Graham’s a hit with hospital
BUSINESSMAN Graham Leslie has revealed his musical side to a wider audience by releasing his own charity single.
The former chairman of Huddersfield Town has teamed up with a Grammy award-winning producer for a charity single for a children’s hospital.
The entrepreneur swapped the boardroom for the recording studio to create the festive song, Travelling Home for Christmas.
The aim is to raise money for the redevelopment of the cancer and leukaemia ward at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, which provides treatment for children across the North, including Huddersfield.
Mr Leslie, a Resident Professor of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at the University of Huddersfield, plays guitar and sings on the single and is backed by the Pitch Perfect Children’s Choir.
Mr Leslie told the Examiner he had written the song in 1976 and had been writing songs for many years. Music has played a big part in his life since he was a working-class lad on a Middlesbrough council estate.
As an apprentice barber, he once cut fellow ’Boro lad Chris Rea’s hair, long before he found fame as a singer-songwriter.
“I cut his hair when he was about 10. I was an apprentice barber when I was 17. I wrote the song in 1976 when I couldn’t see my own children at Christmas and was pretty upset about it.”
Mr Leslie, now 70, was in a rock band as a teenager, but it was so long ago he cannot recall the band’s name.
“We did songs by Billy Fury, Cliff Richard, Buddy Holly and Elvis. We performed at Redcar working men’s club and went on stage after the strippers on a Sunday lunchtime.”
Travelling Home for Christmas has been produced by Sheffield’s Eliot Kennedy, who has written and produced hits for the Spice Girls, Take That and Bryan Adams.
Mr Kennedy said: “I’ve known Graham for over 15 years but when he rocked up with a guitar and told me about his songwriting I had no clue he had this talent.”
He added: “It’s been enormous fun working with him. He is a brilliant man who has always kept grounded in his community, and we are like minds.
“Both of us understand the value of family, of community, and I urge everyone to support the Sheffield Children’s Hospital this Christmas.”
The song costs £1 to download from https://music.apple.com/gb/album/ travelling-home-for-christmas/148989 1547?i=1489891553.
The Children’s Hospital Charity is raising £2.75m to transform the cancer and leukaemia ward at Sheffield Children’s Hospital to give it more natural light, space and privacy.
Sheffield Children’s Hospital serves a larger number of children than Great Ormond Street, but receives far less charitable funds.
Last year, the London hospital raised over £103m and had 225,000 patients, while Sheffield received just £5m charitable funds, with 270,000 patients.