Doll By Doll were something of a cult band in the punk/New Wave era, thanks mainly to the larger than life personality of their Scottish front man.
A singer, songwriter, storyteller, traveller, and raconteur, he was also a formidable fingerstyle guitarist and even more formidable drinker: he even published the names of his favourite pubs on his album sleeves.
Leven’s voice, which rose from a mellifluous baritone to a tremulous falsetto, just as his music’s mood could turn from dark to light at the drop of a hat, could alternately frighten a crowd, make grown men weep, and lull an infant to sleep.
Despite an eclectic sound that sometimes veered into prog, there was a punk-like element to their incendiary live performances, especially the fiery onstage attitude of Leven and guitarist Jo Shaw, who would often physically threaten audience members.
Leven peppered performances with engaging stories from his epic life, the road, miners, shop workers, farmers, history, folklore, lost and displaced people, the shelter and harshness of the natural world, terminal loneliness, and the insights of barroom philosophers.
Part Romany gypsy, he revelled in his own myth: expelled from school in Scotland, he married and became a father at 16 and spent years busking and sleeping rough in Scotland, Ireland, Berlin and Madrid – where he recorded an acid folk album as John St Field – and London, squatting in the South Bank Centre.
Doll By Doll were doomed to cult status. A record contract failed to curb his hedonistic inclinations. Pickled in alcohol, wasted on psychedelic drugs and haunted by violence at gigs, they were kicked off tours with Devo and Hawkwind (quite an achievement!) and finally split up.
In response, Leven recorded an album with guests including David Gilmour, but deleted it as soon as it was released and he was mixing his first solo album when, after leaving the studio one night, Leven was jumped in an alley, had his throat slashed, and was savagely beaten by a gang.
The assault caused damage to his larynx, leaving him unable to sing, and Leven entered a period of deep despair and became addicted to heroin, which he eventually beat by a combination of will power, acupuncture and reflexology, going on to found the CORE Trust charity and addicts’ college (patron: Princess Diana and, after her death, Prince Charles).
Still bad fortune followed him: he lost his girlfriend to the Dalai Lama’s bodyguard, who left him a tape of Robert Bly’s men’s movement manifesto Iron John – which impressed Leven so much when he listened that he became a spokesman for the movement.
It’s fair to say that throughout his life Leven witnessed first-hand the tragic lives of many “hard men” like himself who, unable to express vulnerability or honest emotion due to social mores, engaged in unhealthy, self-destructive, violent behaviour which they often inflicted on women and children. A later solo album would be titled Fairytales For Hard Men.
Other musical projects included collaborations with Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols, Mike Scott of The Waterboys, a series of recordings with David Thomas of Pere Ubu, Peter Hammill and Ron Sexsmith. He has also performed with author Ian Rankin, who is such a fan that his literary creation Rebus listens to Leven’s music in a novel.
Highlights of his varied solo repertoire include the sensational 1992 album Forbidden Songs Of The Dying West and a provocative song called The Sexual Loneliness Of Jesus Christ, sung in the first person as Christ, as well as Elegy For Johnny Cash, in tribute to one of his heroes.
Leven’s later songs include Absolutely Joan Crawford (With A Bit Of Tilda Swinton On The Side), John Paul Getty’s Silver Cadillac and Song For Bass Guitar And Death. He died in 2011 at the age of 61.
This is the opening song from Doll By Doll’s 1979 debut album, Romance.
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