Trivia

Originally a pianist, joined The John Barry Seven in early 1959 and left in the summer of 1962.

In 1994 he was granted The Freedom of the City of London. One of the privileges includes the right to herd his sheep across London Bridge!.

Awarded an O.B.E. in the Queen's 1998 Birthday Honours List, on the occasion of his 40th year in the recording industry.

Donna's Theme, one of his first compositions, was named after his daughter. She became manager of his music publishing.

He won the British Academy Gold Badge of Merit in 1982.

At the 1973 Tokyo Music Festival, Reed and Stephens won the Silver Star for "Sandy Sandy".

In 1970, Reed's orchestra recorded "Man of Action" which was used as the theme tune for Radio North Sea International until 1974.

In the mid-1960s, Reed began a successful songwriting partnership with Geoff Stephens which yielded such hits as "Tell Me When", a hit for The Applejacks; "Here It Comes Again" for The Fortunes; "Leave A Little Love" for Lulu; and "There's a Kind of Hush", a 1967 success for Herman's Hermits.

In 1998, Reed was given an Order of the British Empire.

Reed co-wrote around sixty charting songs, and is best known for "It's Not Unusual", "Delilah", "The Last Waltz" and "Marching On Together".

He was an accomplished musician by the age of 14, playing the piano, accordion and vibraphone.

Les Reed was an English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader.

He studied at the London College of Music before joining the Willis Reed Group, with whom he toured for four years.

Having been called up for National Service, he played piano and clarinet in the Royal East Kent Military Band.

His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason, and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth.

He was honoured as a Freeman of the City of London for his contributions to the music industry.

During 1964, Reed penned "It's Not Unusual" with ex-Viscounts member and Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills, which was Jones' debut recording and gave him a UK number 1. Reed also arranged the song and played the piano for the recording.

In 1959, he joined The John Barry Seven as their pianist.

In the mid-1960s, it was unusual for a British singles chart not to list a Les Reed song.

His songs gained a number of gold discs and Ivor Novello Awards.