walked into the record company and they said, um, where have you been, Leapy? And I thought, yeah, I've been anywhere,
really. I didn't have a foe, you see. Because we were absolutely on the floor. And, um, I looked in the paper, Daily Mirror or something that morning and I looked and I saw little arrows number 13 in a jar. That's when I went down there and they said we've been looking for you, it's selling like hotcakes you know. It got mad you know, the boss of MCA danced on his desk. Here we go. He said how much do you want? I said well about 500 quid would be alright. Oh no problem
at all, he wrote me a check for 500. So I went
down there. agency and they said how much you want we give us 300 something 800 pounds which in 1968 was a lot of money I mean you could buy a house for two and a half grand yes yeah yeah yeah it was a lot of no so and that was wonderful yeah that's brilliant yeah I've got a question regarding Little Arrows when you were singing the song you've got like these high pitch singing part did you have to train your yes darling perfect did you have to train your voice to do that train
yourself to strangle them slightly Brilliant. Brilliant. I could yodel, you see. I was an old country boy, you know. I could do a bit of yodeling. No, again, it wasn't that difficult for me. It is now. Oh, OK. Brilliant. We won't ask you, I promise. Of course, after Little Arrows, there was obviously the task was to find a follow -up song, and I see Here Comes the Rain was the next
one. which was another smack, and normally you give the writer the second, the follow -up piece, and it makes sense, you know, coming in the same idiom, same ilk, you know, not the same ilk. But Gordon wanted a piece of Leicester -Belle size for Engelpert, because he had Engelpert as well as Tom, and he wanted a piece of Leicester -Belle size from Barry Mason and Les Reed who
wrote it. and he wanted it for Engelbert and they said to Gordon, we'll give you Bruce Clifton Bell's sign for Engelbert as long as we get the follow up for Leopold Lee. Uh huh, yes. So that and there was murders. Albert didn't speak to me for years. He thought it was me! Oh dear, oh dear, okay. Tom was the most important to Gordon, and Engelberg was a far away second really, up in the way on the phone for hours while he
talked to Tom on the other phone. And I was like, you know, I needed a different manager really. I needed a manager that just had me, you know. So anyway, I got the second one, which was Here
Comes the Rain, which I did in Cannes. stormed because it was a great big orchestra and it was a great big theatre, a beautiful, mighty hand, an acting, a 40 -feet orchestra and everybody said they would release it because all the agents from all over the world are there, you see, and they all said that they would put it out because when it came out on the disc it was really, it was, it wasn't mine, it was a big song, you know,
a big waltz. He called it one in Germany because it was un papa, un papa, un papa, but died on his behind. I think, what was the name that did
it? what she said and she still would make a good ashtray which was about right actually you could make ashtrays out of them and you melt them down you could you could and is it any nightingale you're thinking of any nightingale yes first female DJ legend she would talk about me after that always because when I got on her show I went near her she thought I was going to say
something over the air about her Oh, dear. Anyway, the album Leepy Lee, you've got some quite good sort of Australian hits came out of that, like we followed with Little Yellow Aeroplane. South Africa, actually. OK. And a wonderful song. And how it only got to number 29 in the UK, I will never know. Good morning. Nick and Sue, if you're looking for the perfect gifts either for yourself or for a fellow fan, you need to check out the
Old Glory iconic music and sports store. They've been the gold standard for fan merch since 1969. They carry over 300 ,000 items ranging from grateful dead hoodies to official sports team hats and other merch. And look, I know what it's like to buy a band shirt only for it to shrink or fade instantly. Old Glory is different. Their graphic tees are high quality, officially licensed and built to last. When you shop at Old Glory using our link, you're also joining the Chatterbox
community's commitment to the environment. 1 % of all commissions are donated to the Stripe Climate Program and help remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Head to OldGlory .com or click the link in the description. Use my exclusive listener code of CBUKRDUX and you save 15 % on the best merch in the game. That's CBUKRDUX. Look good, do some good to the planet and show your true colours. It takes two to tangle And two to present a radio show So here's Nick and Sue Your musical
duo What a great song! I know, yeah. What a great song. Yeah, I still do that in the act. Sure you do? I do in the act, yeah, and it goes down quite well. Brilliant. It did quite well in Germany. Another one did quite well in Germany. Good Morgan, you see. Ah, yes, yes, of course, of course. You know, when and what? This and perhaps. God knows. Who knows? Well, yes. I'd say it's hindsight again, isn't it? 1974, no, I didn't know about
this one. A minor UK hit, actually. Every Road Leads You Back, and it came from an album of the same name. Every Road Leads Back to You. Well, that was from an album I did in 72 or 73. That was going to be my big comeback. And that was written and produced, the whole thing, by Keith Pocker of The Seekers. Oh, yes, yes. Yes, absolutely. Love The Seekers, yeah. Well, Keith is a very good producer as well. He's Australian,
of course. And we did that, and the company, which was Bell Records, often thought it was going to be a smash. They thought it was going to be an absolute smash. Another number one. Everybody was rambling. They had a big convention, and they played it all the time during this convention of all their people from all over the world. And we really thought, I thought I'm going to pay the mortgage and everything. The problem is... Leave his law, you know. You know about
leave his law? Go on, I didn't... No. Yeah, leave his law there. No, yeah, every road leads back to you. In those days, those days, they used to put the chaffer made up from particular shops all over the country. Oh yes, yes, yes. average, and then they would create the charts from that, let them know it was done, without all the internet and everything, of course. So the shopkeepers would order in the ones that were doing well.
