LEON HAYWOOD
Otha Leon Haywood was born in Houston, Texas, on February 11, 1942. He took up the piano at age three and spent his childhood listening to the blues. As a teen-ager, he worked as an accompanist to Guitar Slim (“The Things I Used to Do,” 1954). Haywood moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s. There, he worked with saxophonist/bandleader Big Jay McNeely, who arranged for Haywood to record his first single. “Without a Love,” an instrumental, came out on the independent Swingin’ label.
Haywood subsequently joined Sam Cooke’s band as a keyboardist and stayed with the man until his death in December 1964. In 1965, Haywood recorded two commercially unsuccessful singles for Fantasy Records before he moved on to Imperial. There, he waxed his first chart hit, “She’s With Her Other Love.” For unknown reasons, the label read “Leon Hayward.”
He also belonged to two session bands organized by the Magnificent Montague, a Los Angeles radio D.J. One group, the Packers, had a top five Rhythm & Blues hit with the 1965 instrumental, “Hole in the Wall.” The other act, the Romeos, reached #31 R&B with their own instrumental, “Precious Memories,” in 1967. That same year gave Leon Haywood his second charted single, “It’s Got to Be Mellow,” on Decca Records. Also in 1967, he established a production company, Evejim, named after his parents. During this time, Haywood further played on recordings by Dyke & The Blazers, who did the original “Funky Broadway.”
In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Haywood recorded (largely without commercial success) for labels like Fat Fish, Columbia, and MCA. In 1974, he signed with 20th Century Records. There, he emerged as a star (mainly with the Black audience) by amending his musical style to incorporate disco and funk. The year 1975 saw Haywood’s biggest hit to date. “I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You” hit #7 on the Soul chart and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 at #15. It was Haywood’s only top forty pop single.
For the remainder of the ‘70s, he was a fairly regular presence on the Soul chart. In 1980, he got all the way to #2 with “Don’t Push It, Don’t Force It.” A year later, Haywood wrote and produced Carl Carlton’s “She’s a Bad Mama Jama,” which also became a #2 Soul hit (#22 pop). As the ‘80s went on, Haywood recorded for both Casablanca and Modern Records; but by mid-decade, his charting days were over.
On his own Evejim label, Haywood went on to produce blues albums by artists like Jimmy McCracklin, Clay Hammond, Ronnie Lovejoy, and Buddy Ace. He died on April 5, 2016, at the age of seventy-four.
“I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You” has been sampled by a number of rap artists, most notably Dr. Dre on his 1992 smash, “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang.”
Charted singles:
“She’s With Her Other Love” (as Leon Hayward, 1965) R&B #13, Pop #92
“It’s Got to Be Mellow” (1967) R&B #21, Pop #63
“Mellow Moonlight” (1968) R&B #35, Pop #92
“Keep It in the Family” (1974) R&B #11, Pop #50
“Long As There’s You (I Got Love” (1974) R&B #63
“Sugar Lump” (1974) R&B #35, Pop #108
“Believe Half of What You See (And None of What You Hear)” (1974) R&B #21, Pop #94
“Come an’ Get Yourself Some” (1975) R&B #19, Pop #83
“I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You” (1975) R&B #7, Pop #15
“Just Your Fool” (1976) R&B #26, Pop #102
“Strokin’ (Part 2)” (1976) R&B #13, Pop #101
“The Streets Will Love You to Death (Part 1)” (1976) R&B #63, Pop #107
“Super Sexy” (1977) R&B #54
“Double My Pleasure” (1977) R&B #91
“Fine and Healthy Thing” (1978) R&B #84
“Party” (1978) R&B #24
“Don’t Push It, Don’t Force It” (1980) R&B #2, Pop #49
“If You’re Lookin’ for a Night of Fun (Look Past Me, I’m Not the One” (1980) R&B #67
“I’m Out to Catch” (duet with Karen Roberts, 1983) R&B #27
“T.V. Mama” (1983) R&B #83
“Tenderoni” (1984) R&B #22
