Leo Sayer (born Gerard Sayer) had a string of highly polished mainstream pop hits in the late '70s. Sayer began his musical career as the leader of the London-based Terraplane Blues Band in the late '60s. He formed Patches with drummer Dave Courtney in 1971; Courtney had previously played with British pop star Adam Faith. Faith was starting a management career, and chose to promote Sayer as a solo artist. Sayer began recording some solo material written with David Courtney at Roger Daltrey's studio. Sayer's 1973 hit "The Show Must Go On" reached number one in the U.K. The following year he released his first album, Silver Bird, followed quickly by Just a Boy, which included two more British hit singles, "One Man Band" and "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)"; "Long Tall Glasses" managed to break Sayer into the American Top Ten in early 1975. Sayer's working relationship with Courtney was severed during the recording of his third album, Another Year (1975). In 1976, he released Endless Flight, which was co-written with former Supertramp member Frank Farrell; featuring the number one singles "You Make Me Feel like Dancing" and "When I Need You," the record became his biggest hit in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over a million copies in America. Following Endless Flight, Sayer became a fixture in the American Top 40, yet his hits began to dry up in England.
