My friend Deke Leonard, who has died aged 72, was a legend of Welsh prog rock, who formed the group Man with Micky Jones in 1968. He made numerous albums, television and radio appearances, and, in recent years, wrote four critically acclaimed books.
He was born Roger Leonard and brought up in Llanelli, south Wales, the son of Winston, a dog breeder, and his wife, Ella. He attended Llanelli boys’ grammar school and was then briefly a management trainee with a building firm. He adopted the name Deke after a character played by Elvis Presley in the 1957 film Loving You.
As a schoolboy guitarist Deke formed a band, the Corncrackers, with his cousin, Meic Rees. The Corncrackers went on to host the successful L Club in Llanelli, booking acts such as Tommy Scott (Tom Jones) and the Senators. He went on to play with other Welsh bands, the Jets, Smokeless Zone and the Dream.
In 1968 Deke joined the Merthyr pop act the Bystanders and, with Micky Jones, one of the founder members, steered the group in a more adventurous musical direction under a new name, Man. Their progressive rock proved popular, the twin guitars of Leonard and Jones the axis of many stirring improvisations. Deke co-wrote some of their best known songs, including Many Are Called But Few Get Up, Spunk Rock and Daughter of the Fireplace. He also supplied Man’s most memorable lyrics.
He found greater freedom when he briefly left to lead his own band, Iceberg. His two solo albums from 1973, Iceberg and Kamikaze, are generally considered his best work.
Man remained frontline recording artists for United Artists and MCA, touring Europe and the US until disbanding in 1976. Deke relaunched Iceberg but returned to a re-formed Man in 1983, finally leaving in 2004 to concentrate on solo projects.
His writing career began with magazine work in the 1980s. In 1996 his first book, Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics, was published. This memoir of eight years of touring with Man, and the later autobiographical volume Maybe I Should’ve Stayed in Bed? (2000), provided the basis for a drama series, It’s Crazy, Man, made by BBC Radio Wales, which was nominated for a Sony Radio Academy award in 2006. He also contributed columns to a long-running fanzine, The Welsh Connection.
Deke’s latter years were spent performing with Son of Man, a band led by George Jones, the son of Micky Jones, who died in 2010, and recording another solo album, which is scheduled to be released shortly.
He is survived by his partner, Mary, and by his daughter, Kate, from his marriage to Fran.
