1968 Leapy Lee – Little Arrows
Graham Pulleyblank was born in England in 1939 and began work as a comedian at the Panorama Espresso Lounge in 1955. Within a year he appeared at the Metropolitan Theatre in London as Lee Graham. In 1958, he had a featured role in the show Large as Life at the London Palladium.
Lee also sang in clubs part-time. He released his first single, It’s All Happening, as Leapy Lee in 1962. He became friends with Ray Davies of the Kinks and nearly recorded Sunny Afternoon before the Kinks did. Ray instead wrote and produced King of the Whole Wide World for Lee in 1966. Ray’s brother Dave even played guitar on the record, but the single failed to chart.
In 1968, Lee recorded Little Arrows, a song written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. The record reached #2 in the UK and Australia and got up to #16 on the US Hot 100. Lee’s version of the song had a slight Country feel to it, and as a result, the single also peaked at #11 on the Country chart in the US. The record sold an astonishing four million copies worldwide!
Lee recorded more than a dozen singles, two of which at least got into the US Country top 100. They sent him to prison for two years in 1972 as the result of a bar fight, and that slowed down his career.
Lee eventually moved to Spain, where he continues to write a regular column for the Euro Weekly News.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/leapy-lee-mn0000116716
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leapy_Lee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Arrows
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