- Originally a pianist, joined The John Barry Seven in early 1959 and left in the summer of 1962.
- In 1994 he was granted The Freedom of the City of London. One of the privileges includes the right to herd his sheep across London Bridge!.
- Awarded an O.B.E. in the Queen's 1998 Birthday Honours List, on the occasion of his 40th year in the recording industry.
- Donna's Theme, one of his first compositions, was named after his daughter. She became manager of his music publishing.
- He won the British Academy Gold Badge of Merit in 1982.
- At the 1973 Tokyo Music Festival, Reed and Stephens won the Silver Star for "Sandy Sandy".
- In 1970, Reed's orchestra recorded "Man of Action" which was used as the theme tune for Radio North Sea International until 1974.
- In the mid-1960s, Reed began a successful songwriting partnership with Geoff Stephens which yielded such hits as "Tell Me When", a hit for The Applejacks; "Here It Comes Again" for The Fortunes; "Leave A Little Love" for Lulu; and "There's a Kind of Hush", a 1967 success for Herman's Hermits.
- In 1998, Reed was given an Order of the British Empire.
- Reed co-wrote around sixty charting songs, and is best known for "It's Not Unusual", "Delilah", "The Last Waltz" and "Marching On Together".
- He was an accomplished musician by the age of 14, playing the piano, accordion and vibraphone.
- Les Reed was an English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader.
- He studied at the London College of Music before joining the Willis Reed Group, with whom he toured for four years.
- Having been called up for National Service, he played piano and clarinet in the Royal East Kent Military Band.
- His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason, and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth.
- He was honoured as a Freeman of the City of London for his contributions to the music industry.
- During 1964, Reed penned "It's Not Unusual" with ex-Viscounts member and Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills, which was Jones' debut recording and gave him a UK number 1. Reed also arranged the song and played the piano for the recording.
- In 1959, he joined The John Barry Seven as their pianist.
- In the mid-1960s, it was unusual for a British singles chart not to list a Les Reed song.
- His songs gained a number of gold discs and Ivor Novello Awards.
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