Leonard Davies (9 November 1936 – 19 April 2024), known professionally as Larry Page, was an English pop singer and record producer, primarily from the late 1950s until the early 1970s and briefly in the 1990s.

Biography

Leonard Davies was born in

Hayes, Hillingdon Hayes is a town in west London. Historically situated within the county of Middlesex, it is now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded in the ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

in 1936. After changing his name to Larry Page, in honour of

Larry Parks Samuel Lawrence Klusman Parks (December 13, 1914 – April 13, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. His career arced from bit player and supporting roles to top billing, before it virtually ended when he admitted to having been a memb ...

, the star of '' The Jolson Story'' (1946), the teenager began a

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

career as a singer. Page tried to magnify his fame through the wearing of unusually large

spectacles Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are Visual perception, vision eyewear with clear or tinted lens (optics), lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front ...

, as "Larry Page the Teenage Rage". The title was originally coined by Jack Bentley, the showbusiness correspondent from '' The Sunday Pictorial''. He toured the United Kingdom with

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

and appeared at top venues, including the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. He was a regular on

television programmes A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

such as ''

Six-Five Special ''Six-Five Special'' is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain. Description ''Six-Five Special'' was the BBC's first attempt at a rock-and-roll programme. ...

'' and '' Thank Your Lucky Stars''. Page later became a successful

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and record-label owner. Much of his producer/manager success centred on his efforts with

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

and

the Troggs The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English beat music band formed in Andover, Hampshire, in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", al ...

, and his ownership of Page One Records and Penny Farthing Records. He produced such hits as " Wild Thing" along with all the other hits by the Troggs. Apart from the Troggs and the Kinks, the Larry Page Orchestra gave

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

(later of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

) some early exposure when he played on '' Kinky Music''. In June 1967, the British music magazine ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' reported that Page's bid to retain his former 10% interest in the Kinks had been dismissed by

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's High Court. Page was the producer on

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

's charting single " Beautiful Sunday". In 1972, Page was also involved in producing a song for

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

The song, " Blue is the Colour", is still played at the end of home matches. As of the 2000s, Page lived in Avoca Beach, New South Wales, Australia. He died there on 18 April 2024, at the age of 87.

Discography

The Larry Page Orchestra *'' Kinky Music'' (1965) *''Executive Suite'' (1967) *''From Larry with Love'' (1968) *''Instrumentally Yours'' (1969) *''Presenting the Larry Page Orchestra'' (1969) *''This Is Larry Page'' (1970) *''Their Melodies Together'' (1973) *''Their Melodies Together Again'' (1974) *''Rampage'' (1976) *''Erotic Soul'' (1977) *''Skin Heat'' (1978) *''Imagine'' (1979) *''John Paul George Ringo'' (1996) *''Night Cruising'' (1998)

References

External links

Career overview
by

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

* *
Page One Records album discography

Larry Page Productions
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Larry 1936 births 2024 deaths People from Hayes, Hillingdon English male singers English pop singers English record producers English businesspeople English expatriates in Australia

Biography

Discography

See also

References

External links