Shoreham-by-Sea's very own Leo Sayer offers his Eleanor Rigby

Think Loud 4 Parkinson's, featuring Leo alongside The Waterboys, Gary Brooker, John Cooper Clarke, Paul Carrack and more will raise funds for the UK charity Cure Parkinson's.

Leo, who fronts three tracks on the compilation, including his reimagined R&B version of Eleanor Rigby, said “I actually made two versions for my album – one of them was almost a grunge style cover, believe it or not. I put a Michael Jackson inspired version on in the end.

“The song felt fitting: ‘Ah, I look at all the lonely people.’ Well, people who are going through Parkinson’s will tell you it can be one of the loneliest experiences in the world.”

Kindred Spirit’s – Think Loud 4 Parkinson’s sees members of Dire Straits and Queen contribute, as do The Waterboys and punk-poet John Cooper Clarke. The album will be released in tandem with a re-issue of the previously launched title track, Think Loud, followed by vinyl and CD editions of the album arriving on February 21.

Elsewhere on the album, The Waterboys offer a previously unreleased track Soul City. Their contribution follows the news of a new album project alongside Bruce Springsteen and Fiona Apple, based on the life of American actor and director Dennis Hopper.

Think Loud 4 Parkinson’s will also see a one-off version of the 1961 instrumental Let There Be Drums, performed by Hank Marvin. Marvin was the lead guitarist in The Shadows, the best-selling rock ‘n’ roll act before The Beatles.

The project was put together by Ian Grant, who helped steer the careers of Big Country, The Cult, The Stranglers, Elizabeth McGovern and many more. Grant was motivated to begin the project, alongside music producer Paul Mitchell and two others, in response to his own experience living with Parkinson’s disease for the last nine years. Of the four organisers involved in Think Loud 4 Parkinson’s, three have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Ian said: “I was determined to put this project together. It hasn’t been an easy journey but the contribution I’ve received from the talented people involved has kept this alive. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together and Cure Parkinson’s have been unwavering in their support”.

2024 saw the release of the album’s first single, featuring lead vocals by Leo Sayer.

He might be living in Australia now, a naturalised Australian, but he’s still a Sussex boy at heart. In fact, a plaque commemorates the fact that it was in Worthing that he wrote the song Moonlighting – a song which even references Montague Street in its lyric.

“I spent a lot of my life time down in that part of the world. I went to school in Goring, and I used to party in Bognor and Littlehampton. I used to go along to the Shoreline club in Bognor.

“I was born in Shoreham, and I went to art college in Worthing. My secondary school was in Goring. It was a horrendous journey every day. I was frequently late and often got the cane. But I was very good at art. My art teacher got me through, and I got A level art. I managed to get through OK, but the rest of the academic stuff didn’t sit very well for me. Years later I was discovered to be profoundly dyslexic.

“I couldn’t co-ordinate. But it was fine. I lived in my own dream world. I started creating great pieces of art and writing great operas in my head. But the music was there first in a way. In St Peter’s Chruch, there was a wonderful priest that had a marvellous singing voice. I used to think that he was a born singer. He taught me the fundamentals of using breathing. I became a boy soprano. Towards the end, I was singing with the school band, and when I went to art school, I started playing harmonica. I went to London straight after art school, but I didn’t think music would be a good career. I thought I would get ripped off, which I did – but that’s another story!”