Leigh Gorman
| Leigh Gorman | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born | 1961 |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Rock, new wave |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Associated acts |
57 Men Adam and the Ants Bow Wow Wow Chiefs of Relief Soho Electric Skychurch |
| Website | myspace |
Leigh Gorman (born 1961) is an English rock musician, record producer, and composer best known for his work as the bass player for Bow Wow Wow.
Leigh grew up in the East End of London. He started out playing classical guitar at the age of 12. Graduating to the bass guitar two years later, he developed a unique, classically rooted, extremely fast and funky style. Leigh made the acquaintance of Marc Bolan's road manager who gave him free-range to use all of Marc's spare equipment, Leigh was able to play virtually anything he picked up, but quickly found an affinity with stringed instruments. Aside from mastering classical, flamenco, rock and bass guitar, Leigh taught himself to play the sitar, bouzouki, mandolin, and keyboards. Leigh started doing session work at 16 and went on to join a band called 57 Men, the first incarnation of which featured Glenn Gregory (who went on to form Heaven 17) on vocals. The rest of the band later became Wang Chung.
While gigging around town, Leigh was spotted by Knox of The Vibrators and asked to audition for Adam and the Ants. He joined the band in November 1979. At the instigation of their manager Malcolm McLaren, Leigh and fellow Ants Matthew Ashman and Dave Barbarossa parted from Adam two months later to form their own band, Bow Wow Wow. After a six-month-long audition process, they recruited vocalist Annabella Lwin. Bow Wow Wow's innovative Burundi/Latin/punk fusion soon made them press darlings. In July 1980, Bow Wow Wow released the first ever cassette single, a song appropriately entitled "C30, C60, C90, Go". Its release caused a furore in the music industry due to lyrics which seemed to advocate home taping and the fact that the single was released with the reverse side blank. (The controversy of home taping at the dawn of the cassette era parallels the debate about mp3 sharing on the internet today.) The British Phonographic Industry subsequently banished the single from the UK charts. In 1982, however, the group scored two UK Top Ten hits with the singles "Go Wild in the Country" and "I Want Candy". The latter also made waves on the charts in the United States. The band recorded a total of three albums and toured the world extensively, headlining with Madness in Japan and trekking across America several times. Life on the road took its toll, and in 1983 the exhausted band broke up.
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