John Macleod | |
---|---|
Origin | Canada |
Genres | Pop music |
Occupation(s) | Songwriter, musician |
Years active | 1960s–present |
John Macleod (sometimes spelled McLeod) is a Canadian-born English songwriter and musician.
Macleod moved to Britain in the 1940s, and lived in the Halifax area with his wife before moving to Brighton. In the 1950s, he was a member of the vocal group the Maple Leaf Four, with his brother, baritone Norman, Alan Harvey as tenor and Joe Melia (stagename Joe Ross) as second tenor. [1] [2] The group made regular appearances on British TV, and released at least two albums, Home on the Range and Old Familiar Favourites. [3] [4] [5]
By the early 1960s, Macleod worked on writing advertising jingles. [3] In the 1960s and early 1970s, Macleod co-wrote songs with Tony Macaulay. They had major success with The Foundations, when they recorded "Baby Now That I've Found You", and it topped the UK Singles Chart in November 1967. [6] [7]
This was followed by Long John Baldry's "Let the Heartaches Begin", [8] Paper Dolls' "Something Here in My Heart (Keeps A Tellin' Me No)" [9] and Pickettywitch's "That Same Old Feeling". [10]
The full list of songs that Macleod wrote with Macaulay are:
Song title | Performer | Peak UK chart position [11] | Date of appearance on chart |
---|---|---|---|
"Baby Now That I've Found You" | The Foundations | 1 | 23 September 1967 |
"Let The Heartaches Begin" | Long John Baldry | 1 | 28 October 1967 |
"Back on My Feet Again" | The Foundations | 18 | 20 January 1968 |
"Something Here in My Heart (Keeps A Tellin' Me No)" | Paper Dolls | 11 | 9 March 1968 |
"Any Old Time (You're Lonely and Sad)" | The Foundations | 48 | 1 May 1968 |
"Mexico" | Long John Baldry | 15 | 12 October 1968 |
"In the Bad Bad Old Days (Before You Loved Me)" | The Foundations | 8 | 12 March 1969 |
"Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" | Sandie Shaw | – | – |
"My Little Chickadee" | The Foundations | Note: US release only | – |
"That Same Old Feeling" | Pickettywitch | 5 | 21 February 1970 |
"Baby Take Me in Your Arms" | Jefferson (US) | 23, 15 (US & Canada release only) | 20 December 1969 |
"(It's Like A) Sad Old Kinda Movie" | Pickettywitch | 16 | June 1970 |
In the early 1970s, Macleod presented a series of easy listening instrumental albums comprising cover versions of chart hits, on the Pye label. In 1975 he worked again with his brother Norman, and brother-in-law actor Bill Pertwee, on the music for the Dad's Army stage show, producing an EMI single "Get Out And Get Under The Moon", and writing the B-side number "Hooligans!" – after Bill Pertwee's character Warden Hodge's catch phrase.[ citation needed ]
William Desmond Anthony Pertwee, was a British comedy actor. He played the role of Chief ARP Warden Hodges in the sitcom Dad's Army.
Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006.
The Foundations were a British soul band. The group's background was: West Indian, White British and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single "Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the UK and Canada, and number eleven in the US, while their 1968 single "Build Me Up Buttercup" reached number two in the UK and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. The group was the first multi-racial group to have a number one hit in the UK in the 1960s.
Shahrdad Rohani, also known as Shardad Rohani, is an Iranian-American composer, violinist/pianist, and conductor. His style is contemporary and he is well known for composing and conducting classical, instrumental, adult contemporary/new age, film soundtrack as well as pop music. He was the principal conductor and music director of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2020.
Tony Macaulay is an English author, composer for musical theatre, and songwriter. He has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year'. He is a nine time Ivor Novello Awards winning songwriter. In 2007, he became the only British person to win the Edwin Forrest Award for outstanding contribution to the American theatre. Macaulay's best-known songs include "Baby Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up Buttercup" with The Foundations, "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All," as well as "Love Grows " and "Don't Give Up on Us".
Geoffrey Stephens was an English songwriter and record producer, most prolific in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote a long series of hit records, often in conjunction with other British songwriters including Tony Macaulay, John Carter, Roger Greenaway, Peter Callander, Barry Mason, Ken Howard, Alan Blaikley, Don Black, Mitch Murray, and Les Reed.
