There were two newcomers in 1973 whose debut songs genuinely sounded like nothing before them. One was Rock On by David Essex and this was the other one by Leo Sayer – the last I’ll be posting from that year.

If Essex’s success could be attributed as much to his pretty-boy looks and cheeky-chappie persona, then Sayer’s was down in large part to an elaborate costume an make-up as a pierrot clown.

His voice is also unique. In fact everything about the song is strange, from its banjo-picking, piano-plonking intro to Sayer’s strangled vocal an scat singing towards the end – even a bit of yodelling.

It was Sayer’s debut single, co-written with his two managers,  David Courtney an Sixties pop idol Adam Faith, and it reached no.2 at Christmas in 1973 – held off top spot only by Slade.

It was not the start of Sayer’s career, however. He had already co-written – again with Courtney – the song Giving It All Away, which was a solo hit for Roger Daltrey.

Under his own name he enjoye a stellar decade. His first seven singles all reached the top ten, emulating the achievement of Adam Faith himself, including the absolutely lovely ballad Moonlighting and the annoying disco chart topper You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.

Despite their huge success trogether, Sayer and Faith woul later end up in court when it transpired that Faith had lost millions of the singer’s earnings through a combination of bad investments and “business expenses.”

He also had a court battle with his label, Chrysalis, over publishing rights, and launched a third legal case against his new management when money went missing from his pension fund in the mid-Nineties.

Stung by legal costs, he toured his way back to financial stabllity and returned to the charts in 2004 after a gap of 26 years, proving that the show really i go on.

Now aged 72, he has become an Australian citizen and has lived in New South Wales for the past 15 years.