“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.”
Years after the death of his wife, John Travolta has heartbreaking plan to find new love
Right after Kelly Preston died in 2020, John Travolta refused to betray the memory of his beloved spouse by falling in love with someone new.
But now, buddies say that the Pulp Fiction star, who’s rocking everyday living as a single father of two, may finally be completely ready to include to the internet pages of his love tale with an additional female.
Maintain reading to study a lot more about Travolta’s adore daily life!
Hollywood legend John Travolta, 69, has been solitary given that his spouse, Kelly Preston, 57, died of cancer in 2020.
The two, who shared three children, have been remarkably candid about their enjoy, and since her reduction, the shadow of her absence has been profound on Travolta, who proceeds to voice his enduring grief on social media.
Only 11 a long time just before Preston died, The Hairspray star was drowning in heartache when Jett, the firstborn child he shared with Preston, died at only 16 in 2009.
Introducing to the immeasurable agony of losing a son and his adored wife, he then lost shut pals and co-stars Olivia Newton-John in August 2022, and Kirstie Alley in December 2022.
Right after all that, it is not surprising he wished to guard his coronary heart.
Vow of celibacy
Right after he shed his wife, resources shut to the star of Grease declare that he to begin with swore off dating, indicating that a foreseeable future connection would “be a betrayal of Preston’s memory.”
“John however considers himself married and claims he will continue to be loyal to Kelly till the working day he dies. It is palms off when it arrives to dating. It is sad, but he’s fundamentally taken a vow of celibacy for the rest of his life.” The close friend proceeds, “He talks about Kelly continuously. Their life ended up so intertwined, it’s pretty really hard for him to go on.”
Searching for adore
But lately, rumors have been swirling that the Saturday Night time Fever star is completely ready to find adore all over again.
According to a report by Radar On the internet, the man who wowed audiences with his mad dance moves, is again on the “prowl.”
“John just necessary to feel completely ready, and now he is,” statements the resource. “He knows Kelly would not want him to shell out the rest of his daily life by itself, so he’s lastly allowing for buddies to line him up with dates.”
But that is not all, he’s so completely ready that he’s also considering a matchmaker!
“He’s not asking for considerably, just that she be type, heat, gracious, amusing, and spontaneous,” the insider stated. “And becoming attractive would not hurt.”
John Travolta is this sort of a loving, amusing and gifted male and he deserves to uncover appreciate again. We search forward to following him on his journey!
What do you assume of this tale? Be sure to share your remarks and then share this story so we can listen to what other folks have to say!
If you savored this update on John Travolta’s adore existence, you are going to seriously like the story on his sweet Instagram tribute to his son Ben.
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