Tributes
Shakin' Stevens recalls: "I first met Stuart in the early eighties. He was part of that inseparable writing duo, Sulsh & Leathwood.


"One of the first songs I recorded of theirs was 'Too, Too Much' which was released as a track on the 'Give Me Your Heart Tonight' album. I went on to record eight of their songs in total, including 'I Might', which was a Top 20 hit in the U.K. and charted throughout Europe, as well as 'A Love Worth Waiting For' which reached No. 2 in the U.K. charts - only kept off the No 1 spot by Lionel Ritchie's 'Hello.'


"Stuart was not only a talented writer, but also a very good singer and guitar player. He was great fun to work with, and it was a real pleasure to be in his company.


"He will be greatly missed. I'm sure there was more to come..."


Mike Berry writes: "I first met Stu in the Ship in London's Wardour Street in 1965. already known as 'the bar of the (unlicensed) Marquee club' a few doors away, it was the haunt of the music industry, and in particular of a Telegraph sports writer, Tony Stratton-Smith.


"He was from Liverpool, and wanted a piece of the then Mersey Sound. He'd already signed up a promising singer called Beryl Marsden, and had now found a group - the Koobas, of which Stu was an integral part.


"I had just returned from Spain, was working as a gofer for a music publisher and had limited knowledge of producing records, though at that time that was no big thing. Tony had found a song called 'Take Me For A Little While', which I was astounded to realize was one of the songs I published. It was only a couple of days before Strat got the cash required to hire a studio in Denmark Street, and away we went. I managed to get it released on Pye Records, and with a bit of help, the record made the lower region of the charts.


"The Kubas were typical Scousers...mad, zany, funny and annoying at the same time. Stu was different. Very erudite, caustic, reminding me a lot of John Lennon, who I had met recently for the first time. His interests reached further than music and he, like me, was mad about animated cartoons.


"Whilst the rest of the band would be living it up in the Ship or some other tavern, Stu, myself and Pete York (drummer of the Spencer Davis Group) would take off to the cartoon cinema on Piccadilly Circus for a couple of hours, laughing all the way back to the pub, and rattling anyone who didn't know why we kept cracking up.


"The Koobas were on the Beatles' last U.K. tour which I followed as my company was the publishers of the Moody Blues, also on the bill. This gave me a lot of time with Stu, and I learned a lot about him and his hopes for the future. During the many spare time slots on the tour, he would draw a lot...I then realized he had a talent not just to come up with great cracks, but be able to illustrate them as well.


"I saw Stu again the following year on the Small Faces tour, and there wasn't a better person to show me around the Liverpool I'd only ever heard of.


"During the next three decades we bumped into each other only now and then. One day he'd just written a hit for so and so, one day he'd been commissioned to draw a comic strip for you know who. But on each occasion he was the same young Scouse I'd met way back in '65: droll, articulate, cynical, but always with that wit that would enamour him to everyone he met.


"Stuart Leathwood was far too young to die. I for one will never forget him."

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