Paul Leka, a songwriter and producer who worked with many recording
stars but who was best known for writing the chanting chorus of “
Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye),”
a No. 1 hit in 1969 that was reborn in the 1970s as a sports arena
anthem, died on Oct. 12 in a hospice near his home in Sharon, Conn. He
was 68.
The cause was lung cancer, said his brother, George.
Mr. Leka made his name in the Tin Pan Alley tradition, writing or arranging songs for other people. He wrote and produced “
Green Tambourine,”
a No. 1 hit in 1967 for the psychedelic soft-rock band the Lemon
Pipers; signed REO Speedwagon to its first record contract; and produced
four of Harry Chapin’s albums, including 1974’s “Verities &
Balderdash” containing the song that was Chapin’s lone No. 1 hit, “
Cat’s in the Cradle.”
In 1969, Mr. Leka was helping a longtime friend from Bridgeport, Conn.,
Gary DeCarlo, fill the B-side of a single he was recording for Buddah.
With Mr. Leka on keyboards, they started with a song they had written
years before, a bluesy shuffle called “Kiss Him Goodbye.” But it filled
only two minutes of playing time, and to make sure disc jockeys would
not play it — instead of Mr. DeCarlo’s A-side — they decided to add a
chorus to stretch it to four minutes, beyond the time limit of most
radio formats.
“I started writing while I was sitting at the piano, going ‘na na na na,
na na na na ...’ ” Mr. Leka told Fred Bronson, the author of “The
Billboard Book of Number One Hits.” “Everything was ‘na-na’ when you
didn’t have a lyric.” Mr. DeCarlo added the “hey hey.” They chanted the
chorus at the beginning and end of the original song, and as an added
poison pill left the dummy lyrics in.
The record company decided to release it nonetheless as the A-side of a
45 by Steam, a fictitious group name the two men invented for the
record. The song reached No. 1 in late 1969 and enjoyed a happy radio
life span. Then it came back.
In 1977, the organist for the Chicago White Sox, Nancy Faust, began
using the song to stoke the crowd into taunting the opposing team when
visiting players struck out, say, or when their pitcher was removed.
It
is unclear how it spread, but within a few years the chant had become
an anthem of sports conquest – not as nice as the communally-spirited “
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” perhaps, but more ubiquitous, since fans
were singing it at football and soccer games, too.
It was not exactly the spirit of the original song, but close enough.
“It’s a song where a guy wants a girl, but she’s going out with
someone else,” Mr. DeCarlo said in a phone interview on Friday. “It’s
basically a sad situation, but we made it upbeat. The guy sounds like
he’s going to come out ahead. That’s why I think it caught on. It gives
you a lift.”
Paul Theodore Leka was born on Feb. 20, 1943, in Bridgeport, one of four
children of Theodore and Dhimitra Leka, immigrants from Albania. His
father worked as a short-order cook. Soon after he started taking piano
lessons, Paul was writing songs, and by age 16, his brother said, he was
trying to sell them to music publishers in New York.
He worked for Mercury, Elektra and CBS Records and later opened his own
recording studio in Bridgeport, where he helped produce songs for Gloria
Gaynor, Stevie Wonder and Kris Kristofferson and others.
Besides his brother, his survivors include his wife, Engjellushe; their
son, Alexander; two children from a previous marriage, Derek and
Heather; and a sister, Evelyn Kreta.
October 23rd, 2011 to
October 29th, 2011
It is with great sadness that I inform you
of the passing of Ulf Ligander,
the Program Director of Radio 88 FM in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2003, Radio
88 FM became the very first FM radio station to carry Treasure Island Oldies,
and we have been on the air every week for over 8 years now. I extend my most
sincere condolences to Ulf's family, friends, co-workers, and listeners. We
will continue to be on Radio 88 FM every week. 
October 15th, 2011 to
October 22nd, 2011
The Foundations were an Interracial R&B Pop group from England that was active between 1967 and 1970. The members were Clem Curtis (vocals), Allan Warner (guitar), Eric Allendale, Pat Burke and Michael Elliott (horns), Anthony Gomez (keyboards), Peter McBeth (bass) and Tim Harris (drums). Their debut single, Baby, Now That I`ve Found You, became a big hit for them in the UK, Canada and then the United States, where it peaked at Number 11.
October
2nd, 2011 to October 8th, 2011
