Leo Sayer, the 1970s pop star behind the Grammy Award-winning “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” says the song still earns him between £100,000 and £200,000 a year, more than four decades after it was recorded.
The 78-year-old singer, who lives in New South Wales, Australia, with his wife Donatella, made the disclosure ahead of a UK tour and the release of a career-spanning anthology CD.
Sayer said the song began as a studio jam session. “It started as a happy accident in the studio, people covered it, and it’s been a big earner,” he said. He added that he still pays tax on the income.
His best financial decision, Sayer said, was recently trading half his song catalogue to Vinyl Wave, an American music investment company. “It’s really bearing fruit,” he said.
His worst was signing with his first manager, Adam Faith, and handing over power of attorney. “I didn’t know what that meant, but he did,” Sayer said. The arrangement meant Faith was not required to tell him how much money was coming in or going out. Sayer said he was often told he was earning £30,000 for a booking when the real fee was £300,000.
Sayer named 1974 as his best financial year. “The Show Must Go On” was a hit and was covered by Three Dog Night in the United States. “Just a Boy” followed, also performing well on both sides of the Atlantic. His album “Silverbird” reached number two in the UK charts, and he toured as a support act for Roxy Music in England and Europe. Sayer said he kept asking Faith where his money was, and Faith would hand him £100,000 at a time. “But we were probably making a lot more,” Sayer said.
He said he grew up struggling with numbers due to dyspraxia. “I got minus marks in maths and science, and I still get anxious over numbers,” he said. If a one-time login code expires before he can enter it, he said, his wife steps in.
Before music, Sayer trained as a graphic designer and took on a series of jobs, including hotel porter and a role writing unemployment cheques. He later broke through as a commercial artist designing album covers, earning £75 on a good week, with extra income from Yellow Pages work at £1 per advert, processing up to 30 a night.
His move into music followed a nervous breakdown. He had been running a studio in Hampstead with around 20 artists. He moved to Sussex, lived on a houseboat, and took a job at an Audi NSU car factory. He began playing gigs with his band, Patches, which led to an audition in Brighton that the group won.
Sayer has lived in a village of 600 people in New South Wales since 2005. He said Australian broadcasters were interested in his new material, while in England he was being asked to revisit his 1970s image.
His home is a cottage with a barn that serves as his recording studio. His wife Donatella manages three gardens on the property.
The most expensive personal purchase he has made was a Volvo XC90 with all available options, which cost £130,000.
Sayer currently runs one band in the UK and another in Australia. His anthology, “The Studio Albums 1973-Now,” is due for release on 14 August. His UK tour is billed as “Can’t Stop Loving You.”
