“I look at my role as being a friend of Canberra Hospital, I can bring some pleasure and happiness sometimes to people who are really in difficult times in their lives.”
With backing music from a Bluetooth speaker, Sayer croons his way around the cancer wards, making a human connection with everyone he comes across.
Canberra Region Cancer Centre Operations Manager Caroline McIntyre says Sayer’s visits are typically kept a surprise for patients and staff.
“He’s always come in so discreetly,” she says.
“Normally it’s just very quiet, he comes up in the back lift and says hello to literally everybody.
“Some of them are doing it tough, and to have a little bit of joy and light – it really gives them a lift.
“What makes me happy is to see people getting chemo on their feet dancing.”
Jamming with Jimi Hendrix, Countdown and the Troubadour
Originally a graphic designer by trade, English-born Leo Sayer rose to pop prominence in London in the late 1960s, as a singer-songwriter – and was soon adopted by Australia as an honorary son after his first tour here in 1974.
He went on to become an Australian citizen in 2009.
Sayer was a regular on ABC TV’s Countdown during the 70s and 80s, performing chart-toppers like “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”, “When I Need You”, “More Than I Could Say” and “Orchard Road”.
He blushingly admits they were wild days – when he didn’t always live up to his “good-guy” public persona.
“It was mad, I mean, Top of the Pops in England, Countdown over here,” he says.
“You were mobbed by the fans, I remember being dragged out of a limousine the first tour that I came here, and then speaking to crazy people like Molly Meldrum on TV and trying to sort of like take it all in.”
It seems hard to believe – the petite, well-spoken singer, with a mane of curly hair that inspired changing his name from Gerard to Leo – beating off mobs of screaming fangirls.
Sayer circulated in superstar company, becoming close friends with former Beatles George Harrison and Paul McCartney, collaborating with Roger Daltrey of The Who, and even sharing a sly cigarette or two with John Lennon and Yoko Ono who had a flat above his design studio.
“I met Jimi Hendrix right at the start of his career. I actually jammed with him, playing the harmonica, and him playing the guitar,” he says.
Recalling his 1975 opening night at the famous Troubadour Club in Los Angeles, he looked up to see an intimidating line-up of fans in the front row.
“It was David Bowie, Elton John, and ‘The Fonz’ [Henry Winkler].”
Alongside them: John Cleese, Mick Jagger, Bernie Taupin, and comedian Marty Feldman.
“We never thought it would last, we were adapting to things around us, writing songs about things that are around us,” he says.
“And we thought they were only for our generation — so the amazing thing is my music’s become like a fine wine, where you lay it down and years later, it becomes a collector’s item.
“We’re in an age where the music that I make, young kids are actually latching onto it now, and they’re finding that that generation and that style of music we made is as current now as anything.”
Sayer’s health battles, still spreading hope at 76
Leo Sayer says his hospital charity work caps off a career dedicated to providing joy through music.
“It’s a nice piece of synchronicity really, because I was born in the grounds of a hospital in Shoreham by Sea in Sussex, near Brighton in England,” Mr Sayer said.
“I suppose I’ve always felt comfortable in hospitals and being around hospitals.
“Growing up, my dad was a hospital engineer, Mum was a nurse, my sister was a matron.”
Sayer has health struggles of his own, including three stents in his heart, which help him have a genuine connection to the hospital patients he entertains.
“[My music] is providing something that isn’t taking away from any of the treatment that’s going on. It’s providing something that’s just putting a smile on peoples’ faces.
“Music is communication and that’s what this is all about, we’re communicating, we’re making people feel better.
“We’re not healing people with music, but we are making them feel better about their healing.
“To sell out Canberra Hospital will do me fine.”
Justin Timberlake Sells Sprawling 127-Acre Property in Tennessee for $8 Million
The singer of “Mirrors” gave up ownership of the verdant plot of land just a few weeks before his conviction for DWI on June 18.
Officially, Justin Timberlake has bid farewell to a sizable tract of land in Tennessee.
The forty-three-year-old singer of “Mirrors” sold his approximately 127-acre Franklin, Tennessee, property for $8 million. According to the listing, it’s tucked away “less than half a mile” from the quiet community of Leipers Fork and about 45 minutes outside of Nashville.
Not only does the property provide breathtaking vistas of Leipers Creek Valley, but it also has 50 acres of pastures and wildlife food plots. On-site features include footpaths, spring creeks, and a fishing pond.
The listing was held by Tom Sullivan of Covey Rise Properties.
According to property documents, Timberlake legally relinquished ownership of the expansive site on May 30, while on his current Forget Tomorrow World Tour.
The Tennessean claims that the Memphis native bought the land in 2015 from local preservationist and philanthropist Aubrey Preston.
Preston told the site that he and the Grammy winner have a great deal of affection for their home state, nearly a year after Timberlake’s acquisition.
At the time, Preston remarked, “We both love Tennessee and loved growing up on land.” “We want to do our share to protect that for our children and future generations. We got to know one another in this way.
The transaction occurred just a few weeks prior to Timberlake’s June 18 arrest in Sag Harbor, New York, for allegedly driving under the influence.
He was stopped by a Sag Harbor policeman while traveling from the American Hotel to a friend’s house. Subsequently, the singer was issued two citations for failure to maintain lane integrity and one count of driving while intoxicated.
Although Timberlake’s arrest has sparked a frenzy among the public and his fans, a source tells PEOPLE that he and wife Jessica Biel are unconcerned about the event.
“They have put the arrest behind them. The insider stated, “They continue to put work and family first and have faith in their legal team.” Timberlake and the actress from The Better Sister are parents to two kids, Phineas, 4, and Silas, 9.
Leave a Reply