On the 1st of February 2025, writer and broadcaster Spencer Leigh celebrated his 80th birthday and the publication of the most personal of the 40 books he has authored. For his memoir, 80@80, Spencer has raided the archives and diaries to create 80 chapters that reflect a life dedicated to writing and talking about pop music.
The anecdotes and stories in 80@80, from decades spent on BBC Radio Merseyside and column writing for the Liverpool Echo, feature hundreds of household names he has interviewed - ranging from local legend Ken Dodd to movie stars like Billy Bob Thornton. But it is the tales of the Beatles and the fascinating singers, songwriters, and the rest of music's movers and shakers, that dominate his action-packed biography.
His friend Colin Hall, former custodian of John Lennon's childhood home, says: "Spencer is a Lancastrian treasure trove of words and insights and has been on the radio for over 50 years. He's a walking encyclopaedia of the development of pop and rock music culture in the UK and USA." And his career is remembered fondly by fellow BBC broadcaster Bob Harris: "I think it began with a series on the Liverpool poets and then he did that series, Let's Go Down the Cavern, which was put out as a book too. That was the first history of Merseybeat."
Whether he's talking to Willie Nelson or Wee Willie Harris, Spencer Leigh has an unerring ability to recall the small fascinating details of the conversations he has been privileged to have with decades of artists who have shaped popular music history.