The Paper Dolls were a late 1960s British female vocal trio from Northampton, comprising lead vocalist Susie 'Tiger' Mathis, Pauline 'Spyder' Bennett and Sue 'Copper' Marshall. They were one of the few British girl groups of the late sixties.
"True Love Ways" is a song attributed to Norman Petty and Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly's original was recorded with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra in October 1958, four months before the singer's death. It was first released on the posthumous album The Buddy Holly Story, Vol. 2, in March 1960. The song was first released as a single in Britain in May 1960, reaching number 25 on the UK Singles Chart. It was released the following month in the US, but did not make the charts. In 1988, a UK re-release of the recording by MCA, the single reached no. 65 on the UK singles chart in a 5 week chart run.
Pickettywitch was a British pop group. Fronted by singer Polly Brown, the group became best known for its hit single, "That Same Old Feeling", which was written by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod. It reached number five in the UK Singles Chart in 1970.
"Let the Heartaches Begin" is a song performed by British singer Long John Baldry. The single was a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart on 22 November 1967 where it stayed for two weeks. It was the second of two consecutive UK number one hits for the writing partnership of Tony Macaulay and John Macleod. The title of the B-side song is "Annabella ".
Polly Brown is an English singer from Birmingham. A member of Pickettywitch and Sweet Dreams - and with each group lead singer on a Top Ten hit, respectively "That Same Old Feeling" and "Honey Honey" - Brown had an international solo hit in 1975 with "Up in a Puff of Smoke".
John Francis Schroeder was a British pop and easy listening composer, arranger, songwriter and record producer. In 1961, Schroeder won an Ivor Novello Award for co-writing "Walkin' Back to Happiness".
"Back on My Feet Again" is the second single released by the Foundations. It was the follow-up to their hit single "Baby, Now That I've Found You". It was written by Tony Macaulay and John MacLeod and produced by Tony Macaulay. It charted at number 18 in the UK and also in Ireland. It reached No. 59 in the U.S. and number 29 in Canada.
"That Same Old Feeling" is the title of a pop song composed by John Macleod and Tony Macaulay which in 1970 was a Top Ten UK hit for Pickettywitch, an English band fronted by Polly Brown. In the US the Pickettywitch single vied with a rival version by The Fortunes, with both versions scoring well-enough regionally to reach the Top 70 of the Hot 100, the national hit parade maintained by Billboard magazine.
The English conductor Sir Adrian Boult was a prolific recording artist. Unlike many musicians, he felt at home in the recording studio and actually preferred working without an audience. His recording career ran from November 1920, when working with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes he recorded the ballet music, The Good-Humoured Ladies, to December 1978, when he made his final recording of music by Hubert Parry.
Steven Mercurio is an American conductor and composer.
John Williams, an accomplished composer formerly credited as Johnny Williams, initially worked as a jazz pianist and studio musician before transitioning into composing for television and film. Throughout his illustrious career, he has often conducted his own compositions whenever possible.
The Lancastrians were a British pop rock band, formed in Altrincham, Cheshire, England. They are best remembered for their only hit record, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine", released in December 1964.
Norman Macleod is a British musician and songwriter. He was a member of the 1950s group The Maple Leaf Four with his brother, the songwriter John Macleod. He took additional stage role "Private Maple" in the early performances of the Dad's Army stage show "Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler" in 1975, and EMI released the Dad's Army stage show single "Get Out And Get Under The Moon" sung with actor Bill Pertwee.
"Something Here in My Heart (Keeps A Tellin' Me No)" was a top 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart for the Paper Dolls in 1968.
The Maple Leaf Four Vocal group. As so many Variety acts did, they came together through wartime service. The founders were two brothers from a theatrical family, John and Norman Macleod. They teamed up with a fellow Royal Engineer, Joe Melia, and were part of the Stars in Battledress organisation. On demob, as Duffy, Ross and Macleod, they joined a touring revue, Canada Calling. The tenor in the show, Alan Harvey, used to join the three for offstage harmony singing and, after a one-night try-out on-stage they formed themselves into THE MAPLE LEAF MELODYMAKERS. In 1947 the lads were part of a Nat Mills and Bobbie revue that played all the major Moss and Stoll dates in the country. In 1948 their entry into summer season brought about their final change of name. In Blackpool they became the Maple Leaf Four.