The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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LEON HAYWOOD
“I WANTA DO SOMETHING FREAKY TO YOU”
(LEON HAYWOOD)
20th Century 2065
No. 15 December 13, 1975
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“I was born [Feb. 11, 1942] and raised in Houston, Texas, and I grew up listening to people like Muddy
Waters, Jimmy Reed, and Roy Brown;,” Leon Haywood told Blues & Sours Denise Hall. “My parents got
me a piano when I was about three. I didn’t care nothin’ about singing in those days. When I was about
14, I played with a professional group. I can’t recall their name, but we played a lot of local gigs.”
For a while, Leon accompanied Guitar Slim (of “The Things That I Used to Do” fame) and Clarence
Greene. He moved to L.A. and eventually managed to hook up with saxophone legend Big Jay McNeeley.
In 1962, the honkin’ horn man arranged for Leon to record his first disk, an instrumental for Swingin’
called “Without a Love.” “It did pretty well, sold about 100,000. Anyway, I didn’t make no money out of
it.” Leon joined Sam Cooke’s band as a keyboardist. Months later, super-soul-singing Sam was dead.
“You’re All for Yourself” and “The Truth About Money,” Leon’s solo efforts, were issued by Fantasy. “The
truth about money,” Haywood quipped, “was there wasn’t any.”
Magnificent Montague, a wheeler-dealer DJ in L.A., got Haywood his next contract and his first chart ride,
but reportedly at quite a price. “She’s With Her Other Love” (#92, R&B:#13, 1965) made the airwaves and
the listings all right, but since Imperial made the deal directly with Montague, he received all the royalties
and Haywood never got a cent. To add insult to injury, the label spelled his name “Leon Hayward.”
Before finally finding his niche and working it raw, Leon cut some more sides set up by Montague. “One of
the guys [Charles “Packy” Axton of the MAR-KEYS; son to Stax Records co-owner Estelle Axton] who
played on a lot of the Stax things was in L.A., and Montague got him together with me and a bunch of the
other musicians and cut a record that had that ‘Memphis Sound.”‘ The instrumental, “Hole in the Wall”
(#43, R&B: #5, 1965), was credited to “The Packers.” Haywood also did sessions with Dyke & The Blazers
and recorded with Kenny Gambles and Thom Bell’s Romeos.
Finally, in 1974–after many singles for Decca, Capitol, and Atlantic (not to mention some earlier sides for
Fat Fish, Galaxy, and his own Eve-Jim)–Leon struck gold at 20th Century Records. In addition to hitting
the big time with his sexually suggestive “I Wanta Do Something Freaky to You,” Haywood has made the R
& B chart more than 20 times.
“The success hasn’t really changed me,” said Hay wood to Blues & Soul’s John Abbey of his single hit “I
Wanta Do Something Freaky.” “The biggest change for me will be financial. For first time, my bank
manager really loves me!”
Leon continued into the ’90s as an executive/producer with Edge Records.