The Leo's Den Story

PAT: My Story

In 1960 (when my maiden name was Burns) I took over the running the International Cliff Richard Fan Club. They were 10 terrific years seeing CLIFF and his career growing in confidence and stature. Some of the club members then are still with us today and we have many memories of get togethers with Cliff in the 60’s. The one that stands out the most is the pleasure of having Cliff turn up at my 21st Birthday get-together in Blackpool - it was an especially nice surprise for the guests. I retired from the club in the late 60’s when Cliff announced he was going to give up his career, and Harry de Louw’s club in Holland then became the main Cliff ‘Movement’.

I also had more than a full time job working for the George Cooper Organisation (a well known music/theatre agency) arranging tour/concert/dance dates for many of the big UK acts of the 60’s including The Rolling Stones, The Tornados, Johnny Kidd, Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, The Beatles, Billy Fury etc. My job also took in tours by visiting US acts such as The Ronettes, Brenda Lee, Gene McDaniels, and Johnny Burnette. It was a very exciting period and was my contribution to the swinging 60’s.

I met John in the late ‘60’s when we found ourselves working together for a music publisher in Tin Pan Alley . We married in 1971, and two years later we gave up London and moved to Falmouth, where we ran one of the most successful independent record shops in Cornwall. To be continued ........................... see below

JOHN: My Story.

From the age of 12 all I could ever think of doing was being involved in music. It didn’t matter how or what - just involved, and for the past 40 years that’s exactly what happened. Leaving school exam-less (and having played rhythm guitar in various semi-pro groups) I spent 12 years with the then largest UK independent music publishing house called Campbell Connelly. A cast of thousands used to pass through our portals from all walks of the music business. When I progressed to the job of Acetate Cutter, I began meeting and becoming a work friend to The Bee Gees, Marc Bolan, Marty Wilde, and later on Graham Gouldman, Johnny Burnett and Duane Eddy. I was also present at The ‘Stones’ first recording session at the Sound Studios next door and worked frequently with Ivy Music who were involved with legendary producer Joe Meek. Unlike Mo Foster, I haven’t been able to retain a sharp enough memory for all the wonderful anecdotes and jokes that he’s collected over the years. However memory flashbacks happen from time to time.

LEO’S DEN MUSIC : The Story

During the time with the record shop in Falmouth, we continued to follow Cliff and The Shadows’s career ‘from a distance’ while we brought up two children. In 1988 and as the children were getting older we found that we could get more involved with the store so we expanded on the Cliff and The Shadows section. Soon word got around and we were getting letters and phone calls for product . With the help of others, Pat set up Leo’s Den Music and had one of the first web sites in Cornwall in 1994 - And the rest is history.

With times-a-changing (and John’s spate of bad health), and the Cliff and the Shadows side of the business taking up more and more of my time, we decided in 1999 to sell the shop and semi-retire and just concentrate on Cliff and The Shadows music. After selling the shop, life has become less stressful but nevertheless busier than we’d ever dreamed of. Leo’s Den has grown and grown over these past 13-14 years and we have been very grateful for the help and encouragement and support we have received not only in the UK, but from overseas customers, suppliers, and fan clubs. We are also especially grateful to Juliette (who has now gone on to help run one of the big HMV stores), and Jonathan (who’s been a godsend for us computer dinosaurs). So to you all we say thank you. But of course our biggest thanks goes to Cliff and The Shadows who gave us the inspiration to begin and carry on - Thank You Boys.