Leon Haywood
| Leon Haywood | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Otha Leon Haywood |
| Born |
February 11, 1942 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | April 5, 2016 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Soul, R&B, funk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1963–2016 |
| Labels | Imperial, Decca, 20th Century, Columbia, MCA, Casablanca, Modern, Edge, Evejim |
| Associated acts | Sam Cooke, The Packers |
Otha Leon Haywood (February 11, 1942 – April 5, 2016) was an American funk and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his 1975 hit single "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You", which has been much sampled by Dr. Dre and others.
Born in Houston, he listened to the blues as a child and started playing piano at the age of three. In his teens, he performed with a local group and worked as an accompanist to blues musician, Guitar Slim. In the early 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with saxophonist Big Jay McNeely. McNeely arranged for him to record his first single, "Without a Love", an instrumental on the small Swingin' record label. After that, he joined Sam Cooke's band as keyboardist until the singer's death. Haywood next recorded two singles for Fantasy Records, and subsequently moved to Imperial Records, where he recorded the single "She's with Her Other Love", which made the R&B charts in 1965. He was also part of two session bands organized by Los Angeles disc jockey Magnificent Montague which issued the instrumental hits "Hole in the Wall" (R&B #5/Pop #50, 1965) under the name of The Packers, and "Precious Memories" (R&B number 31, 1967) as the Romeos. In 1967, Haywood secured his first solo hit with "It's Got to Be Mellow" (R&B #21 and Pop #63) on Decca Records. He played on further recording sessions with the Packers and Dyke & the Blazers, then returned to recording under his own name. He also established in 1967 a production company, Evejim, named after his parents.
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