Lee Graham (born Graham Pulleyblank, 2 July 1939), better known by his stage name Leapy Lee, is an English singer, best known for his 1968 single " Little Arrows," which reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, and was a Top 20 country and pop hit in the United States and Canada.

Career

The song "Little Arrows", written by

Albert Hammond Albert Louis Hammond Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 18 May 1944) is a Gibraltarians, Gibraltarian singer, songwriter and record producer. A prolific songwriter, he also collaborated with other songwriters such as Mike Hazlewood, John B ...

and

Mike Hazlewood Mike Hazlewood (died 6 May 2001)Mike Hazelwood – Credits
AllMusic (6 May 2 ...

, was also the title track of his first album, released in 1968 on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. It reached No. 71 in the ''Billboard'' 200 album

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. "Little Arrows", released in the UK by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

, became a hit, reaching No. 2 in the charts. In the US, the record reached No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and No. 11 on the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

chart. The record made No. 1 on the Canadian country music chart. It sold over three million copies worldwide, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Although he never reached the US pop charts again, Lee had two more country hits there with "Good Morning" in 1970 and "Every Road Leads Back To You" in 1975. Between 1999 and 2001, Lee and his family featured prominently in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television series ''Passport to the Sun'', fronted firstly by

Liza Tarbuck Liza Tarbuck ( ; born 21 November 1964) is an English actress, comedian, and television and radio presenter. Early life Liza Tarbuck was born in Liverpool and grew up near Kingston upon Thames. She is the daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck an ...

then by

Nadia Sawalha Nadia Sawalha (; born 18 November 1964) is an English actress, television personality, writer, TV cook and vlogger. She is best known as a long-term regular panellist on the ITV daytime talk show '' Loose Women'', being one of the original pane ...

. Around 2006, Lee was a regular columnist with the ''

EuroWeekly News ''EuroWeekly News'' (EWN) is the largest English newspaper in Spain. Company history ''EuroWeekly News'' is Spain's largest group of free English language, English language newspapers and has been operating since 2002. The publication is owned ...

'', an English language newspaper based on the

Costa del Sol The Costa del Sol (; literally "Coast of the Sun") is a region in the south of Spain in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the coastline of the Province of ...

in Spain. Lee released a 40th anniversary EP, ''Little Arrows II'', on 1 March 2010. In 2014 he appeared on the Channel 5 television show, ''OAPs Behaving Badly''.

Personal life

Lee was born Graham Pulleyblank in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

, East Sussex, on 2 July 1939. He performs as Leapy Lee, and also uses the names Lee Graham and Leapy Lee Graham. In July 1970, Lee was arrested after a brawl at the Red Lion pub in

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a village and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf ...

, Berkshire pub in which a relief manager was wounded. Lee was sentenced to three years for unlawful wounding, and his friend Alan Lake (an actor and the third husband of actress and singer

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van ...

) received eighteen months for his role in the brawl. As of 2024, Lee lives in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

and makes occasional returns to the UK.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leapy Lee 1939 births English pop singers English country singers English male singers People from Eastbourne Living people Decca Records artists Bell Records artists MAM Records artists