Well, mine were doing very well, and we went to 54, I think, and the base 50 rollers were also with battle. Okay. The next week only went up to 51. In actual fact, if we had had 30 Friday Saturday sales, we'd have gone into the top 30, easy. But it only went into 51, so it didn't even crack the 50. Well, the shopkeepers then look at it and say, oh my God, that's only gone up to 51, it's only gone up two or three places. Don't order me any more of those. They didn't
bother to order it. I hear various stories from people from that era and all I can say is that the record industry certainly did stink, didn't it, at the time. That's a very polite way of
wording it. okay now um i i i understand somewhere around 40 years ago you decided to leave the uk and go out to the med and uh i don't blame you to have warm sun it just looks nice here but i'd rather have i'd rather have your temperature in a bit of a tan to be honest with you yeah i was just gonna ask you where you were sorry oh i'm on my yorker oh wow i couldn't remember which one it was yeah lovely yeah opening up a little bit now that's cool absolutely Lee question
this now you almost well you did basically answer one of my questions earlier on and that was do you still play and sing and that and you've already mentioned that you do still The Spanish authorities are still a bit firm with everything. Anyway, we're just waiting what happens over the next couple of months because the season doesn't start in April anyway. No, no, fingers crossed. Now, when you do play around Mallorca, is your audience mainly expats or Brits on holiday or locals?
Mainly Brits on holiday. Brilliant. That's fantastic.
it's on holiday no that's nice really nice i'm glad to hear that you're still still uh still active there and i'm sure sure the sunshine helps i'm sure the i'm sure the sunshine uh helps helps you feel good because i know it with me uh lee is there uh any do you have any presence on social media is on any website or is there a facebook page or anywhere where people can find you maybe Well, I've got, there is a Leafy League website which is not very well kept up to tell you the
truth. It's there somewhere, I haven't been there for ages. I'm definitely on Facebook. Lee, thank you for coming on Chatterbox. Lee, it's been amazing to chat to you at last and thank you for coming on Chatterbox UK. Thank you sir. Take care, bye bye. You've been listening to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue Nick And today, our special
guest was Graham Leapy Lee. If you're interested in becoming a future guest on the Chatterbox Redux podcast or the radio show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome to submit songs, books or whatever it is you do and send us a CV, synopsis or press release. However, we receive several thousand such press releases every week and it's impossible to reply to each one individually. Why not email us or leave a comment because we'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Our email address
is nickelbum at myyahoo .com. Alternatively, you could write to us. at P .O. Box 26, the Old Observer Building, Telford Road, St. Leonard's -on -Sea, East Sussex, England, TN38 -9LZ. And wherever it is you choose to listen to the Chatterbox Redux podcast, don't forget to give us a like, a follow, a favorite, or whatever it is on that platform, just so you don't miss a future episode. Sue, myself Nick, and Twinkle the Tuxedo Cat.
Thank you very much for your company and we look forward to welcome you again next time for another Chatterbox Redux podcast. In the meantime, take care, we thank you for your company and we catch you then. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Oh yeah! Chatterbox, the best interviews with Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news