John Macleod (sometimes spelled McLeod) is a Canadian-born English songwriter and musician.

Career

Macleod moved to Britain in the 1940s, and lived in the Halifax area with his wife before moving to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. In the 1950s, he was a member of the vocal group the Maple Leaf Four, with his brother, baritone

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, Alan Harvey as tenor and Joe Melia (stagename Joe Ross) as second tenor. The group made regular appearances on British TV, and released at least two albums, ''Home on the Range'' and ''Old Familiar Favourites''. The Maple Leaf Four, ''Boot Sale Sounds'', 30 March 2012
Retrieved 6 March 2014 By the early 1960s, Macleod worked on writing advertising

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

s. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Macleod co-wrote songs with

Tony Macaulay Tony Macaulay (born Anthony Gordon Instone; 21 April 1944) 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' (1970 an ...

. They had major success with

The Foundations The Foundations were a British soul band (m. 1967–1970). 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 ele ...

, when they recorded "

Baby Now That I've Found You "Baby, Now That I've Found You" is a song written by Tony Macaulay and John MacLeod, and performed by the Foundations. Part of the song was written in the same bar of a Soho tavern where Karl Marx is supposed to have written ''Das Kapital''. The ...

", and it topped the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in November 1967. This was followed by

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

's "

Let the Heartaches Begin "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 ...

Paper Dolls ''Paper Dolls'' is an American primetime television soap opera that aired for 14 episodes on ABC from September 23 to December 25, 1984. Set in New York's fashion industry, the show centered on top modeling agency owner Racine (Morgan Fairchild) ...

' "

Something Here in My Heart (Keeps A Tellin' Me No) "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. Background The song was composed by MacLeod and Tony Macaulay, the songwriting duo who also wrote songs for Pickettywitch, ...

" and

Pickettywitch Pickettywitch was a British pop group. Fronted by singer Polly Brown (also billed as Polly Browne), the group became best known for its hit single, "That Same Old Feeling", which was written by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod. It reached numbe ...

's "

That Same Old Feeling "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 ver ...

". The full list of songs that Macleod wrote with Macaulay are: In the early 1970s, Macleod presented a series of

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

instrumental albums comprising

cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of chart hits, on the Pye label. In 1975 he worked again with his brother Norman, and brother-in-law actor

Bill Pertwee William Desmond Anthony Pertwee, (21 July 1926 – 27 May 2013) was a British comedy actor. He played the role of Chief ARP Warden Hodges in the sitcom ''Dad's Army''. Early life Pertwee was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, on 21 July 1926 ...

, on the music for the

Dad's Army stage show ''Dad's Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain's Finest Hour'' was a 1975 stage adaptation of the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army''. Following the success of the television programme, the stage show was commissioned by Bernard Delfont in ...

, 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.

Discography

* ''John Macleod Presents Hits Philharmonic – The London Pops Orchestra'' (Pye, 1970) * ''John Macleod Presents Hits Philharmonic Vol.2 – The London Pops Orchestra'' (Pye, 1970) * ''John Macleod Presents Hits Philharmonic Vol.3 – The London Pops Orchestra'' (Pye, 1971) * ''John Macleod Presents A String Bag of Bones'' (Pye, 1971)

References

External links

Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, John Canadian expatriates in England Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English songwriters English record producers English composers