Spencer Leigh (radio presenter)

For other people of the same name, see Spencer Leigh.
Spencer Leigh

Headshot of Spencer Leigh
Born (1945-02-01) 1 February 1945
Waterloo, Lancashire, England
Occupation Radio presenter, author, obituarist
Years active 1972–present
Spouse(s) Anne Leigh
Website Spencerleigh.co.uk

Spencer Leigh (born 1 February 1945)[1] is a BBC radio presenter and author, with particular expertise in the development of pop and rock music and culture in Britain.

Career

He started broadcasting on BBC Radio Merseyside in the early 1970s. His first series, No Holds Bard was based around the Mersey poets. His music programme On the Beat has been running on BBC Radio Merseyside since 1985 and is currently broadcast between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Sundays. Over the years, Leigh has interviewed thousands of musicians on the show.[2]

His first book was Paul Simon - Now and Then, published in 1973, the first biography of the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Since then, he has written, or collaborated on, over two dozen books. Many of his books relate to The Beatles or Merseybeat and he has interviewed more people connected to the Liverpool 1960s scene than anybody else. There have been several one-off series on BBC Radio Merseyside, the best known being 'Let's Go Down the Cavern' in 1981.

Leigh has written the sleeve notes or CD booklets for over 200 albums. He writes obituaries of musicians for The Independent,[2] and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and he also writes for Record Collector, Country Music People and Now Dig This.

His acclaimed history of British pop before the Beatles, Halfway To Paradise (1996), has been expanded and issued in two volumes as British Pop Before The Beatles, available only on Kindle. He has been working for two years on Frank Sinatra - An Extraordinary Life, which will be published in October 2015 by McNidder and Grace for Sinatra's centenary.

Publications

Spencer Leigh has also written or collaborated on the following books with other authors:

References

  1. ↑ "British National Bibliography | The British Library". Bnb.data.bl.uk. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
  2. 1 2 "Saturday Presenters: Spencer Leigh". BBC.co.uk. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
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